ASPIRE was launched in 2010 by Department being incubated in project mode at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad. It aims to provide a common platform for interconnecting and enhancing competencies in policy development and implementation emphasizing Science Technology and Innovation across various stakeholders and arms of the Government leading to evidence based decision making.
Some of the areas in which policy studies have been carried under ASPIRE include:
Efforts are on to upscale the level of engagement of socio-economic ministries and public sector industries in ASPIRE for R&D management, Innovation and Policy including capacity building. During 2015-16, new studies apart from conducting a workshop on science technology and innovation ecosystem will be planned for evidence based policy interventions.
The workshop on “STI for Make in India” was well attended by policy makers, members of academia, industry and its associations and other stakeholders. A welcome address was delivered by Dr. Parveen Arora, Advisor, NSTMIS, Dept. of Science and Technology, in which he laid out the expectations from the workshop and the vistas to be covered. The inaugural address was delivered by Shri Tapan Misra, Director, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad in which he elaborated on the RISAT 1 programme of ISRO and how it has helped in spawning a domestic private sector space industry in the country. He laid emphasis on engaging with private sector within the existing rules and procedures of the government to complete large strategic projects of the government. This would not only reduce the cost of such projects but would also help SMEs develop skills and master technology that can then be scaled up thereby helping manufacturing growth in the country.