India Innovation index for the year 2022

Source: The Hindu

Context: 

NITI Aayog has released the India Innovation index for the year 2022.

About: 

India Innovation Index is a comprehensive tool for the evaluation and development of the country’s innovation ecosystem.

It ranks the states and the union territories on their innovation performance to build healthy competition amongst them.

It is prepared by NITI Aayog and the Institute for Competitiveness.

This is the third edition which highlights the scope of innovation analysis in the country by drawing on the framework of the Global Innovation Index.

The number of indicators has increased from 36 (in the India Innovation Index 2020) to 66 (in the India Innovation Index 2021).

The indicators are now distributed across 16 sub-pillars, which, in turn, form seven key pillars.

Key Highlights: 

Karnataka has topped the rank in NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index for the third time under the ‘Major States category’.

Manipur secured the lead in the Northeast and Hill States category,

While Chandigarh was the top performer in the Union Territories and City States category.

Karnataka was followed by Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Gujarat were at the bottom of the index.

Suggestions by NITI Aayog:

India’s average innovation score is low as given the country’s ambitious targets to be named among the top 25 nations in the Global Innovation Index.

The report has recommended measures, such as increasing

Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GDERD), as India’s GDERD as a percentage of GDP stood at about 0.7%.

Promoting private sector participation in R&D and

Closing the gap between industry demand and produces through its education systems.

The report went on to state that countries that spend less on GDERD fail to retain their human capital in the long run and the ability to innovate is dependent on the quality of human capital.

Significance of the Index

The India Innovation Index contributes to the Government’s effort to monitor select global indices through the Global Indices to drive Reform and Growth (GIRG) mechanism.