The “National Manufacturing Innovation Survey (NMIS) 2021-22: Summary for Policymakers” was published on April 27, 2023, by Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology.
Dr. Chandrasekhar emphasised that these insights can significantly contribute to the Make-in-India program’s goal, particularly the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, which are designed to boost manufacturing in a number of fields, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, and automobiles, which are already showing results.
He continued by saying that innovators should provide truly good innovations that are reasonably priced, call for few adjustments to existing procedures, and produce goods that are more advantageous in terms of cost, quality, and environmental impact. Additionally, there ought to be an adequate number of factories that can incorporate innovations.
“The NMIS study & findings will contribute to strengthening the baselines to some of capacities and capabilities, opportunities and challenges in the manufacturing value-chains that require immediate attention,” Dr. Chandrasekhar pointed out.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) collaborated on the National Manufacturing Innovation Survey (NMIS) 2021–22 to assess the innovation performance of manufacturing companies in India. The NMIS 2021–22 study was undertaken as a two-pronged survey that looked at manufacturing firms’ innovation methods, results, and impediments as well as the innovation ecosystem that influences these firms’ innovation outcomes. This research is a follow-up to DST’s 2011 first-ever National Innovation Survey.
By mapping the relevant processes and interactions and evaluating the performance of states, sectors, and company sizes, the collaborative study by DST-UNIDO enabled a 360-degree approach to evaluate manufacturing innovation outcomes, processes, and barriers at the firm level.
The survey provided an empirical understanding of the current innovation activities of the manufacturing economy in India as well as strategies for navigating organisational rigidity to facilitate market demand for innovations, according to Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, Secretary SERB, Senior Adviser, and Head PCPM, DST. He gave an overview of the survey during his presentation. “Evidences of the barriers and challenges to technological learning, innovation and development, and up-gradation of Indian industries shall be used for devising policies, programmes, and partnerships to strengthen innovation outcomes and benefits,” he continued.
The firm-level survey and the sectorial systems of innovation (SSI) survey were the two distinct parts of the NMIS 2021–22 survey. The Firm-level Survey recorded elements influencing the innovation activities in a firm as well as information on the sorts of inventions and inventive steps taken by firms, including the innovation process, access to money, resources, and information. Over 80% of the firms that successfully implemented innovations during the observation period—one in four—saw significant benefits in terms of growing their markets, increasing their production, and cutting costs.
The manufacturing innovation system was mapped as part of the Sectorial System of Innovation survey, along with its role as an enabler of innovations in businesses. In five key manufacturing sectors that are significant to the Indian economy—textiles, food & beverage, automotive, pharmaceutical, and ICT—the SSI study examined interactions among ecosystem stakeholders, relative barriers to innovation, and convergence or divergence of current policy instruments.
While 5,488 firms and non-firms took part in the SSI survey, 8,087 firms participated in the firm-level survey. The ‘Assessment of Firm-Level Innovation in Indian Manufacturing’ summarises the results of the firm-level survey. Five reports from the investigation of the sectorial systems of innovation within five manufacturing sectors—the automotive, pharmaceutical, textile, food and beverage, and information and communication technologies (ICT) industries—have been created separately.
