BENGALURU: Karnataka has retained the top position in the innovation index for a second year in a row, a pointer to its strength in maintaining the leadership position. The state’s innovation score of 42.5 was way above the average score of 25.35 among the major states. Maharashtra was in second place with a score of 38 and Bihar in the last place with just 14.5. Among City States and Union Territories, Delhi topped list.
Skilled human resource, ease of doing business, legalities, knowledge dissemination, health and education are some of the parameters considered to decide the ranking. The NITI Aayog’s Innovation Index 2020 report, released on Wednesday, attributes Karnataka’s top rank to the number of venture capital deals, information and communication technology exports, high foreign direct investment inflow among other factors.
“Karnataka is the leader in innovation. The top position has been confirmed again by the NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2020 ranking,” said Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. The state has maintained top ranking despite new indicators such as expenditure by states on R&D and new business registration being added as parameters this time, said Deputy CM Dr C N Ashwath Narayana, who also holds Information Technology portfolio.The innovation index captures the trends and provides detailed analyses of the various factors that drive innovation at district, state and at the national level.
‘Will identify areas for improvement’
The index learnings can be used in devising policies, both at the central and state levels, and it helps to attract investment. Karnataka has been categorized as “over-performing” in certain categories such as; Human Capital ( 54.27); Knowledge Diffusion (72.26); Investment (33.01), while it has been rated as “under-performing” in Safety and Legal Environment (39.75) and Business Environment (24.43).
On the Safety and Legal Environment, the report says Karnataka is tied for the top position in the number of cyber crime police stations, but despite the good performance, the state also has one of the highest proportion of offences under IT/IP related Acts, and pending court cases.
While the number of offenses can be justified through higher reporting of such offenses , the high pendency of court cases is a matter of concern and can be a sign of relucance in seeking legal relief because of its time-conuming nature. The latter can be a detrimental factor in the innovation lands c a p e , the rep o r t stated.
“We understand there are always areas of improvement and we are conducting a study to identify how we can work on these aspects, “ said Dr E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT/BT and Science and Technology. Retaining the top rank is an achievement of the entire ecosystem, including multiple government departments, industry, academia and startups, he added. The Department of Information Technology, in coordination other departments, is conducting a study to analyze the opportunities and potential for innovation in various sectors and a report on innovative opportunities is likely to be prepared soon.