Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators of Nepal
A country Report
Chiranjivi Regmi
Ganesh Kumar Pokhrel
Capacity building workshop on Science, Technology and Innovation
Indicators: Current Issues and Challenges for South Asia
6-9 December, 2010
Kathmandu, Nepal
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Outlines of Presentation
Introduction
Historical Background
Development Plans
S&T Indicators
Collecting R&D statistics
Major Findings
Institutional Profile
Human Resources
Investment in S&T
S&T Equipment
Recommendations
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Introduction
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Information on status of S&T is necessary for developing
overall plan and policies of the country.
It is important to have an updated status report on S&T to
know the strengths, weaknesses, lacunas, shortcomings,
problems and priorities.
UNESCO also has been constantly urging developing
countries to keep and update S&T data base.
The study was carried out by NAST in collaboration with and
financial support of Ministry of Science & Technology
(MoST)
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Historical Background
Four distinct phases can be recognized to
complement the development of S&T
Rana Era (before1950)
Transitional decade (1951-1960)
Panchayat Era (1961-1990)
Democratic Era (After 1990)
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Rana Era (before1950)
Prithvi Bir hospital -1890 AD
Pharping hydropower - 1911
Agriculture office -1924
Civil medical school -1934
Dept Livestock Services -1939
Training school for sub-overseers-1942
Forestry Training institute for rangers -1947
Science education at intermediate level was
started
in 1919 AD, upgraded to
bachelor level in 1945 at Trichandra College
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Transitional decade (1951-1960)
Tribhuvan University, the first University - 1959
 Department of Forest-1955
 Department of Soil Sciences- 1956
 Department of Geology & Mines-1958
 Department of Survey-1958
 Central Bureau of Statistics- 1958
 Department of Medicinal Plants, Botanical
Survey and National Herbarium- 1960
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Panchayat Era (1961-1990)
Establishment of government departments continued.
Research Laboratories
Royal Drugs Research Laboratory (1964)
 Central Food Research Laboratory (1966)

Corporations/companies
Royal Drugs Limited (1972)
Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (1975)
Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited (1981)
National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) 1976
 (Royal) Nepal Academy of Science and Technology - 1982
Water and Energy Commission (1981)
 (King Mahendra) National Trust for Nature Conservation (1982).
 Five Institutions were established in 1972 under TU.
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Democratic Era (After 1990)
At present there is a possibility of getting higher education in different
fields of science and technology
Kathmandu University (1991)
B.P. Koirala Institue of Health Sciences (1993)
Purbanchal University (1996)
Pokhara University (1997) and
National Academy of Medical Sciences (2004)
Several constituent and affiliated technical colleges have been established.
Government Research organizations -Nepal Agricultural Research Council
(1991), Nepal Health Research Council (1991), Environmental Protection
Council (1992) and High Level Information Technology Commission (1997)
 Ministry of Science and Technology came into existence.
R&D organizations in private and public sector are coming up
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Development Plans
Adopted in Nepal since 1956 with the inception of first five Year
Plan
 S&T is being mentioned only since sixth Five Year Plan
 Interim plan(2008-2010) is running with the goals;
•to contribute towards the national goal of poverty alleviation by
uplifting the living standard of the people of Nepal through the
development and utilization of S&T,
•to increase national capacity through institutional strengthening of
S&T sector, and human resource development and utilization
•to increase competitive capacity of production and service sectors
through research and development of S&T and utilization of
suitable technology.
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Indicators
Following indicators were identified for collection of S&T data.
Institutional Profile
Type of the organization (Government, Educational, Private
nonprofit, Business)
Activities of the organization (policy formation, R&D, Analytical
services etc)
Publication of S&T Journal/statistics
S&T Human Resources
Production of S&T Human Resources
Sector wise Human Resources
Human Resources by Qualification
Human Resources by gender
PhD Personnel in Science & Technology
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Indicators
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S&T Budget
Total allocated budget
Source of funding
R&D expenditure
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S&T Equipment
Name
Company
Cost
Order/out of order
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Collecting R&D Statistics
Study was conducted by NAST & MoST by visiting and
contacting various S&T institutions of the country
Questionnaire was developed for information collection
List of institutions was prepared based on the following criteria;
-Government organization directly related to S&T
-Universities and institutions providing higher educations
-Large Industries within the Industrial Estate
-Metropolitan and sub-metropolitan cities
-National level NGOs and INGOs related to S&T
Collected data were analyzed and a comprehensive report was
prepared
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Collecting R&D Statistics…
During our survey we covered most of the Government and
higher education institutions.
Regarding private nonprofit and business institutions we
covered partly only.
We didn’t survey the institutions related to Social science and
Humanities.
We have made head counts only for the calculation of R&D
human resources in the country.
We have also collected the information related to PhD human
resources and S&T equipments

Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Major Findings
S&T Institutions covered by study
S.N.
S&T Organizations/Institutions
Number
1
Government institutions
144
2
Higher education institutions
55
3
Private/ non-profit organizations
23
4
Business enterprises
5
5
Other institutions
3
Total Surveyed
230
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Institutions
Government Institutions
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)
Water and Energy Commission (WECs)
Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC)
Department of Forest Research and Survey
Department of Food Technology and Quality Control
Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation
Department of Plant Resources (DPR)
Department of Mines and Geology (DMG)
Department of Hydrology and Metrology (DHM)
Department of Survey
Department of Water Induced Disaster and Prevention
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Institutions
Government Cont….
Department of Roads
Department of Irrigation
Educational Institutions
Tribhuvan University (TU)
Kathmandu University (KU)
Pokhara University (PoU)
Purbanchal University (PU)
Nepal Sanskrit University (NSU)
B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS)
National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS)
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Institutions
Sector wise status of publication of S&T journal
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Human Resources
Production of Human Resources
SN Subject
1985*
2005*
2008
1
2389
11234
15801
20693
1909
7347
8819
10022
1658
1396
719
165
8,236
5496
3004
798
224
28,103
5732
3334
919
275
34,880
7769
3616
925
332
687
44,044
2
Engineering
Natural Sciences (Botany, Zoology, Physics,
Chemistry, Mathematics, Statistics, Geology,
Meteorology, Env.Sc., Microbiology, Computer
Sc)
3 Medical Science
4 Agriculture
5 Forestry
6 Food Technology
7 Pharmacy
Total Number
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
2010
S&T Human Resources
Human Resources by sector wise employment
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Human Resources
Human resources by field of science and sector of employment
Field of science
Natural sciences
Engineering
technology
Government Higher
Private
Business Not
Total
education nonprofit enterprise specified
3282
& 11481
1493
2557
310
990
111
5666
403
-
5,599
20,694
Medical and health 2178
sciences
1811
1730
862
-
6,581
Agricultural sciences
Not specified
585
406
41
-
-
-
8,185
852
7559
446
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Human Resources
Human resources by academic qualification
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Human Resources
Distribution of PhD Personnel in different disciplines of S&T
Discipline
Agriculture
Engineering
Botany
Chemistry
Medicine
Physics
Zoology
Veterinary
Mathematics
Geology
Forestry
Microbiology
Statistics
Biology
Environment
Natural Science
Food Technology
Public Health
Total =
Number of PhD Personnel
218
214
113
119
82
69
42
35
31
30
19
19
17
12
9
7
4
4
1066
Percentage (%)
20.88
20.50
10.82
11.40
7.85
6.61
4.02
3.35
2.97
2.87
1.82
1.82
1.63
1.15
0.86
0.67
0.38
0.38
100
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Human Resources
Decade wise PhD Personnel in of S&T
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Human Resources
PhD Personnel by gender and ethnic group
SN
1
Ethnic
group
Madheshi
Number of PhD
Personnel
Genderwise distribution of PhD personnel in S&T
Male
Female
129
90.4%
2
Janajati
358
3
Dalit
4
Others
570
Total
1066
9
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
9.58%
Investment in S&T
Government investment on R&D
S. Title
N
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
1
GDP at Producer Price (CBS,
2008) in million
728178
818401
960011
2
Total Government Investment in
R&D (in NRs 000)
443611
2562035
3604614
3
Investment on R&D by percentage 0.0609
of GDP
0.313
0.3754
This is calculated based on allocated budget for major
S&T institutions of the government
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Investment in S&T
Sector wise funding source of R&D institutions
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
S&T Equipment
Sector wise status of present need of the S&T Equipment
80%
74%
70%
70%
60%
56%
Percentage
50%
44%
40%
Yes
30%
30%
26%
20%
10%
0%
Government
Higher education
Private nonprofit
Sector
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
No
S&T Equipment
Sector wise repair and maintenance of the Equipment
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Recommendations
Since, the preparation of S&T data base is continuous process requiring regular
updating of the information, this has to be institutionalized. NAST is the
appropriate institution for this. So, the Government of Nepal is requested to
allocate annual budget to NAST for S&T database.
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Technology Information and Transfer Program (TITP) has to carry out this task
on regular basis, accordingly NAST has to develop capacity of TITP in terms of
human resources and necessary tools.
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There is no information about the Non Resident Nepalese (NRN) S&T human
resources, it is most desirable to keep their records, and a separate study has to
be carried out involving Non Resident Nepalese Association.
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Cooperation with international organizations such as UNESCO and other
organizations for developing S&T related database and technology transfer is
necessary.

Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Acknowledgements
We are most grateful to Ministry of Science and Technology
(MoST) for financial support to carry out the study.
Sincere thank goes to Prof. Dr. Surendra Kafle, Vice chancellor and
Prof. Dr. Praksh Chandra Adhikari, Secretary of NAST.
We are thankful to other members; Mr. Ishwor Khanal, Mr. Sanu
Kaji Desar, Mr. Vijaya Singh and Mr. Dev Kumar Shah of the
study team.
We also thank all the institutions who had provided the valuable
information during the study.
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Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Thank You for your Attention…..
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology