This Is The Second Edition of India Innovation Index
Overall Delhi Tops the List, Chandigarh Major Gainer
Bengaluru, NFAPost: Karnataka continued to occupy the top position in the India Innovation Index list brought out by NITI Aayog along with the Institute for Competitiveness.
As per the second edition of the report, while Karnataka retained the top position, Maharashtra moved past Tamil Nadu to reach the second place. Telangana, Kerala, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab completed the top ten in that order.
The report, published in a virtual event on Wednesday, examines the examines the innovation capabilities and performance of the states and union territories. The first edition of the index was launched in October 2019.
Karnataka’s rank is attributable to its substantive number of venture capital deals, registered geographical indicators and information and communications technology exports. Karnataka’s high Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow has also enhanced the innovation capabilities of the state. Four southern states—Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Kerala—occupied the top five spots under the ‘Major States’ category this year.
In the second edition too, the index found that the level of competitiveness among the states and union territories was high, which is essential for them to continually improve on their enabling factors as well as innovation performance, year by year.
Expressing happiness over the commendable performance of the state in the India Innovation Index, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and IT, BT and Science & Technology Minister C N Ashwathnarayan said the stellar performance reinforces the importance state leading India’s innovation journey.
“It is a fact that Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, is the innovation capital of India. The state administration led by BS Yeddyurappa has always come up with pro-industry and pro-innovation approach in our governance principles. The recent decision of Tesla to choose our state for its India investment is itself is a proof of this,” said C N Ashwathnarayan.
He pointed out that the index captures the trends and provides detailed analyses of the various factors that drive innovation at the country, state, and district levels. The index learnings can be used in devising policies both at the Central and state levels and it helps to attract investment,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.
C. N. Ashwathnarayan also high lighted that the government is coming up with more pro-industry and investment policy measures and other reforms so that pace of development and innovation activities will increase. “We have already given due importance to science and technology in the state as many of the government owned research establishment along with Fortune 500 companies R&D centres have come up in the state. The support of our educational institutions in this journey is also commendable,” said the Minister.
The Deputy Chief Minister also pointed out that the state is able to maintain the leading position despite new indicators were added as parameters this time, including the major point on the expenditure by states on R&D and new business registration in the state.
“Innovation can help India boost its manufacturing competitiveness and exports besides playing a key role in upholding the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat. NITI Aayog will gradually add up the parameters in the coming years to match India Innovation Index with the Global India Innovation Index,” said C N Ashwathnarayana informed.
Expressing his views on India Innovation Index 2020, Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary, and Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T E V Ramana Reddy said it is indeed a proud moment for the State that Karnataka that it has been ranked as the Most Innovative Major State by the NITI Aayog India Innovation Index Report 2020.
“The fact that this is the second year in a row that Karnataka has been ranked as the Most Innovative shows that not only do we have the capability to reach the top, but also maintain that position of leadership. This is an achievement of the entire ecosystem – including multiple government departments, industry, academia and of course, our startups. We understand there are always areas of improvement and we are conducting a study to identify how we can work on these aspects. I would like to congratulate all the ecosystem stakeholders for their efforts,” said E V Ramana Reddy.
Overall, Delhi retained its first rank, while Chandigarh made a big leap since 2019 and landed in the second place this year. Under the ‘North-Eastern/Hill States’ category, Himachal Pradesh moved up from the second position to emerge as the top ranker this year, while 2019’s top performer (in this category), Sikkim, slipped down to the fourth position.
The innovation inputs were measured through five enabler parameters, and the output through two performance parameters. While ‘Human Capital’, ‘Investment’, ‘Knowledge Workers’, ‘Business Environment’, ‘Safety and Legal Environment’were identified as enabler parameters, ‘Knowledge Output’ and ‘Knowledge Diffusion’were chosen as the performance parameters.
The India Innovation Index 2020was released by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, in the presence of Member (Health) Dr VK Paul, Member (Agriculture)Dr Ramesh Chand, CEO Amitabh Kant, Adviser (Science and Technology) Neeraj Sinha, and institute for Competitiveness Chair Dr Amit Kapoor.
The event was attended by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Secretary Dr Shekhar C. Mande, Department of Biotechnology Secretary Dr Renu Swarup, Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary Dr MN Rajeevan, Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Secretary Dr Kshatrapati Shivaji, among others.
During the event, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said the India Innovation Index will create synergies between different stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem, thus enabling India to shift to competitive good governance.
“The index is a great beginning to improve the innovation environment in the country. It is the right step towards making India the innovation leader of the world,” said Dr Rajiv Kumar.
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said the India Innovation Index is a major step towards measuring innovation outcomes of states. “The index facilitates optimal utilization of national and state mechanisms to realise the goal of an AatmanirbharBharat,” said Amitabh Kant.
Lauding the performance of various states, NITI Aayog Adviser Neeraj Sinha said the index could be of vital significance to the states in identifying their innovation performance and initiating necessary policy interventions to leverage their unique strengths.
Institute for Competitiveness Chair Dr Amit Kapoor said the index can help the Central and state governments to benchmark regional performance with respect to innovation, and provide policy insights on what needs to be done to improve and enhance it.
The India Innovation Index aims to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of India’s innovation environment. The index aims to rank states and UTs based on their scores, recognize opportunities and challenges, and assist in tailoring government policies to foster innovation.
NITI Aayog, with its mandate of promoting ‘competitive federalism’ among all states and union territories, is committed to utilize the India Innovation Index in catalysing the innovation outcome of the nation. The first Indian Innovation Index was released in October 2019. The objective is to sync the Indian Innovation Index with the Global Innovation Index which has 80 parameters compared to 36 which were considered this year in India.
The full document can be accessed here: https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-01/IndiaInnovationReport2020Book.pdf
