Karnataka tops NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2021

NEW DELHI: The third edition of India Innovation Index, 2021, was released by National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on Thursday, July 21. Karnataka, Manipur and Chandigarh emerged as top performers in their respective categories.

Suman Bery, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, released the index on Thursday, July 21. Dr VK Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog; Parameswaran Iyer, CEO; Neeraj Sinha, Senior Adviser; and Dr Amit Kapoor, Chairman, Institute for Competitiveness, were present during the launch of the third edition of the index.

The index serves as an instrument to measure the performance of states and UTs in fostering the innovation ecosystem in their jurisdiction. The index draws upon the framework of the Global Innovation Index of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

In India, in Innovation Index 2020, performance of the states and UTs was assessed with the help of 36 indicators. This time the number of indicators has increased to 66, which are grouped into 16 sub-parameters of seven key parameters.

Karnataka topped in the ‘Major States’ category, while Manipur prevailed in the ‘North East and Hill States’ category and Chandīgarh was ranked first in the ‘Union Territories and City States’ category.

Dr Saraswat, after the release of the index, said, “Innovation is the key to sustainable and inclusive growth. It can help us solve the biggest challenges of our times: bringing millions out of poverty, generating livelihood opportunities, and paving the way for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”