SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY &
KNOWLEDGE ECONOMYthe Societal Connectivity
Foundation Day Lecture, Vigyan Prasar
12 October 2011
Prof Ashoka Chandra
National Policy Statements
on
Science & Technology
Science Policy Resolution 1958
• Science mankind’s greatest enterprise today.
• Science has altered not only material
environment, but given new tools of thought
and extended man’s mental horizon. It has
given civilisation a new vitality and
dynamism.
• Intense cultivation of science and its
application has given to common man
unprecedented standards of living.
• Scientific approach and method has provided
basis for a welfare state.
Science Policy Resolution 1958
• Pace of scientific developments increasing. India
should put utmost effort in bridging the gap.
• Technology key to national prosperity;
technology the most important factor; more
important than material and capital.
• Science policy aims at, interalia,:
- cultivation of science and scientific research
- encouraging initiative, discovery, academic
freedom
- securing benefits of Scientific knowledge for all
people.
Technology Policy Statement, 1983
• Technological self-reliance
• Resist imposition of technology from outside
(obsolete or unrelated to our specific requirements).
• Technology must impact on lives of ordinary citizens.
• Considerations in choice of technology
- indigenous development
- international competitiveness.
• Technology advancement seen as a social and political
tool. Economic context, though tacitly understood, is
not emphasised.
• Technology development and utilisation is being seen
as occurring largely in public sector. Accordingly
public policy goals are imposed on technology.
S&T Policy, 2003
• Note of growing satisfaction with the S&T infrastructure,
and technological achievements.
• Science and Technology becoming more complex, requiring
large resources, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional
and multi-country participation. It is no longer an
individual’s enterprise; it is big corporate effort.
• Knowledge as a source of economic growth and power
frontally recognized, and therefore the IPR issues come
centre stage. From an earlier view of science being property
of entire humankind, now global view of IPR is accepted.
• The previous concerns of S&T benefitting the common man,
and environmental concerns repeated but new emphasis on
creating wealth and global competitiveness.
S&T Policy, 2003: OBJECTIVES
• To advance scientific temper, emerge as a progressive and enlightened
society, enable people to participate, and application for human welfare.
• To ensure food, agricultural, nutritional, environmental, water, health and
energy security.
• Alleviation of poverty, enhancing livelihood security, reduction of regional
and rural/urban imbalances, and generation of employment
• To vigorously foster scientific research attract the brightest to careers in
science and technology, Also Centres of Excellence in selected areas to the
highest international standards.
• To promote empowerment of women in S&T activities and their full and
equal participation.
• To provide necessary autonomy and freedom for all academic and R&D
institutions., while ensuring social responsibilities and commitments[c1] .
• To protect, preserve, evaluate, update, add value to, and utilize the extensive
knowledge acquired over the long civilisational experience of India.
• To accomplish national strategic and security related objectives.
Scientific Temper
Jawaharlal Nehru strongly believed in two wonderful
concepts; freedom of speech, and a concept he had
coined, a nation with a “scientific temper”.
That term, a “scientific temper” is a wonderfully succinct
way to describe a broad concept. By speaking of a nation
with a “scientific temper”, he wanted to speak of the
people of a nation who would be able to think
independently, understand and practice the scientific
method in their daily lives, analyse and not take
statements at their face value, and avoid simplistic
reasoning.
Of course, it has been easier said than done to create that
atmosphere in a nation where superstition, religion,
rumor, myth and innumerable beliefs abound.
Scientific Method
• Scientific method consists of systematic observation,
measurement, and experiment, and the formulation,
testing, and modification of hypotheses.
• Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as
objective as possible, to reduce biased interpretations
of results. Another basic expectation is to document,
archive and share all data and methodology so they
are available for careful scrutiny by other scientists,
giving them the opportunity to verify results by
attempting to reproduce them.
Science Communication
• Science communication generally refers to public
media aiming to talk about science with nonscientists. This often involves professional scientists
(called 'outreach' or 'popularization') but has evolved
into a professional field in its own right. It includes
science exhibitions, science journalism, science policy
and science media production, among other things.
• Science communication can also simply describe
communication between scientists (e.g. through
scientific journals) as well as between non-scientists.
Is it Optional?
Development of Scientific temper is a
Fundamental duty of every Indian citizen as
per the Constitution.
Fundamental Duties prescribed by the Constitution of the
nation under PART [IV-A] to its every citizen
(a) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and
institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.
(b) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our
national struggle for freedom.
(c) To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity
of India.
(d) To defend the country and render national service when
called upon to do so.
