Vineet Gupta Ashoka University Founder: Why Research & Innovation, Not Just Startups, Will Define India’s Global Standing

India’s rise as a startup powerhouse has been one of the defining economic stories of the past decade. With over 2 lakh DPIIT-recognised startups as of December 2025, the country now hosts one of the world’s largest entrepreneurial ecosystems. Yet, as India aspires to strengthen its global standing, a deeper question emerges: can startups alone define a nation’s long-term competitiveness?

“Startups are important, but no country becomes a global innovation power without strong institutions that consistently produce research, talent, and new ideas over decades,” says Vineet Gupta, founder of Ashoka University. The success of companies like Google and Apple was not accidental; it was built on the back of deep research ecosystems, strong universities, and sustained investment in innovation.

India is beginning to recognise this gap. In July 2025, the Union Cabinet approved a ₹1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme to boost private sector participation in research and accelerate growth in sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and clean energy. The scheme aims to provide long-term, low-cost financing for high-impact projects, signalling a shift in how India views research, from an academic activity to national infrastructure.

However, this policy push also underscores a deeper structural challenge. India’s research spending remains at approximately 0.7% of GDP, significantly lower than leading innovation economies. While the private sector contributes around 37% of total R&D expenditure, the overall investment base remains limited for a country of India’s scale and ambition. This gap directly affects the country’s ability to build globally competitive technologies.

At the same time, India’s innovation output is improving. The country ranked 39th in the Global Innovation Index 2024, up from 48th in 2020, and continues to lead among lower-middle-income economies. Yet, this progress has been achieved despite relatively modest research inputs, suggesting that the innovation ecosystem remains underdeveloped at a foundational level.

The recently announced RDI fund reflects a broader shift in thinking. Gupta notes that such initiatives are critical because they begin to treat research as a long-term national investment rather than a short-term academic exercise. For innovation to become sustainable, it must be anchored in institutions that can support continuous discovery, not just episodic breakthroughs.

India’s higher education system, with over 4.4 crore students enrolled, provides scale but not always depth. The real challenge lies in building institutions that can drive research, attract global faculty, and foster interdisciplinary learning. Innovation ecosystems require universities that can work closely with industry, support experimentation, and enable long-term thinking.

This is where the role of private, philanthropy-driven institutions becomes increasingly relevant. Such institutions often have the flexibility to invest in research, build global collaborations, and prioritise academic excellence without the constraints of short-term financial pressures. However, their impact will depend on whether they are enabled to scale and integrate into the broader national innovation framework.

“Innovation ecosystems are built when universities, industry, capital, and public policy reinforce each other,” Gupta adds. Without this alignment, even strong entrepreneurial activity may struggle to translate into sustained global leadership.

The creation of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) is another step in this direction, aimed at strengthening research across universities and fostering deeper industry-academia linkages. But the real test lies in execution, ensuring that funding, institutions, and talent pipelines evolve together.

India has already demonstrated its ability to produce entrepreneurs at scale. The next phase of its growth will depend on whether it can build the institutional backbone that generates innovation consistently over time.

Because in the long run, nations are not defined by the number of startups they create, but by the strength of the ideas, research, and institutions that endure.