NEW DELHI: The government has decided to create an “Innovation Cell”, headed by a scientist, in the Union Human Resources Development ministry in order to propose ideas in promoting innovations.
The cell will also have senior government official and young professionals.
The decision comes close on the heels of India moving 6 ranks up in the Global Innovation Index Ranking from 66 in 2016 to 60 in 2017, out of 127 countries.
The strongest points for the country happened to be a large number of science and engineering graduates, the increased investment by Global R&D companies in India, the improved QS University rankings and high rank in the highly cited research publication, global leadership in the IT service experts and leadership in export of creative goods, a statement by the ministry said
“Since the large part of Global Innovation Index relates to education, the setting up of cell will lead to more focused attention on innovation and research efforts,” HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said after a review meeting on Wednesday.
“The government's renewed emphasis on innovation as a measure to improve the economic growth and the standard of living is bearing fruit,” said the minister. “Six new Research Parks have been sanctioned in various premier institutions. There are more than 120 Technology Business Incubators covering all the institutions in the country.”
The focused attention of the Government to allocate more funds through Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) for fast tracking Innovation and Research infrastructure in country’s top central technical institutions and Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) to 1000 top students from these institutions will give further push to India’s innovation and research efforts and also help prevent brain-drain, Javadekar added.