HYDERABAD: Telangana has bagged second place in the overall rankings of Niti Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2021 and in the performers’ category, it was placed in the top slot in the index. This India Innovation Index examines innovation capacities and ecosystems at the sub-national level. States and Union Territories were divided into ‘17 Major States, 10 North-East and Hill States, and 9 Union Territories and the City States’, for comparing their performance.
Telangana being one of the top IT destinations, and known for housing big MNCs and startups, performed well across indicators. For example, the percentage of schools with ICT labs doubled from about 17 per cent to about 35 per cent.
In terms of higher education, the number of enrolments (per lakh population) also increased from about 9.7 to about 15.7. This was complemented by the number of private R&D units (per lakh population), which increased from about 0.3 to about 1.4 depicting the state’s potential to create knowledge workers.
Consequently, the State performed well in knowledge output pillars, including patents, trademarks and industrial design, which witnessed an increase in the units filed, compared to the last year, apart from increasing its start-ups from about 4,900 to about 9,000.
Knowledge Diffusion pillar
As per the index, the State was not able to improve its performance in the ‘Knowledge Diffusion’ pillar. This goes to show that although the State was able to create and apply knowledge, it wasn’t able to reflect the same in its products or services. The State needs to focus on how the knowledge that it is creating, can be converted into its products and services.
Reacting to the rankings, IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said: “Glad that the 3-I mantra; innovation, infrastructure & inclusive growth of Telangana is paying rich dividends. Niti Aayog has ranked Telangana as No-1 in the performers’ category & overall as 2nd best in the country. Kudos to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for his visionary leadership.”
Telangana State Planning Board Vice Chairman B Vinod Kumar said that this ranking is a testimony to the State’s growth. “Telangana, a new State that emerged eight years ago is leading in all fields including innovation,” he said.
Good performance across categories
In terms of higher education, the number of enrolments (per lakh population) in the State increased from about 9.7 to about 15.7. This was complemented by the number of private R&D units (per lakh population), which increased from about 0.3 to about 1.4. The number of schools with ICT labs also doubled from about 17% to about 35%