Can Indian-origin scientists in the US help India improve its research and development, and innovation capabilities?
The United States has always been a featherbed for scientists and researchers, irrespective of their origins or nationality. That is because of its unique institutional ecosystem that keeps the ground fertile for creativity, as well as individual entrepreneurship and commercial success. The contribution of these scientists in helping the global superpower keep its nose ahead of any other country in the world — technologically, economically and politically — is significant.
The National Science Board of the US reports that 57 percent of post-doctoral awards in science and engineering in 2006 went to temporary visa holders. Between 2004 and 2007, 89 percent of Indians and 90 percent Chinese who received doctoral degrees in the US, decided to stay back and
pursue opportunities there.
This influx has now resulted in some Indian-origin engineers and scientists leading the charge on innovation in America — which some think is losing competitiveness. Will they help in stronger collaboration and circulation of top-notch minds between the two countries? After all, in the decade up to 2004, US firms increased the number of people they employed in research and development (R&D) outside the country by 76 percent. Many American giants such as GE, IBM and Microsoft now employ hundreds at large research set-ups in India.
As far as the scientific community is concerned, some sort of silent repatriation is already in place in India. But if it is done at a larger institutional level, perhaps India could improve its position in R&D and innovation. The new leaders in the US think it’s both inevitable and desirable.
“We are in very disruptive times,’’ says Anant Agarwal, the new director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). CSAIL is MITs largest multi-disciplinary lab that engages 900 researchers. “I see many opportunities in countries like India and China that are creating a lot of action and excitement,” says Agarwal, who, besides leading several big-vision research projects in the US, has been a serial entrepreneur starting his first company Virtual Machines in 1993 and the latest, Tilera in 2005.
(This story appears in the 12 August, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)