Karnataka retains its position as most innovative state

Karnataka has retained its position as the most innovative state in the country followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Kerala. The India Innovative Index 2020, released by NITI Aayog on Wednesday, shows Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur in top three positions among north-east and hilly states while Delhi, Chandigarh and Daman and Diu are the toppers among the union territories in the country.
The first Indian Innovation Index was released in October 2019. “Our aim is to sync Indian Innovation Index with the Global Innovation Index which has 80 parameters compared to 36 in India,” NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said, adding hopefully the Aayog will do it when we come out with the third edition of the India Innovation Index.

The India Innovation Index 2020 has seen new indicators being added, major being the expenditure by states on R&D and new business registration in the state.

“Innovation can help India boost its manufacturing competitiveness and exports. It will play a key role in upholding the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said at the launch of the index.

According to Kant, the index is in line with the Aayog’s vision of competitive federalism wherein states are ranked across various parameters including health, education and agriculture. “The index learnings can be used in devising policies both at the Central and state levels,” Kant added

Through the index, prepared jointly by the Aayog and the Institute of Competitiveness, the government ranks the states and union territories based on their relative performance of supporting innovation, and empowers them to improve their innovation policies by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.

The states and union territories have been divided into 17 ‘major states’, 10 ‘north-east and hill States’, and nine ‘city states and union territories’, for effectively comparing their performance. The states and union territories have been ranked on two broad categories: outcome and governance. Overall, the framework of India Innovation Index 2020 consists of 36 indicators, which include hard data (32 indicators) and four composite indicators.

India Innovation Index 2020 builds on the previous year’s methodology by introducing more metrics and providing a holistic outlook of the Indian innovation ecosystem. The framework has been updated to include globally considered parameters for measuring innovation (such as the percentage of gross domestic product spent on research and development), while also retaining the parameters specific to the Indian economy.

The index captures the trends and provides detailed analyses of the various factors that drive innovation at the country, state, and district levels.