Innovation is not confined to science labs; it is abundant in societies waiting for new policies. In this context, elucidate how the STIP 2020 is adaptive to dynamic changes in the society.
Enabling change at a societal level is a complex and long-term process that requires continuous adaptation, coordination and agility. In other words, transformative innovation policies never stop being made and revised over time and space.
Adaptively of STIP 2020 to dynamic changes
- The STIP 2020 will be India’s fifth policy on science, technology and innovation in around 73 years after independence. None of the previous four policies were made amidst a raging pandemic and economic distress.
- Enabling change at a societal level is a limitation of any static process, which can be easily overcome if STIP 2020 can be considered as a non-linear and dynamic set of guidance for enabling societal change over the course of time.
- STI policy can deliver towards tackling future sustainability crises and make explicit the complexities and impossibility of a finalized output for achieving SDGs, especially in a year as difficult and uncertain as 2020.
- Adopting a more agile policymaking strategy, efforts should go into making space for distributed use and rapid iterations of a non-linear and dynamic set of guidance for STI in the years to come.
- The present pandemic as well as persistent sustainability challenges demand a considerable departure of the new policy from the previous ones in terms of policy process and outcomes for which STIP 2020 is a forward step.
- Instead of catching up with others perceived to be ahead in the league, India’s path to a sustainable and equitable future could be marked by its own innovativeness, collective (albeit contradictory) imaginaries and support for experimentation towards sustainability.
- The aim is not to follow but to learn from and join other countries in the journey towards sustainable futures.
The publication of STIP 2020 should be considered only a starting point in the long marathon of transforming societal systems for achieving SDGs over the next decade.