India — Gujarat Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy 2026–2031

Mechanism

The Gujarat STI Policy 2026–2031 is a state-government five-year framework adopted under the Department of Science and Technology with GUJCOST as the executing agency. Its central instrument is the ₹1,000 crore Swadeshi Anusandhan Fund (Indigenous Innovation Fund), which finances indigenous R&D and technology-based growth across eight prioritised emerging-technology sectors: AI, semiconductors, quantum technologies, biotechnology, green energy, defence technologies, immersive technologies, and space.

Key operational provisions:

• GRRIC cluster architecture: Gujarat Rajya Research and Innovation

Clusters (GRRICs) are to be developed across three economic corridors: (i) Ahmedabad–Gandhinagar, (ii) Vadodara–Surat, and (iii) Rajkot– Bhavnagar–Junagadh–Jamnagar, serving as concentrated nodes for industry-academia collaboration and R&D infrastructure.

• Talent pipeline: 250+ annual fellowships (Junior Research Fellows,

Senior Research Fellows, Post-Doctoral Fellows) plus a Women in Innovation Fellowship; target of 1 lakh skilled research professionals by 2031.

• IP commercialisation: 200+ IP facilitation centres to be established;

1,000+ IP filings annually targeted including 500+ patents.

• R&D spending mandate: Progressive increase in state STI expenditure to

1% of GSDP by 2030, with mandatory 1% R&D allocation across all state departments and CSR-leveraging mechanisms for private-sector co-financing.

• High-impact research: Support for 100+ high-impact research projects

annually across the priority sectors.

Downstream implications

• Semiconductor fab cluster support layer: Gujarat is the locational

anchor for India's largest semiconductor projects — Micron Technology's Sanand ATMP, Tata Electronics' Dholera fab, Crystal Matrix and Suchi Semicon (both approved under ISM 2.0 cabinet approvals of May 2026). The STI Policy provides the supporting innovation-ecosystem and human- capital layer for that fab cluster, materially complementing the capital- subsidy architecture of the India Semiconductor Mission (filed at 2021-12-15-india-semiconductor-mission-pli and 2026-02-01-india- semiconductor-mission-2-0).

• First Indian sub-national STI/R&D-funding policy in the register:

IPTM India coverage is heavy on national-level instruments (PLI semiconductors, ISM, NCMM, ECMS) but thin on state-level notifications despite Indian state governments being the primary implementation layer for FDI, land, power, and skill incentives. This entry opens the sub-national STI-policy tracking axis.

• Signals an emerging Indian sub-national R&D-policy race: The

₹1,000 crore state-level fund creates an analogue to the central Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF); with Tamil Nadu (2024-01-07, 2025-04-30), Uttar Pradesh (2024-02-12, 2025-09-03), Karnataka (2025-02-11), and Maharashtra (2025-12-31) all now having semiconductor/electronics/industrial policies filed, Gujarat's STI policy represents the R&D-ecosystem layer that complements existing sectoral incentive stacks.

• Peer to Gujarat Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 2025

(filed 2025-06-22): Together these instruments constitute a dual-track Gujarat industrial-policy architecture — the GECMP-2025 provides the capital/investment-incentive layer for electronics manufacturing, the STI Policy 2026–2031 provides the R&D/talent/IP layer.

Open questions

• Whether the ₹1,000 crore Swadeshi Anusandhan Fund will be deployed as

direct grants, venture capital, or a blended instrument; specific call-for-proposals architecture not yet published.

• Whether the GRRIC cluster designation for Dholera (Ahmedabad–Gandhinagar

corridor) will formally integrate with the 2026-04-09-india-dholera-sez- tata-semiconductor-notification SEZ notification.

• Whether other Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana) will

launch comparable sub-national STI funds in response to Gujarat's ₹1,000 crore signalling.