(e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common
brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending
religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to
renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
Fundamental Duties prescribed by the Constitution of the
nation under PART [IV-A] to its every citizen
(f) To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite
culture.
(g) To protect and improve the natural environment including
forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion
for living creatures.
(h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of
inquiry and reform.
(i) To safeguard public property and to abjure violence.
(j) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and
collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher
levels of endeavor and achievement.
(k) every parent or guardian to ensure that their child or ward was provided
opportunities for education between the ages of six and fourteen years
National Commitment reaffirmed
in S&T _Policy, 2003
• Activities aimed at Science Communication and building
scientific temper are, therefore, not just a mere desirable
objective; indeed they are a constitutional obligation, on
every citizen as well as the government.
• The Government cannot simply pay lip service to science
communication; it is obligated by the Constitution to
propagate science communication. The Government must
reflect this obligation through adequate funding and
promoting a large diversified programme. S&T Policy, 2003,
recognises it.
Conceptual Differences and
connectivity between Science &
Technology
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
•
•
•
•
•
SCIENCE
Quest for understanding
objective laws governing natural
phenomena
Pursuit of truth itself; Know-Why
Not concerned with potential for
application; theory the raison
d'être of science
Paradigmatic
Disseminated freely. Published.
Other scientists are expected to
replicate & verify findings.
•
•
•
•
•
TECHNOLOGY
Quest for making directly useful
application of scientific
principles to production
Know-How
Tech has a direct purpose in
mind; providing practical
solution raison d'être
Ecumenical
Not disseminated freely. Has a
price attached. Is traded. Not
published. Closely guarded.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY (CONTD)
• Evaluated on intrinsic
merit; on the explanatory
merit & theoretical
elegance.
• Time-frame is medium to
long term
• Science seeks most precise
data to support or refute a
hypothesis.
• Science research
organisation mimics the
structure of knowledge
being added.
• Evaluated in terms of
contribution to desired
economic & social goals
• Time-frame is short; timetargets are set
• Weighs precision against
cost of obtaining data &
other practical concerns
• Tech research organised
around problem foci;
usually a matrix
organisation
WHICH CAME FIRST
• TECHNOLOGY: From instinctive adaptation to
natural environment through trial and error;
leading to crafts; leading to technological
disciplines.
• SCIENCE: Modern science came much later.
• SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY now inseparable: Science
leads to technology; technology leads to new
science; the process goes on.
• The future society is one in which science &
technology will determine the direction of socioeconomic changes – John Kenneth Galbraith
• Rate of technological change is accelerating. Half-life of
technology is constantly decreasing.
• Human capacity to adjust to pace of technological change is
comparatively limited although it is also accelerating.
Mismatch creates resistance.
• Society’s changing philosophical notions about change are
interesting to examine. An important impediment in
exploiting technology for human welfare has been the
society’s discomfort with pace of technological change.
NOTIONS ABOUT CHANGE
• Parmenides:
Nothing ever changes; All change is illusory – even birth and death.
• Heraclitus:
All things are constantly in the process of changing; change is the only
reality. You cannot step into the same river twice.
• Cratylus:You cannot step into the same river even once.
• Oppenheimer: (in essays on Science and Society)
…the world alters as we walk in it. The very notion of change is changing.
We are witnessing a change which is not a minor reordering but of such
magnitude and scope that the very basis of society, its structure, its
institutions, its values are being altered so comprehensively in a single
life-time, that we will not, and cannot, return to the past, to the old
patterns of life and society.
Technology the dominant driver of
Economic Growth
World Population Growth and Major
Technological Events
Economic Models of Growth
(1) Q = f (K,L); Earlier classical model
Robert Solow in 1957 noted that capital and Labour did not fully account for
growth (output Q) and suggested another factor T that enhanced the
productivity of K and L:
(2) Q = T f (K, L,)
However Technology was assumed to be exogenous in this formulation. Paul
Romer in 1986 noted that technology was not exogenous but as a result of
explicit effort: R&D and Human Capital. Accordingly,
(3) T = f (R&D, HC)
Following a lot of empirical work, the new growth theory explains growth as
a function of Capital, Labour and Technology (in terms of knowledge
generation and its accumulation in human capital : R&D, and Human
Capital):
(4) Q = f (K, L, R&D, HC).
