Welcome Remarks by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director VIF

Dear Friends,

VIF welcomes you to this Round Table Discussion on Gross Domestic Knowledge Product (GDKP) and India.

We are grateful to Prof Umbrato Sulpasso, Senior Fellow, Central for Digital Future, University of Southern California for being with us today for this round table. We are also honoured by the presence of Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog, Amb KP Cherian, and Mr. Tanmoy Chakraborty, Senior Vice President , Tata Consultancy Services, for agreeing to be the panelist at this round table discussion. I would like to thank the distinguished guests who have taken time from their busy schedule to present here in this round table.

Prof Sulpasso is the author of the much acclaimed book “Darwinomics”, which has been published in Italian , Chinese and English. He will speak to us about the book and on the concept of GDKP in Indian Context.

As you are aware, GDKP is a new measure devised to assess India’s growth in the knowledge economy. I understand that Dr, Ashish Kumar, Director General of Central Statistics Office had calculated the GDKP for India for 2011 and 2012 and also produced comparison of GDP and GDKP for 50 countries. The calculation shows that in industrialized countries the percentage of GDKP over GDP is high whereas it is still low for China and India.

The GDKP model developed by Dr, Ashish Kumar takes into account knowledge production, knowledge transmission and knowledge transfer to the economy. Research in pure science and applied sciences and its application for technology developments is at heart of knowledge production. Education and training of scientist is crucial for knowledge transmission. Dissemination of knowledge through knowledge distribution system is central for knowledge transfer.

The GDKP concept identifies four components of knowledge based economy, namely, R&D and technology, computer infrastructure, information infrastructure and education and training. These are quantifiable elements of knowledge economy and can be used to calculate GDKP. The GDP comprises of communication services, R&D services, legal services, business services, computer related services and education services. According to Dr. Ashish Kumar’s calculation India’s GDKP has been around 10 to 11 % of overall GDP during the year 2011 to 2013.

Prof Sulpasso has provided the theoretical basis for calculation of GDKP. I understand that when Dr. Rajiv Kumar was the DG of FICCI, a formal agreement was concluded with Prof Sulpasso for calculating India’s GDKP. A team of experts including Amb KP Fabian, Prof Sulpasso, Dr Balashetty and Dr. Ashish Kumar is trying to take forward to this projects.

I request Prof Sulpasso to make his remarks. Thereafter our panelist will provide their comments and observations.

Thank You.