Andhra Pradesh government inks pact with ISB for setting up public policy lab

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday signed a pact with the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) for setting up a public policy lab to help achieve economic recovery and growth in the post-Covid-19 period.

According to the MoU, the laboratory called "GoAP-ISB Policy Lab" would be set up that would drive evidence-based policy decisions, the state government said in a statement.

"The lab is modelled on the lines of the policy lab in the UK cabinet that will enable greater synergistic functioning of departments and work towards the objective of economic monitoring, recovery, and development," the statement said.

The lab aims to create a knowledge bank for strategic planning, policy analysis, data analytics and action-research essential for sustaining higher growth rate. It would focus on investment flows, their efficacy in terms of value addition, employment generation and wealth creation, it said. In addition, the state government said it has also collaborated with ISB in developing indicators for monitoring economic recovery in the state, project on Visakhapatnam as growth engine, focus on food processing in the Rayalaseema region, improving e-governance, data analytics unshackling informal sector growth and reshaping the skilling programmes.

"The data analytics is designed to move from hindsight to foresight and outsight i.e. from mere descriptive analytics to predictive and prescriptive policy analytics which is going to be a game-changer in the days to come," it added.

CEO of Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board J V N Subramanyam and ISB Dean Rajendra Srivastava signed the MoU in the presence of Industries and Commerce Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy in a virtual event.