COVID-19 and Recombinant Innovation in Indian Science

Has the COVID-19 pandemic nudged the scientific establishment and biotech ecosystem in India to focus on social impact and translational biology in the human health space? We address this first by reexamining the promise of science to society, namely, can and should the pursuit of knowledge be harnessed for the improvement of human life (utility)? We emphasize the possibility of pursuits that both expand the frontiers of the known and are useful, namely the “Pasteur’s quadrant.” Overlay this position with the conditions that support recombinant growth, which is the ability to combine existing knowledge into forms and products that are more valuable or in synchrony with what is needed, and you are likely to zoom in on where India is today. We use anecdotes and vignettes of how scientists, scientific institutions, and the biotechnology industry responded to the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate the fertility of the Pasteur’s quadrant, supplemented with inklings of recombinant growth. Based on these data, we offer an optimistic view that Indian science and industry are poised to find the sweet spot in the landscape of knowledge and usefulness — such that both human creativity and human societies can flourish. Such developments are likely to stand us in good stead, particularly as we rise to the challenge of emerging diseases and antibiotic resistance.