Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF): Catalysing India’s Rise as a Research & Innovation Powerhouse
CEO ANRF
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) is envisioned as an apex, autonomous statutory body that will catalyse India’s transformation into a global Research & Innovation (R&I) powerhouse. Conceived through the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and established under the ANRF Act 2023, ANRF aims to provide strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship across disciplines, institutions and technology-readiness levels.
ANRF’s role extends beyond increasing the quantity and quality of research. Its focus is on excellence, depth, interdisciplinary collaboration, capacity building and impact, enabling more institutions to move up the quality ladder of research. It seeks to bridge silos across disciplines, institutions, sectors and technology-readiness levels while fostering agile teams, bolder goals and larger societal and economic outcomes.
A key objective of ANRF is to align India’s research and innovation ecosystem with the long-term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. ANRF will promote research that creates new science- and technology-driven economic value chains and develops transformative solutions to significant societal challenges. High-quality publications and patents will remain important, but they will be viewed as ultimate outcomes. Greater emphasis will be placed on understanding user needs, technology translation, market creation, collaboration and measurable economic or societal impact.
ANRF will operate through a horizontal and vertical strategic approach. The horizontal approach will support broad-based, bottom-up research across the TRL spectrum, including fundamental, applied and translational research, early career researchers, shared infrastructure and people mobility. The vertical approach will pursue missions and challenge-driven research through interdisciplinary, cross-institutional and cross-ministerial teams, with strong participation from industry, startups, MSMEs, laboratories and other stakeholders.
Capacity building will remain central to ANRF’s mission through hub-and-spoke institutional mentoring, virtual mentorship, people mobility, student innovation, AI-enabled research tools and expansion of successful institutional models. ANRF will catalyse Research & Innovation Missions addressing national priorities such as EV, MedTech, water, advanced materials, AI for science and engineering, etc. These missions will focus on collective outcomes rather than isolated projects and will bring together academia, industry, startups, MSMEs, laboratories, government and philanthropic partners.
A major thrust will be to accelerate the journey from Deep Science, Deep Tech, Products & Startups, including through AI-enabled research and innovation. ANRF also seeks to catalyse private-sector R&D laboratories, strengthen university–industry partnerships, create research ecosystems and accelerate technology-market fit and commercialization.
Ultimately, ANRF will function as a catalyst creating multiplier effects through funding, collaboration, talent mobility, infrastructure, partnerships and innovation ecosystems to accelerate India’s transition from research excellence to economic value creation and transformative societal impact.