According to Centre’s policy think-tank NITI Aayog’s report on “India Innovation Index 2020”, Haryana (6th) and Punjab (10th) managed to find place among the top 10 most innovative states, with Karnataka securing the first rank.
According to the index released by NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar in the presence of think-tank’s members VK Paul (Health) and Ramesh Chand (Agriculture) and CEO Amitabh Kant, Himachal topped the chart among the hill and north-eastern states, as Chandigarh has made a leap forward to rank second among the Union Territories (UTs) after Delhi.
The last edition of the India Innovation Index, released in October 2019, was a first-of-its-kind metric for assessing the innovation capabilities of Indian states and Union territories.
NITI Aayog ranks states based on whether they provide a conducive environment for registering new businesses, applying for patents, human capital, and investments, among other measures.
Himachal, which topped the rankings of hill and north-east states, has been followed by Uttarakhand, Manipur and Sikkim.
“There is a very strong correlation between innovation and development. As states become more innovative, their per-capita GDP (gross domestic product) rises,” said Amit Kapoor, chairman of the Institute for Competitiveness, a Gurugram-based organisation that worked with NITI Aayog to develop the index.
The India innovation index is modelled along the lines of the global innovation index, which is brought out by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, but tracks fewer parameters. It aims to add more parameters in the next report and sync it with the global index.
“The Prime Minister is very clear that it is innovation and technology that will solve the immense challenges that India faces. Trying to spur innovation at the state level is important,” Kumar said.
Kant said by providing a thrust on innovation, India could augment its manufacturing and export competitiveness. “We will continue to work in very close collaboration with science and technology teams across all the states as well as the industrial and manufacturing teams across India. We will complement them as the knowledge partner to make India an innovative nation,” he said.
In the second edition of the index, Maharashtra has overtaken Tamil Nadu to the second spot. Telangana has claimed the fourth place, with Kerala moving up one notch to fifth, pushing Haryana to sixth place in the list of 17 major states. Bihar has featured at the bottom of the list.
