IT INDUSTRY veteran N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday emphasised the need to strengthen India’s national and institutional focus on research, saying it is the only path to make the country and the world a better place. He called on India to create an aspirational, meritocratic and competitive research ecosystem that offers a rewarding environment for scientists, engineers, economists, mathematicians and humanists. Speaking at the announcement of the Infosys Prize 2025 here, Murthy quoted Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, and said research represents “the broadening of the mind” that leads to unravelling the mysteries of nature, seeing what others have not yet seen, and finding plausibly impossible solutions to the problems faced by humankind.

 

“The need of the day for our country is to strengthen our national and institutional focus on research for a better India and for a better world,” he said. Murthy cited former US President Franklin D Roosevelt’s letter to Dr Vannevar Bush, head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development under his administration, saying it led to a monumental report titled “Science — The Endless Frontier” and to the formation of the National Science Foundation in the US. He further said the report paved the way for America’s leadership in scientific and engineering research productivity, its space explorations, uninterrupted research funding, and the success of its universities, laboratories and corporations — making the US a superpower. Quoting a range of thinkers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Richard Feynman, Alan Turing, Thomas Alva Edison and Jennifer Doudna, Murthy said curiosity, imagination and persistence form the bedrock of scientific discovery.