A homegrown innovation ecosystem is taking root

Why in the News

Three institutional foundations of an innovation economy are advancing together in India for the first time: public research, corporate research and development (R&D), and deep technology entrepreneurship. Technologies that once arrived through imports are increasingly being invented at home, in research institutions, in industry and in startups. Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology, critical for advanced radar, space systems and next generation communications, is now being developed domestically in a tightly export controlled field. Affordable immunotherapies developed in India are expanding access to advanced cancer care at the same time. The tension is between volume and value. Patent filings are rising sharply, while the number of patents actually in force, the rate of commercialisation and national R&D spending remain far below those of the economies India is measured against.

What are the three major institutional pillars shaping India’s emerging innovation ecosystem?

1. Public Research Institutions: Government-supported institutions conduct foundational and long-gestation research. Eg: DRDO developed indigenous Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology.
2. Corporate R&D: Private-sector industries increasingly invest in research and development. Eg:Jio Platforms has made significant patent filings in 5G and 6G technologies.
3. Deep-Tech Entrepreneurship: Startups convert advanced research into commercial applications. Eg:AGNIT Semiconductors is commercialising indigenous GaN technology developed through IISc’s research ecosystem.

What do the patent and R&D numbers actually show?

1. Filing growth: Patent filings rose from just over 1,10,000 in 2024-25 to more than 1,43,000 in 2025-26, an increase of 30.2%.
2. Domestic ownership of filings: Domestic applicants now account for almost seven in ten filings, so the growth is not driven by foreign applicants seeking protection in the Indian market.
3. Patents in force, which is the real test: Patents in force in India stood at just over 2,40,000 in 2025, against 5.7 million in China, 3.5 million in the United States and 2.1 million in Japan on 2024 data. Patents in force counts rights that were granted and are still being maintained, so a wide gap against filings points to low grant rates, high abandonment, or both.
4. The spending floor beneath all of it: India spends just under 1% of GDP on research and development, against about 2.4% in China and 3.5% in the United States.

What is gallium nitride (GaN) and why is it strategic?

1. What it is: Gallium Nitride is a semiconductor material that handles higher voltage, higher frequency and higher temperature than silicon, which is why it is used where power density and signal strength matter more than cost.
2. Where it is used: It underpins monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), the single chip radio frequency circuits inside advanced radar, satellite links and next generation wireless equipment, and it is subject to export control for that reason.

What does the GaN breakthrough show about the public research pillar?

1. The breakthrough and where it happened: Scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at the Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL) in Delhi and the Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology Centre (GAETEC) in Hyderabad announced a breakthrough in making GaN MMICs in March 2023.
2. Why it had to be built at home: The technical know how for these circuits was, by widely reported accounts, refused to India under the offset provisions of the Rafale fighter jet purchase from France.
3. The club it joined: India is now one of seven countries to have mastered this technology, alongside China, France, Germany, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
4. Transfer out of defence: DRDO is actively transferring GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) based MMIC technology, a transistor design that carries current through a very thin high mobility layer, for use in 5G and 6G wireless infrastructure, electric vehicle on board chargers and renewable energy inverter systems.
5. The commercial end of the pipeline: AGNIT Semiconductors, a spin off from the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, is translating homegrown GaN technology into commercial applications.

Is India moving from standard implementer to standard setter?

1. The alliance and its target: The Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA) has stated an aim of contributing 10% of global 6G patents by 2030.
2. The filing base so far: Alliance members have made more than 7,700 patent filings across 5G and 6G technologies, including over 4,400 foreign filings.
3. The caveat on those numbers: These are applications, not grants, and not declared standard essential patents, which are the patents a technical standard cannot be implemented without and which earn licensing revenue from every implementer.
4. Participation in the standards body: Indian contributors made almost 3,000 technical contributions to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the body that writes mobile communication standards, in the last year, a 15 fold increase over 2020.
5. International filing rank: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 2025 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) rankings, which track a single international application route that reserves rights across member countries, placed Jio Platforms Limited 19th overall among international filers, a rise of more than 300 places and its first entry into the top 20.

What has changed in the startup ecosystem?