Contribution Of Technology to
Economic Growth
1. USA (1950-80)
87%
2. USA (1950-80)
30-56%
(Chai)
(Dogramaci)
3. Japan (1955-79)
29%
(Hirano)
4. Japan (1980s)
65%
(Hirano)

Broad Consensus among all studies

Quinn estimates: Technology contributes up to 70-80% of Growth in
developing and developed countries

Contribution of technology to economic growth will rise significantly in
coming years
TOWARDS A KNOWLEDGE
ECONOMY
KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
• Knowledge economy – an economy that creates,
disseminates, and uses knowledge to enhance its
growth and development, and its competitiveness
and “utilizes knowledge as a key engine of
economic growth”.
• KE is not just high-technology industries or ICT.
More appropriate to look broadly – an economy
that harnesses and uses new and existing
knowledge to improve the productivity of
agriculture, industry, and services, and increases
overall welfare.
Knowledge Economy Framework
(Chen & Dahlman)
• An economic incentive, policy, & Institutional
regime for efficient creation, dissemination and
utilization of knowledge;
• Educated & Skilled workers capable of upgrading
and adapting continuously;
• An effective innovation system of firms, research
centres, universities, consultants and other
organizations; and
• A modern and adequate information infrastructure
for communication & dissemination
NOTIONS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE
Western Tradition
In Western epistemology:
Knowledge – “Justified True Belief” that fulfills the
– truth condition (The proposition is true)
– belief condition (The individual must believe that the proposition is
true)
– justification condition (belief must be justified)
Pursuit of knowledge is heavily laden with Skepticism.
Everything can be questioned except the existence of the
questioner. Hence the famous phrase by Descartes,
“ I think, therefore I am” (cogito, ergo sum)
Search for knowledge is dictated by: experimentation and
justification/demonstration of truth to external observer
(objective knowledge).
NOTIONS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE
Indian Tradition
• Indian Philosophical tradition does not insist on external
justification.
• The process of knowledge acquisition: Chintan, Manan,
Dhyan, and Darshan, does not necessarily require
experimentation and demonstration.
• A totally internal validation within knowledge seeker’s own
reference frame also constitutes generation of knowledge
(subjective knowledge)
• Is objective knowledge alone relevant for knowledge
economy? Can subjective knowledge also qualify?
Cultural dimension of Knowledge
Economy
• The answer may well be linked to how knowledge economy
is viewed: only in terms of the three elements of generation,
dissemination, and utilization, or broader?
• Is there a cultural dimension to Knowledge Society also?
Social structures, cultural patterns, and the value systems
that provide an environment in which knowledge economy
functions, and may determine the very nature and ultimate
success of knowledge economy, are shaped by subjective
knowledge.
• In knowledge generation should utilization be a necessary
condition?
NOTIONS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE
• Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed
experience, values, contextual
information, expert insight and grounded
intuition that provides an environment
and framework for evaluating and
incorporating new experiences and
information. It originates and is applied in
the minds of knowers.
Social Sciences & Humanities in
Knowledge Economy
• Technology is the engine of Knowledge Economy. Sciences &
Technology therefore crucial.
• Social Sciences and Humanities are equally important.
Indeed knowledge of social sciences and humanities must
inform the process of ‘ (S&T) knowledge creation,
dissemination and utilization’ which is at the core of
Knowledge Economy.
• Ultimate object of all development is ‘people’. Economic
Development alone is not enough. Societal development
therefore a key touch stone of the success of a Knowledge
Economy.
Societal Culture
&
Science Communication
Culture
The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs,
institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
GEERT HOFSTEAD – Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes
the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system
of collectively held values.
EDGAR SCHEIN – Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by
members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for
granted’ fashion an organization's view of itself and its environment.
EDWARD B. TAYLOR – Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of
society.
CLIFFORD GEERTZ – Culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in
symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which
men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards
life.
Science Communication & Culture
Interface
• Human societies have developed their
cultural systems based on observation over
millennia, accumulated empirical knowledge,
passed them on through tradition, and
converted them into beliefs and values.
• You cannot run head-long into cultural
systems even if some beliefs and values are
non-scientific.
• Do not be a Bull-in China-shop.
Some strategies
• Reduce impedance mismatch.
• Slow, gradual, and repetitive enforcement
• No Chamatkars, please! Resist the
temptation of replacing chamatkars of
charlatans with scientific chamatkars.
• Inform, demonstrate, and allow valueproposition of scientific knowledge to be
recognised. Technological demonstrations
could have easier acceptance.
Some strategies
• Do not reject every traditional belief. Be
Agnostic. This is scientific. There are three
states of knowledge: true, opinion, false. A
scientist does not accept or reject any
proposition merely on belief. All three
conditions of truth in epistemology must be
satisfied. Experimentation and justification
are essential even to reject a seemingly
unscientific belief.
Thank You!