Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday underscored the urgent need for India to deepen its focus on research, innovation and scientific inquiry, calling it the only pathway to make the country and the world better places to live in.
Speaking at the announcement of the Infosys Prize 2025, Murthy urged the creation of an aspirational, meritocratic and competitive research ecosystem that nurtures scientists, engineers, economists, mathematicians and humanists alike.
“Research represents the broadening of the mind”
Murthy quoted Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, describing research as “the broadening of the mind” that helps humanity uncover nature’s mysteries and discover solutions once thought impossible.
“The need of the day for our country is to strengthen our national and institutional focus on research for a better India and for a better world,” he said.
He cited former US President Franklin D Roosevelt’s letter to Dr Vannevar Bush, which led to the historic report “Science — The Endless Frontier” and the eventual formation of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Murthy said this laid the groundwork for America’s sustained research productivity and technological leadership.
India must nurture an ecosystem that rewards curiosity
Referencing thinkers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Richard Feynman, Alan Turing, Thomas Edison and Jennifer Doudna, Murthy said curiosity and imagination are the foundation of discovery.
“Research in universities, laboratories, libraries and companies is born from such curiosity, imagination, Socratic questioning, daring and humility. Research effort needs audacity, daring, unbridled imagination and the ability not to be cowed down by failures,” he said.
He stressed that scientific progress demands resilience and a willingness to learn from mistakes. “Research is also about not feeling defeated by failures, learning from them, avoiding mistakes in the future and improving continuously,” Murthy added.
Murthy also invoked the ideas of Dr Amartya Sen, highlighting how research in economics and social sciences drives justice, freedom and dignity. He said, “Research in economics and social sciences guides us to understand how science and technology translate into prosperity, justice, equity, freedom and dignity. Research in the humanities reminds us that knowledge must always serve an ethical purpose.”
According to Murthy, the collective voices of Roosevelt, Bush, Nehru, Feynman, Turing, Edison, Fourier, Bhargava, Friedman, Sen, Darwin and Doudna all point to a common truth — that research is humanity’s noblest enterprise, connecting science and society, ethics and values.
Murthy concluded by urging the government, academia and industry to make India a welcoming and rewarding place for researchers.
“It is our sacred duty to ensure that these role models find a highly competitive intellectual environment that reveres a hierarchy of ideas rather than a hierarchy of titles and offices,” he said.
He added that building such an ecosystem is a national responsibility. “This is the only way we can fulfil the dreams of our founding fathers, who sacrificed their lives to create an India where the poorest child in the remotest village would have access to nutrition, healthcare, shelter, education and an opportunity to lead a fulfilling life. That responsibility of fulfilling their dreams lies on the broad, daring, imaginative and caring shoulders of the Infosys Prize laureates of 2025,” he said.