Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The current status of Madhya Pradesh in terms of science and technology development is mixed.
On one hand, the state has made certain progress in areas such as adoption of digital technologies in sectors like agriculture and healthcare, while on the other hand, the state still faces significant challenges such as lack of investment in R&D and limited access to technology for many of its citizens.
This has been stated by Madhya Pradesh Rajya NITI Aayog in its Policy Brief on Pathways to STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) led to growth of Madhya Pradesh -2024. The report says that for a state like Madhya Pradesh, sustainable economic development is possible only through the adoption of scientific principles with the implementation of innovative technologies.
In the present scenario, despite demographic and geographic hurdle’s, Madhya Pradesh is striving hard to emerge as a frontier state in science, technology and innovation. Madhya Pradesh stands at the 13 rank out of 17 major states as per India Innovation Index 2021 with a score of 12.74 against the country’s average of 14.02.
There is huge scope of improvement and hence attention is required to various parameters like human capital, innovation, investment, knowledge workers, knowledge output, safety and legal environment. Although the state performs considerably well in provision of knowledge diffusion and ease of doing business, there is dire need of a state specific Science, Technology and innovation ecosystem.
Madhya Pradesh’s present contribution in national GDP is merely 4.8 %. This has happened because the state’s economy has not stepped up from agrarian to industrial domain.
The contribution of the primary sector (agriculture) in the state’s economy is a staggering 47 % whereas secondary and tertiary sectors contribute 19 % and 34% (as per the estimates of 2022-23). ‘State Innovation Fund’: The report stresses that to bolster the economic growth of the state, there is a need to transform some of the key focus areas with high end technologies which is not possible without the intervention of science, technology and innovation.
The policy recommendation stresses creation of a “State Innovation Fund” that will support innovators and scientists with necessary resources to conduct research.
The report recommends promoting and supporting Research and Development Activities in the state. The R&D landscape must be revisited with a novel and dedicated R&D policy of the state.
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There is dire need of efficient usage of data by development of data framework data standards to promote open data policies that will facilitate the sharing of research findings, dataset and methodologies.
MP to play role in making India $5 trillion economy
Being the second largest state in terms of area and fifth in terms of population, Madhya Pradesh can play a pivotal role in realizing the national target of $ 5 Trillion economy through technology led economic growth, says the report.
