New Delhi, Jan 4(ANI): Vice President Hamid Ansari on Monday said that the potential of India as a global power, its vision of inclusive growth and optimal utilization of the human potential of all its citizens, cannot be realized without encouraging greater participation in quality higher education and scientific research.

Addressing at the presentation function of “Infosys Prize 2009″ in the national capital, Ansari said that it needs to be done by harnessing the resources and efforts of all stakeholders namely the government, universities, national laboratories and institutes of excellence, public and private sector companies, and even venture capitalists.

“We do need new investments and incentives from the private sector so that our young people will be encouraged increasingly to pursue and thereafter seek a career in science,” Ansari said.

The Vice President further said that scientific research and technological innovation is the key to a nation’s prosperity.

“Equally essential is scientific study of the past and present of our society, and of its pursuit of material wellbeing. For this reason, inculcating a scientific temper among citizens has been a national goal since the time of our freedom movement. It was deemed essential for political and economic emancipation of our people. This is reflected in Article 51 A of our Constitution and the duty it imposes on every citizen to “develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”,” Ansari said.

“Our achievements in the knowledge industries, especially in Information Technology, bio-technology and pharmaceutical industries, have come about due to considerable public investment in tertiary science and technology education. Our nuclear energy, space and defence-related industry, and the Science and Technology establishment, have created the demand for and incubated these science and technology graduates, who thereafter either became entrepreneurs or moved to the private sector,” he added. (ANI)