NITI Aayog released the second edition of the India Innovation Index-2020 on Wednesday. The index demonstrates the government’s continued commitment towards transforming the country into an innovation-driven economy.
While releasing the India Innovation Index-2020 in New Delhi, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar said, the index illustrates that India is on the right path and the states are endeavouring to improve their innovative ecosystem.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi always emphasises on innovation and technological frontiers as these can solve the challenges and fulfill the aspiration of people.
He states the need to improve the coordination mechanism between the various Science and Technology institutions of government and the private sector. He also asked to bring the India Innovation Index in sync with Global innovation index’s parameters.
Speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant said that innovation will play a key role in making the country self-reliant and heading towards the five trillion dollar economy. He said, the innovation index will increase the competitive federalism among the States and Union Territories.
In the India Innovation Index-2020, the States and Union Territories have been divided into 17 Major States, 10 North-East and Hill States and nine Union Territories and Small States for effectively comparing their performance.
In the 2020 ranking, Karnataka retained its first position in the Major States category. Maharashtra moved one position higher and stood at second spot while Tamil Nadu slid to 3rd position.
In the North East and Hill States category, Himachal Pradesh stands at first position followed by Uttarakhand and Manipur. Delhi stands at the first position while Chandigarh retained its second spot in the Union Territories and small States category.
Manipur stands at first position among the NE states and third position among the NE & Himalayan states. Manipur emerged as the best performer among all states with a score of 41.18, on the strength of its high expenditure on science, technology, and environment and high public expenditure on research and development, according to Niti Aayog second edition report.
Karnataka was the highest scorer among Major States, and Delhi among UT and City States. Puducherry ranked at the bottom of the overall ranking; Bihar stood last among Major States and Tripura among NE and Hill States.
In the knowledge worker index, Manipur scores 29.87, which stands third ranked in India. The average score in Knowledge Workers (14.46) is significantly lesser than that in Human Capital (42.32), indicating a vital gap between educational attainment and employability among Indian graduates in knowledge-intensive activities.
However, in business index Manipur scores lowest of 4.04, which stands eight ranked among northeast and hill states. As India’s average score on the Business Environment pillar is 16.8, with Delhi yielding a score of 39.7, placing it at the top spot.
Kerala (37.1) has emerged as the best performer among Major States, and Himachal Pradesh (22.9) among NE and Hill States. On the other hand, Arunachal Pradesh (2.8) finished last overall and among NE and Hill States, Bihar (5.2) among Major States, and Puducherry (8.2) among UT and City States.
In safety and legal environment Manipur stands fourth among northeast and hill states scoring 71. 52, the country’s average score stands at 60.29, with 14 states having scored below the national average.
The regional parity of this pillar is visible with most Indian states scoring higher than the national average. Interestingly, this is the only pillar wherein the positive outliers emerge from three north-eastern states, and Sikkim.
Knowledge Output is one of the two performance pillars having the widest difference between the highest-scoring state, Delhi (82.82) and the lowest-scoring state, Sikkim (2.31). While Manipur index is 13. 97, which stands third ranked among northeast and hill states.
The knowledge output have seven indicators to determine score namely, grassroots innovation-trademark application filed-patents application filed-industries design application filed-publications-start up in the state-new business registration.
Knowledge Diffusion reflects a state’s ability to apply knowledge to increase the value-added components of products and services and in general its aspiration toward an innovation-driven economy. On knowledge diffusion Manipur score 2. 48, which stands sixth ranked among northeast and hill states of India. The pillar also indicates the extent to which a state’s economy has evolved from a resource-driven to an innovation-driven one. The majority of Indian states, concentrated mostly in the north-eastern and central parts of the country lie below the national average of 17.6.
In Northeast and hill states, Manipur on human capital score 40. 01 which stands sixth ranked. It should be mentioned that according the report, human capital has been measured on the basis of seven indicators, namely enrolment in PhD programs; enrolment in engineering and technology, colleges connected through the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT); higher education institutions with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade A and above; pupil-teacher ratio (higher education), schools with ICT labs and National Achievement Survey (NAS) Scores (Class X).
