Government to start portal for innovators

Innovators seeking government help to transform their ideas into reality can now turn to a dedicated web portal to be set up for them, a minister said on Thursday.

"I have decided that there will be a separate, dedicated portal of my ministry dedicated to the innovators of India," IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the Intel DST Innovate for Digital India Challenge event here.

"Anyone can put their innovation on the portal, and my department will follow them up," Prasad said. "I will personally monitor the progress of how these ideas are being followed up."

Lauding "jugaad", or the frugal innovation India has come to be known for in the course of its development, Prasad said the government plans to double the number of Common Service Centres (CSC) or information and communication technology (ICT) access points created under the National e-Governance Project.

"We propose to double the number of Common Service Centres that number 126,000," the minister said.

"There is a plan to convert the existing 125,000 post offices across the country into common service centres," he said.

"Frugal innovation along with government support will result in the turning of India," he added.

The purpose of the CSC project is to provide much-needed information and services to under served Indians in rural areas.

Speaking earlier at the event, senior vice-president of Intel Corporation Gregory R. Pearson said: "The Intel mission is to use the power of Moore's Law to bring smart connected devices to every person on earth."

"Besides the democratisation brought on by digital, now it has also become affordable," he added.

The Intel and India's Department of Science (DST) Innovate for Digital India Challenge, which on Thursday awarded 10 such innovations, was created to attract innovators to develop easy-to-use solutions to drive technology adoption.

According to Intel, in order for the Digital India programme to be successful, it is essential to "digitise" rural India.