Healthy ecosystem needed to harness innovative potential: President

Emphasising that innovation converts knowledge into social good and economic wealth, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said a healthy ecosystem is needed to harness innovative potential of the people at multiple levels in India.

"India has had a long tradition of innovation. From time to time, the common people in our country have ushered in novel solutions to overcome their day-to-day difficulties," the president said while addressing a group of 17 Ashoka fellows who called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

'Ashoka Innovators for the Public' is a worldwide network of social entrepreneurs comprising people with innovative solutions to urgent social problems.

It provides an enabling platform to social entrepreneurs to think and act as change agents.

Mukherjee said that creating an inclusive ecosystem calls for linkages between innovators on the one hand and academic and research institutions and market forces on the other.

"Countries successful in building such a network have become innovation leaders," he said.

Mukherjee also felt that educational institutions have a critical role to play in nurturing innovations in society.