NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday approved the setting up of a National Innovation Council, to prepare a road map for the Decade of Innovation, 2010 to 2020. The National Innovation Council would be headed by Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations.
The council has been given the mandate to evolve an Indian model of innovation, focusing on inclusive growth.
It will delineate appropriate policy initiatives within the government required to spur innovation. It will also promote the setting up of sectoral innovation councils and state innovation councils.
While encouraging all important sectors of the economy to innovate, it will take special efforts to facilitate innovation by micro, small and medium enterprises. Innovation in public services delivery and encouraging multi-disciplinary and globally competitive approaches for innovation would be focused on by the council.
The National Innovation Council would have as its members K Kasturirangan and Arun Maira, members of the Planning Commission, Ramesh Mashelkar, former director general of the CSIR, Kiran Karnik, former president, NASSCOM, Devi Prasad Shetty of the Narayana Hrudyalaya, R Gopalakishnan, executive director, Tata Sons, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson, Biocon, Shekhar Kapur, film director, Saurabh Srivastava, chairman, CA Technologies, Anil K Gupta, professor, IIM Ahmedabad, professor Sujatha Ramadorai, professor, TIFR, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI, Samir Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR and Sanjay Dhande, director, IIT Kanpur and R Gopalakrishnan, Additional Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office would be the member secretary of the National Innovation Council.
