Alternate clean technology options do exist but spontaneous adoption seems to be lacking. The goal is envisioned to be realised through financial, technological and technical support to research and innovation and increased access to information and communications technology. Additionally Goal 17 on the Means of Implementation mentions the urgent need to operationalise technology banks and science as well as the technology and innovation capacity building mechanisms. Enhanced regional and international cooperation will thus play a pivotal role in the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound and resource efficient technologies. South- South transfer agreement like those between India and African countries is the first step in this direction. India has bilateral S&T cooperation agreements with 83 countries, 44 of which are active (DST, 2005).

There have been some initiatives by the government to foster innovation in the country. The National Innovation Foundation under the Department of Science and Technology and the National Innovation Council aim to promote thinking differently, creatively and insightfully to create solutions that have an impact in terms of social and economic value. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), an innovation promotion platform under NITI Aayog, was initiated with an initial fund of Rs 150 crore for research and development. This is but a drop in the ocean.

India has been spending about 0.85% of its GDP since the last three years (2014). In comparison, this is what some other countries are spending (Wikipedia, n.d.):

• US (2.7% of its GDP)

• China (2.08% of its GDP)

• Germany (2.9% of its GDP)

• France (1.9 % of the GDP)

It is now accepted that Government (domestic) and Official Development Assistance cannot meet the projected demand alone. Thus the expectation is that the private sector rises to the challenge. One such example is the Indian cement industry. Egged on by both market competitiveness and the global sustainability discourse, it has progressively invested in research and innovation to become one of the world’s most energy efficient cement industries in the world. Process changes ranging from use of alternate fuels to substitution of clinker with waste materials such as blast furnace slag and fly ash, have resulted in a decreased emission intensity from 1.04 Mt CO2/Mt cement in 1995 to about 0.79 Mt CO2/Mt cement in 2007 (Parikh, 2011).

Increasingly we are seeing corporates invest in initiatives such as the India Innovation Fund, which has an allocation of USD 40 million for start-up innovations (Malkani, 2015). NASSCOM and ICICI Knowledge Park (IKP) announced the first closing corpus of Rs 40 crore which will be scaled up to Rs 100 crores for the India Innovation Fund (NASSCOM, 2014). Infosys announced the creation of a USD 250 million (INR 1,550 Crore) 'Innovate in India Fund’ from its recently expanded Innovation Fund (USD 500 million) (Infosys, 2015). There is a need however to direct these finances towards innovations for sustainable growth.

Innovation and research have definitely entered the mind-space of decision makers in the public and private sector. What now remains to be seen is how much are we investing and what is our commitment to sustainability?  q

·     (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ research_and_development_spending
DST . (2005). International S&T Cooperation. Retrieved from Department of Science and Technology:
http://www.dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/International-s-tcoop.htm

·     Infosys. (2015, January). Presss Releases. Retrieved from Infosys: http://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/innovate-india-fund.aspx

·     Malkani, D. (2015, March). Budget has a strong focus on innovation and R&D. Retrieved from Financinal Express: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/budget-has-a-strong-focus-on-innovation-and-rd/49238/

·     NASSCOM. (2014). PressRoom. Retrieved from NASSCOM: http://www.nasscom.in/India-Innovation-Fund-ILF-Promoted-By

·     NASSCOM-ICICI-Knowledge-Park-IKP-Achieves-its-first-closing-58178?id=58178

·     NRDC-ASCI. (2012). Constructing Change: Accelerating Energy Efficiency in India’s Buildings Market.

·     Parikh, K. (2011). Interim Report of the Expert Group on Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive Growth. Planning Commission, Government of India.