National Conclave Technological Sovereignty - 2014

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background

            The Prime Minister has given a call for ‘Make in India’, this will result in increasing the percentage of manufacturing as part of GDP, create a vibrant industrial base, and lead to technological sovereignty. To achieve technological sovereignty, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) along with Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research started the annual National Conclave on Technological Sovereignty in 2012. The third edition of the Conclave was held on 20 Nov 2014 at the Manekshaw Centre,Delhi Cantt to brainstorm ways and means of achieving Technological Sovereignty.

Objectives of Seminar

The Conclave had the following objectives :-

• National Technology Sovereignty Mission, it’s contours and organisational structures.
• Establishment of a Vibrant Defence Industrial Base.
• Defence Industrial Reforms and Policies.

Constituents of Technological Sovereignty

            Technological Sovereignty is a holistic approach with multiplier effect on end benefits, and therefore stakeholders need to work in cohesive manner. The stakeholders of Technological Sovereignty have been identified as follows

• Government.
• Armed Forces.
• Defence Research Organisations and DPSUs.
• Indian Industry.
• Academia.
• Foreign Collaborators.

The issues discussed for achieving Technological Sovereignty were :-

• Improving Institutional Framework.
• Enhancing Defence Industrial Base.
• Defence Manufacturing Policies.

The stakeholders concerns have been summarised as under

• Government
  • Large Import bill.
  • Limited success of Offset Policy.
• Indian Industry
  • Policy Hurdles
  • Multi stage approval processes and bureaucratic delays
  • Limited participation by the Industry
  • Lack of Incentives for Investing in Defence related projects.
• Defence Research Organisations and defence PSUs
  • Changing requirements of the Armed Forces.
  • Limited ability for technology absorption
• Armed Forces
  • Lack of availability of cutting edge technology.
  • Large delays in implementation of projects.
• Academia
  • Lack of collaboration with users and manufacturers.
• Foreign Collaborators
  • No clarity on ROI (Return on Investments).
  • Business climate poor.

Key Recommendations

The conclave generated a host of ideas and fruitful discussions, the key recommendations have been collated for perusal and actions by the relevant stakeholders :-

• National Technology Sovereignty Mission be created to steer Technological Sovereignty. A single window Institutional Framework is required which aids achieving Technological Sovereignty by incorporating all stakeholders’ representations.
• Government to provide requisite support through funding, policies, provision of level playing field and better implementation of offsets.
• Technology requirement mechanism be institutionalised to ensure that the Armed Forces, Government, academia and the industry are in sync with the present and future requirements of the Armed Forces with respect to technology.
• Work on a shared technology roadmap of achieving and maintaining technological sovereignty. The armed forces should provide a more detailed technology requirement based LTIPP than the present TPCR. Academia and Industry should be incorporated during framing of the TPCR to ensure that correct projects are initiated and there is no need to cull projects later.
• A reworked management structure for capability projects that leverages cross control across disciplines (i.e. R&D, Industry & Armed Forces) would help in better assessment of individual procurements as projects that eventually lead to an orderly national military capability.
• To move from India’s current status as an assembler and integrator to a design and development power house.
• To implement the concept of Defence Economic Zone towards establishment of Military Industrial Complexes as an ecosystem having all stakeholders with incentivised policy support from the government.
• Skill development of our labour force to train and equip them to join the technology ecosystem of the country.
• High risk, fundamental research can continue to be funded by the government to established centres of excellence.
• A system be worked out which enables the industry to access DRDO labs for research work and access military facilities for field trials.
• Policy/Norms on 100% FDI in State of Art technology to be laid out in more details to allow active participation y foreign collaborators. Hiking FDI to 74% in defence be actively considered. Industry should be allowed to export a larger number of military equipment to enable them to recover research and developmental costs and make their future projects financially viable.
• Collaboration with foreign entities where technology is easy to harness to save on time and resources.