Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that the Industry will be expected to be a major resource contributor in all the future StartUp ventures and other new technology initiatives.

The Minister said, all will have to be equal stakeholders right from the beginning and for this the Industry will also have to change its earlier mindset of looking up to the government for everything.  

Delivering keynote address at the 3rd India Quantum Technology Conclave 2023 organised by ASSOCHAM here today, the Minister said, "There is no option but to strike an equitable relationship with the Government, Academia and Industry to be on an equal page as the nation takes further strides in frontier R&D including emerging Quantum Technology. Global challenges need global outlook, global strategies and global parameters, he said, adding the Industry will have to come forward in risk management.

Dr Jitendra Singh said the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (NRF), announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, will have huge non-government resources. As much as Rs. 36,000 crore, viz 70% of the NRF budget of Rs.50,000 crore over five years, is envisaged to come from non-governmental sources.

“As a result, the demarcation between the Public and Private sector will be bridged and there will be integration. NRF will also act as a think tank, it has the mandate of even deciding the themes on which the projects have to be undertaken and funded, and decide on foreign tie ups,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said there will be Industry linkages right from the beginning, creating an optimum ecosystem for innovation. Active involvement from the industry and the capital to push the quantum start-up ecosystem in India is required to boost the industry.

“Today, we have 3,000 Startups under the Aroma Mission and 150 Space Startups. We will have to follow up in order to ensure that the over 1.25 lakh Startups that have taken off in the last nine years are sustainable,” he said.

The S&T Minister said, as compared to the policy paralysis previously, the Modi Government rolled out a clear cut policy planning, with Digital India and Make in India paving the framework for a robust indigenous manufacturing environment. As a result we witnessed a “quantum jump before Quantum Technology came our way.”

“We are the seventh nation to come out with Quantum Technology, but today we are at par with the developed nations and also taking the lead. The world looks up to us today and that increases our responsibilities,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said the National Quantum Mission (NQM), approved recently by Prime Minister Modi, will make India one of the Top Global leaders in areas like quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing, quantum materials, metrology and devices.

Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that the NQM approved by the Cabinet at a total cost of over Rs.6,000 crore aims to seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and create a vibrant & innovative ecosystem in Quantum Technology (QT).

“India is the seventh country to have a dedicated quantum mission after the US, Austria, Finland, France, Canada and China.The Mission will greatly benefit sectors like health, finance, energy apart from applications in drug design, space, banking, security etc. It will also provide a huge boost to National priorities like Digital India, Make in India, Skill India and Stand-up India, Start-up India, Self-reliant India,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said India has the potential to become an attractive destination for quantum R&D, software development, and components and equipment manufacturing, thus leading to a huge number of job opportunities.

“This resonates very strongly with Prime Minister Modi’s larger scheme of creating an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in terms of science, technology, and innovation in India,” he said.

India currently has nearly a hundred quantum projects of which about 92 per cent are sponsored by the Centre. The NQM targets developing intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50-1000 physical qubits in 8 years in various platforms like superconducting and photonic technology.

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