Inaugural India Innovation Index likely this year

The India Innovation Index focused on state-wise development is in advanced stages of preparation and is likely to be ready by October, noted academician Soumitra Dutta said today.
Dutta, who is working on the index along with the NITI Aayog, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), emphasised that the idea is to create a "model for innovation".
"The goal is that we create the India Innovation Index, a model based on the global innovation index, but that at the same time is customised to specific needs of India's development," Dutta, co-editor of Global Innovation Index and Dean of College of Business at Cornell University, USA, said.

In an interview to PTI here, Dutta said the index will measure and rank the innovation performance of all Indian states with the aim of moving the country towards an innovation-driven economy.
The first ranking is expected to be released at the India Economic Summit scheduled to be held in the first week of October 2017.
"We hope we can release the results in October. That's the plan as of now. We hope we can keep the schedule on. The process is ongoing right now. We are in the process of data collection and it is more challenging since it is the inaugural edition," Dutta said.

Further, he noted that the index will help spur competition and ensure progress towards innovation at the local level in India.
To boost investments in research and development activities, he indicated that the government should look at incentives for private players, Dutta said.
"The problem in R&D investments is the government does not have the money. The challenge is to include private sector investments. The government should get the incentives aligned for the private sector to invest in R&D," he said.