The candle of knowledge lights our way out from the darkness of superstition and poverty. In today's post industrial economy, knowledge is the factor that ensures the success of nations as it is the service and scientific sectors that contribute most to the economy of advanced nations. Indeed, Chinese bureaucrats rue that America's invention of the Internet and its superb education and research ecosystem made possible the current dominance of America in cyberspace.
From India's point of view, building a knowledge ecosystem is of significant importance because :-
1. Largely service based nature of economy :- The service sector is the mainstay of the Indian economy. This sector requires constant research and development in other to stay ahead of the cutthroat competition. This in turn requires world class institutions and well trained students with a scientific aptitude.
2. The dawning fourth industrial revolution :- we are on the cusp of a industrial revolution that holds the promise to change all of humankind and maybe even make us superhuman. The possibilities of harnessing artificial intelligence, robotics, genetic engineering etc are limitless. Indeed, the one who innovates the most in the next decade, would probably be the next economic superpower.
3. Competition in the neighborhood :- China has vowed to never let America take the lead again as she did with the IT revolution. China is hence investing heavily in research and development and building a knowledge ecosystem. The results are telling; Chinese innovations in energy research, computer science and genetics are announced almost everyday by major newspapers. India needs to pull its socks up and seriously develop our knowledge ecosystem or else be left in the dust.
4. Need for employment :- Robotics and the fourth industrial revolution will change workplaces and working forever. Robots will take over the labor intensive, mundane and repetitive jobs. This means that a lot of workers will be out of jobs. It is necessary to start re-skilling of workers and formulate plans for changing the curriculum in educational institutes and adding courses that are more practical and less theoretical in order to ensure employment opportunities for our burgeoning workforce that is the largest in the world. Otherwise, having a large unemployed populace will cause social problems that will destabilize the economy.
5. To stem the brain drain :- Thousands of India's best and brightest leave the nation for foreign shores in the search of a congenial intellectual environment. This ecosystem is lacking in India where research is derided as work taken up by those who do not get good jobs in the industry or government. Due to this the quality of Indian research is lackluster. Efforts must be made to attract more students to research and incentivize them for it.
CONCLUSION:For these reasons, it is vital that concerted efforts be made post-haste to analyze the knowledge ecosystems of other nations, envisage future changes emanating from the fourth industrial revolution and take appropriate steps to build a knowledge economy. This is a sine qua non, not just for a robust economy but also for ensuring India's place in the vanguard of innovative nations. This is essential for any aspiring superpower.
