Three day global roundtable on inclusive innovation concludes

The three day Global Roundtable on Inclusive Innovation held as part of the ongoing 'Festival of Innovations' from March 12-19 concluded at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

The Global Roundtable discussed themes of incubation and acceleration models for innovative start-ups; innovation and skill development; incentives for innovation in public policy and programmes, social innovations for large scale change, macro-level initiatives for innovations in Public Service Delivery and Grassroots Action for Inclusion.

Among the eminent panelists were Prof. K. Vijayraghavan, Secretary Department of Biotechnology; Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology; Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, IIM-Ahmedabad; Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM-Indore; Shri Ashwin Mahesh, Founder of BMTC system and Mapunity, Shri Chandrashekhar Ghosh, Founder and CMD of Bandhan Bank, Dr. D.R. Mehta, Founder and Chief Patron of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), Shri Sanjay Vijaykumar, Chairman, Startup Village, Shri Deepak Gupta, Chairman, UPSC, Shri Jitesh Khosla, Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Assam and Dr. Anup K. Pujari, Former Secretary to Govt. of India.

The outcomes of group discussions and recommendations by various sessions of the Global Roundtable were presented to the President on March 12 and Secretary to the President, Omita Paul on March 13.

Addressing the roundtable, the Secretary to the President said that the Indian social enterprise system had its genesis in the Gandhian philosophical underpinnings of village empowerment.

She announced that the third edition of the Festival of Innovation will be held from March 4-10, 2017.

A workshop for Innovative and Creative Children was also held as part of the Festival of Innovations with participation of more than 60 children.

Discussions were held on social problems followed by ideas and proposals for creative solutions by children as well as appreciation and feedback by experts.

Addressing the Global Roundtable on the topic 'Social Innovation for Large Scale Change' yesterday, Nobel Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi said that India has been the land of innovation for ages. Society has evolved in a way which allows people to live in harmony while appreciating its diversity.

Over centuries, our minds have become seasoned to think within the 'box'. It is however important to start thinking with a "question mark" rather than with a "full stop".

He presented a 3 D Model for Social innovation i.e. (1) 'Dream' for big and for better (2) 'Discover' inner strength and new ideas by thinking outside the box and (3) Do- Act now.

Jayant Krishna, CEO, National Skill Development Corporation addressed the Global Roundtable yesterday and stressed on the need to leverage India's demographic dividend.

He said it was more important to leverage innovation in the light of skill development. He added that we cannot innovate unless we skill India.

The Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) awards-2016 were conferred as part of the 'Festival of Innovations'.

The GYTI Awards is an initiative to foster youth driven innovations across India and were organised by the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) with support from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).