ABSTRACT
The present study is an attempt to examine the System building activities of molecular diagnostics (MDs) industrial base actors in India in the context of ongoing economic liberalisation. MDs, being an emerging biomedical technology field, have considerable scope to serve the diagnostic needs and requirements of the healthcare system. Given the underlying interactions and interlinkages with the rest of the economic system, the study adopted a system framework and developed a Socially Responsible Innovation System Approach as the analytical framework. The system performance was evaluated in terms of Technological Innovation System functions and the systematic challenges and issues are assessed through system failure methodology. Based on the secondary data and primary survey of major industrial actors, the study finds heavy dependency on imported MDs reagents and equipment from abroad, reflecting the direct implication of the trade liberalisation policy regime initiated since the 1990s. Moreover, the innovative capabilities in terms of production, technology and investment are found to be highly concentrated in the hands of a few MNCs. The system analysis reveals that most of the TIS functions are underperforming because of the absence of well-defined rules, regulations, interactions and goal-oriented targeted policy regime of the State.
