India’s innovation landscape faces significant challenges in transforming research breakthroughs into market-ready products, despite its wealth of talent and resources.
India is at a critical juncture in its economic and technological evolution. The nation is home to world-class scientific talent, esteemed institutions, and one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems globally. However, despite this wealth of intellectual resources, India grapples with a persistent issue: the inability to convert research breakthroughs into scalable, market-ready products.
This disconnect, often referred to as the “valley of death” in innovation ecosystems, has become increasingly apparent as India aims to establish itself as a global manufacturing and technology hub. Experts suggest that the challenge lies not in a lack of ideas but in a significant misalignment between academia, industry, investors, and government.
India’s academic ecosystem primarily focuses on publishing research papers rather than developing products. Conversely, the industry seeks deployable solutions rather than early-stage prototypes. Investors typically engage only after commercial viability is established. This results in a fragmented pipeline where promising innovations often stall before they can reach the market.
The frustration within the industry is palpable. A founder of a high-tech Indian company expressed to Swarajya, “We have tried to work with lots of different IITs, and in most cases, there is no strong output that comes from these colleges.” Such sentiments reflect a broader structural issue rather than isolated failures.
Dr. Anurag Agrawal of Ashoka University bluntly articulates the challenge: “India has no dearth of bioscience talent, but translating research into real-world health solutions remains a major challenge.” He emphasizes the need to “back people, not just projects,” and to realign incentives toward outcomes that extend beyond academic achievements.
Innovation specialists often highlight a specific bottleneck: the transition from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to TRL 4, where a lab-tested concept must be validated in real-world conditions. According to innovation strategist Babu Mohanan, “India doesn’t suffer from a shortage of ideas — we suffer from a shortage of products.” He notes that many innovations “never make it beyond the lab door” because the ecosystem is not structured to support the costly, iterative, and risky process of commercialization.
At this critical stage, the convergence of engineering talent, manufacturing partners, regulatory clarity, and patient capital is essential. Unfortunately, in India, these elements rarely align simultaneously.
Despite these challenges, India has produced notable success stories, demonstrating that capability is not the issue, but rather coordination is. One frequently cited example is Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala’s work in the telecom sector, where his team successfully reduced telephone costs from ₹40,000 to ₹10,000 by prioritizing affordability alongside innovation. His philosophy of “putting economics before technology” became a cornerstone of India’s telecom revolution.
Similarly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at IIT Kanpur developed a functional ventilator in just 90 days. This project succeeded due to the convergence of urgency, institutional support, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
A more structural example is the IIT Madras Research Park, which has completed over 900 joint industry-academia projects. It serves as a national benchmark for how universities can drive innovation when incentives and partnerships are intentionally aligned.
India’s innovation gap is also closely tied to chronic underinvestment. The country allocates only 0.7% of its GDP to research and development, significantly lower than global leaders like South Korea and the United States. Without sustained funding, scaling deep-tech infrastructure remains a formidable challenge.
Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has consistently argued that innovation must be recognized as a core driver of growth. “We have not yet fully leveraged our innovation potential,” he stated, advocating for stronger industry-academia linkages and catalytic public procurement to stimulate demand for indigenous technologies.
The paradox of India’s manufacturing sector reflects this contradiction. Entrepreneurs across industrial clusters in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka exhibit resilience and adaptability, yet many remain ensnared in low-value manufacturing. Innovation expert Yogesh Pandit describes this as a “low-value trap,” where firms compete on cost rather than capability—not due to a lack of ambition, but because of insufficient structured pathways to adopt or co-develop new technologies.
Historically, India has been a civilization of creators, from the Sindhu-Saraswati era to the Chola Empire, where Indian technologies and goods significantly influenced global trade. The contemporary challenge is not about rediscovering talent but about rebuilding systems that enable that talent to thrive.
India’s next leap in innovation will not stem from isolated breakthroughs. It will emerge from aligning incentives across academia, industry, and government; funding the entire lifecycle of innovation; and rewarding product creation rather than merely academic publication.
Experts broadly agree on several necessary reforms: reforming academic incentives to reward patents, prototypes, and industry collaboration; strengthening industry-academia linkages through research parks and shared labs; bridging the valley of death with dedicated TRL 3–7 funding; increasing R&D spending to 2% of GDP; and fostering a product-first culture that celebrates long-term innovation and risk-taking.
In conclusion, India’s innovation narrative is not one of failure but of untapped potential. The ideas and talent are present; what is lacking is alignment. With deliberate reform and sustained commitment, India can transition from a nation rich in ideas to one that consistently produces world-changing products, according to Global Net News.