Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd.

The wheels of history take periodic turns. Before our eyes is a similar process in motion, and I believe we can make the 21st century the India Century. All the essentials to make India a great power are embedded in the richness of our civilisation already. These are: the tradition of lifelong intellectual quest, respect for wealth creation and work excellence held in high esteem.

A variety of favourable factors have arisen in the 20th century to nurture these seeds and help them grow into a mighty force. These include a critical mass of educated and skilled young men and women, strong institutions of science and technology, a new sense of self-confidence amongst professionals, and last but not least, the unleashing of the private sector's productive energies. Indians are set to climb new peaks of innovation and creativity.

India has a momentous opportunity to leverage the power of her people and build on the promise of her potential to emerge as a global superpower. To realise this potential, we need to focus on the following:

• Empower young inspiring leaders in all walks of life to stimulate over a billion people in a resurgent wave.
• Invest in professional resource development to bridge people power and global opportunities.
• Nurture innovation to differentiate and promote indigenous initiatives that could define the future.
• Develop infrastructure to bring people, resources and opportunities together, in an inclusive eco-system.
• Foster information and communication technologies-powerful tools of the knowledge age-to pervade the economy and society in a ubiquitous manner.

Innovation has the potential to distinguish India from other nations. We have one of the largest education infrastructures in the world. We have one of the largest science and technology manpower bases in the world. We have a strong institutional framework in science and technology. The cognitive ability of Indians is legendary. We now need to bring about a dynamic partnership between creators of wealth, producers of goods, providers of services and people engaged in generation of ideas.

The propensity for innovation should be converted into intuition and initiative. Lack of a significant infusion of public funding for basic research must become a story of the past. Science and technology in public institutions must now be exposed to social scrutiny. Deficiencies in protection of intellectual property must be removed. Linkages between academia and industry must be strengthened. We need a competitive and demanding environment for science in universities and research institutions. Finally, the private sector must give up its nonchalance towards research and development.

A lot of innovation in the developed world has come from the private sector. These have been facilitated by sizeable public funding, surpluses from traditional businesses of large corporations, protection for intellectual capital, vibrant venture capital participation, a competitive marketplace and, above all, a demanding environment for academic researchers. Therefore, any perspective on the Indian private sector in the context of long-term R&D must take into account the larger climate for innovation.

It is time to trigger the potential of the private sector to elevate India's profile in the world of science and technology. This calls for an environment where science is placed at the forefront of economic and social development activity in the country.

There are several opportunities for research by the Indian private sector. For example, a huge resource base in chemistry in India can support pharmaceutical companies to be at the frontier of new drug discovery. Consumer product companies can capitalise on traditional schools of medicine to develop new cosmeceutical and nutraceutical products. Initial gains in information technology can be stepped up by technology companies to deliver new software solutions. The vast pool of biology professionals can be channeled to cutting edge life sciences research. A large and genetically diverse patient population can help healthcare organisations undertake epidemiological and medical research. An emerging automobile industry can help create new component and product design features. Above all, a richly endowed and varied geography can support agricultural, materials and energy companies explore enhanced products and non-conventional alternatives.

The Indian private sector also has the opportunity to contract research from the western world on the strength of its professional resources, institutional framework, diverse population and large number of patients covered by India's healthcare system. This could help research in the areas of chemistry, biology, aerospace, materials and medicine.

Further, the Indian private sector has the opportunity to leverage a vibrant information technology industry to bring about new trends in research, ranging from virtually networked research and remote design to development services and electronic clinical trials.

The challenge for the private sector is to move away from a screwdriver mindset and shift to a drawing board outlook. Instead of assembling personal computers (PCs), we should be making low-cost simputers and high performing supercomputers. Instead of buying software packages, we should be packing our own software for buyers. Instead of assembling automobiles, we should be designing cars for the world. Instead of tweaking processes to make pharmaceuticals, we should be testing our own new drug molecules.

It is not that the Indian private sector has been oblivious to the innovation imperative. The IT, communications, pharma, biotech and healthcare sectors are now entering innovation mode. This will gain momentum over the next few years. The transition to an international patent regime and a globalised marketplace post 2005 will give an impetus to private research. A significant fillip to research will come from the creation of universities in science and technology by enlightened private organisations.

Reliance has been acutely conscious of the need for a research-led renaissance. This year, we opened the Reliance Technology Center at Patalganga for creating new technology-led opportunities in synthetic materials. The Center has forged a strategic relationship with DuPont to be a global hub for research. Reliance Life Sciences is gaining eminence in a global context for its research in frontier areas of medical, plant and industrial biotechnology. It was one among 10 companies listed by the National Institutes of Health, USA, to be involved in embryonic stem cell research. Reliance Infocomm has developed a whole suite of wireless data applications in-house. It is now extending both their range as well as their diversity in video and value-added applications. The Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communications Technology at Gandhinagar is involved in research-led education in information technology and communications and its interface with other disciplines.

These are undoubtedly initial forays. Over the next few years, Reliance aspires to grow as an enterprise with a very strong portfolio of intellectual property, built on the strength of its research and development initiatives in diverse areas.

Innovation is the very essence of the world in which we are entering. In this world, resource and market advantages will not matter. Intellect and innovation will. In a globally competitive world, enterprises, like sharks, have to keep swimming in order not to drown.

India must ignite the intellect of millions, and initiate, innovate and invent-to attain global eminence in the knowledge age. For this, the Indian private sector must help place science and investment in long-term research at the vanguard of value creation.