1. The capital commitment behind it: Members of the India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA) have made deep technology commitments of more than $2.5 billion, alongside the central government’s Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) financing.
2. Earth observation: Pixxel Space, founded by two alumni of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, has six satellites in orbit in hyperspectral imaging, which captures hundreds of narrow wavelength bands so materials can be identified rather than merely seen, with a full constellation of 18 to 24 planned.
3. Launch vehicles: Skyroot Aerospace flew the Vikram-1 low earth orbit launch, and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras nurtured Agnikul Cosmos is working toward fully reusable launch vehicles.
4. Affordable advanced medicine: ImmunoACT, incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay with the Tata Memorial Centre, developed NexCAR19, India’s first indigenous CAR-T cell therapy, in which a patient’s own immune cells are re engineered to attack cancer cells, delivered at a tenth of typical treatment costs.
5. Preventable blindness: Bengaluru based Remidio Innovative Solutions, supported at early stage by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), screens for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma through smartphone enabled retinal imaging with artificial intelligence.

Challenges to India’s homegrown innovation ecosystem

1. Patent examination capacity: A grant depends on examiner throughput, so filings rising faster than examiner strength lengthen the wait rather than produce enforceable rights. Eg. The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks administers patents, designs, trade marks and geographical indications through a single office.
   The Fix: Ring fence recruitment of technically qualified examiners to the patent stream and publish disposal data by technology field.
2. The cost of keeping a patent in force: A granted patent lapses unless a renewal fee is paid every year, so a holder with no paying customer lets it go. Eg. The Patents Act, 1970 requires renewal fees annually from the third year across the twenty year term.
   The Fix: Defer renewal fees for publicly funded institutions and recognised startups until the patent earns its first revenue.
3. Non standard transfer terms for publicly funded intellectual property: Each laboratory negotiates its own royalty and exclusivity terms, so a licensee faces a fresh negotiation at every institution. Eg. The Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded Intellectual Property Bill, 2008, drafted to settle exactly those terms, was never enacted.
   The Fix: Issue one standard licensing template with published royalty bands for every publicly funded laboratory.
4. No public first customer for unproven technology: Procurement rules reward the lowest price and a record of prior supply, which a first time deep technology supplier cannot show. Eg. The Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 sets local content thresholds but creates no route for a technology with no supply history.
   The Fix: Reserve a share of ministry procurement for first of a kind indigenous technology with a relaxed prior experience condition.

Conclusion

India’s innovation constraint has moved. The question is no longer whether homegrown technology can be created, since a full pipeline from government laboratory to academic institution to commercial venture now exists in at least one strategic field. The open question is whether a right on paper can be turned into a product with a buyer, which is where filings, grants and revenue currently part company. The marker to watch is the share of filings that survive to become patents in force, because that one ratio tests grant capacity, commercial intent and maintenance funding at the same time.

Government Initiatives for India’s research and innovation ecosystem

1. Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF): Established under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023 to seed and grow research in universities, colleges and research laboratories, with the larger share of its funding intended to come from non government sources.
2. Startup India: Launched in 2016 under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, it gives recognised startups tax exemptions, self certification under labour and environment laws, and fast tracked patent examination with fee rebates.
3. Fund of Funds for Startups: Operated by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), it invests in Alternative Investment Funds rather than in startups directly, so capital reaches ventures through professional fund managers.
4. Atal Innovation Mission: Runs Atal Tinkering Labs in schools and Atal Incubation Centres in host institutions, working on the supply of innovators rather than on the funding of firms.
5. Technology Development Board: Set up under the Technology Development Board Act, 1995 to provide loans and equity to companies commercialising indigenous technology.

Back2Basics: Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme

1. What it is: A central financing window for private sector led research in sunrise and strategic sectors, aimed at the stage private capital avoids.
2. Size: A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore was approved for it by the Union Cabinet in 2025.
3. How the money moves: Funds flow through a special purpose fund to second level fund managers, who extend long tenure low or nil interest loans or take equity, rather than paying out direct grants.
4. Who steers it: It is guided by the Governing Board of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, so research financing and research promotion sit under one apex structure.

[2026, GS3, 15] How are startups in India promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and employment? Discuss the global and domestic challenges in their working and suggest suitable measures to overcome these challenges.”