National Innovation Council to Involve States and Central Ministries in Popularising Innovation

IIT Kanpur

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EQUALITY INDIA NEWS / A SHAKTI VAHINI RESEARCH INITIATIVE

The National Innovation Council (NInC) has asked all State Governments to set up State Innovation Councils to drive innovations in their respective states. There has been a positive response from several State Governments regarding the setting up of these Councils. NInC has also written to central Government Ministries to set up autonomous Sectoral Innovation Councils, aligned to Ministries, to drive innovations and competitive advantage in multiple sectors. These Councils would aim to co-opt domain experts and other stakeholders to prepare a Roadmap for Innovations for the next decade for identified sectors.

In its second meeting here, the Council decided to take Inclusive Innovation Fund to second phase of implementation. Earlier the Council had decided to work towards setting up a preliminary structure of a US $1 Billion Inclusive Innovation Fund, structured as a ‘Fund of Funds’.   The Council also identified 40 industry clusters under the aegis of CII and FICCI where innovation eco-systems will be created to improve the innovation index and competitive advantage. The initial list would include clusters in different regions of the country such as Panipat, Surat, Ludhiana, Faridabad, Jalandhar, Pithanpur, Moradabad, Gurgaon, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Hyderabad. A decision was also taken at the Council to identify universities in the abovementioned clusters where innovation centres would be created to connect relevant stakeholders and promote innovations. To promote and foster the spirit of innovation in the country, proposals were discussed on creating a Television Reality Show on Innovations, instituting a National Innovation Day and encouraging MPs to drive innovations in their constituencies through awards and incentives.

The National Innovation Council meeting held on 12th Jan 2011 was attended by:

1.      Mr. Sam Pitroda, Adviser to PM on PIII

2.      Dr. Sujatha Ramdorai, Member – National Innovation Council, Professor – TIFR

3.      Mr. Arun Maira, Member – National Innovation Council, Member – Planning Commission

4.      Dr. R. Mashelkar, Member – National Innovation Council, Chairman – National Innovation Foundation

5.      Mr. Kiran Karnik, Member – National Innovation Council, Former President – NASSCOM

6.      Dr. Samir K Brahmachari, Member – National Innovation Council, Director General – CSIR

7.      Mr. Saurabh Shrivastava, Member – National Innovation Council, Chairman – CA Technologies

8.      Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Member – National Innovation Council, Member –  Planning Commission

9.      Mr. Shekhar Kapur, Member – National Innovation Council, Film Director & Producer

10.  Dr. Anil. K. Gupta, Member – National Innovation Council, Executive Vice Chair-National Innovation Foundation

11.  Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee , Member – National Innovation Council, Director General – CII

12.  Dr. Amit Mitra, Member – National Innovation Council,      Secretary General – FICCI

13.  Dr. Sanjay Dhande, Member – National Innovation Council, Director – IIT Kanpur

14.  Mrs. Kalpana Awasthi, OSD to Adviser to PM and Team.