India Innovation Index 2020

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NITI Aayog’s second edition of India Innovation Index (III) was launched on 20th January, 2021 where Karnataka retained its top position.

About

The first edition of III was launched in October, 2019. The India Innovation Index 2019 came at a time when innovation has become a subject of significant concern for policy makers in the country. Recognizing the role of innovation as a key driver of growth and prosperity for India, NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner has carried out the report of India Innovation Index.

The aim of this index is to transform the country into an innovation-driven economy. The index displays that India is moving on the right lines and states are striving to improve their innovative ecosystem.

India Innovation Index measures innovation inputs through ‘enablers’ and innovation output as ‘performance’. There are five ‘enabler’ pillars: Human Capital, Investment, Knowledge Employment, Business Environment and Safety & Legal Environment. There two ‘performance ‘pillars too: Knowledge Output and Knowledge diffusion – capture its performance.

The index has two objectives:

1. To help better understand a states innovation ranking and relative performance by incorporating key indicators related to seven pillars.
2. It aims to strengthen the states to improve their innovation policies supporting their strengths and overcome the challenges.

At the global level our innovation index can be adjudged with Global Innovation Index that is released annually with the joint effort of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD.
The second edition of the India Innovation Index was launched by the vice chairman of NITI Aayog, Shri Rajeev Kumar on 20th January, 2021.

Parameters for evaluation of states

The index represents the trends and provides detailed analyses of the various factors that drive innovation at the country, state, and district levels. It is believed that these analyses would enable policymakers in identifying catalysts and inhibitors of innovation at the national and sub-national levels.

The states and union territories have been divided into 17 ‘Major States’, 10 ‘North-East and Hill States’, and 9 ‘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.

According to III 2020 report, Karnataka retained its first position in the Major States category. Maharashtra moved one position higher and stood at 2nd spot while Tamil Nadu slipped to 3rd rank.

In the North East and Hill States category, Himachal Pradesh stands at first rank followed by Uttarakhand and Manipur. Delhi stands at the first position while Chandigarh retained its second rank in the Union Territories and small States category.