Karnataka bags top innovative State rank second time in row

Bengaluru: Karnataka has successfully retained its position as the most innovative State in the country. The State had secured the prestigious highest rank in the 'India Innovation Index-2019' also.

"The State has achieved top ranking in the list released by NITI Aayog on Wednesday. The State is able to maintain the leading position despite new indicators were added as parameters this time, major being the expenditure by States on R&D and new business registration," said Deputy Chief Minister Dr C.N.Ashwatha Narayana.

Narayana further added, "the index captures the trends and provides detailed analyses of the various factors that drive innovation at the country, state, and district levels. The index learnings can be used in devising policies both at the Central and State levels and it helps to attract investment."

The first Indian Innovation Index was released in October 2019. The objective is to sync Indian Innovation Index with the Global Innovation Index which has 80 parameters compared to 36 which were considered this year in India.

"NITI Aayog will gradually add up the parameters in the coming years to match India Innovation Index with the Global India Innovation Index," Narayana said.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala have secured second, third, fourth, and fifth positions respectively. While Haryana has got the sixth spot, Bihar is in the last position in the list which comprises 17 prominent States. Skilled human resource, the ease of doing business, legalities, knowledge dissemination, health, education, agriculture are some of the parameters which are considered to decide the ranking.

The minister said that a study is being conducted to analyze the opportunities and potential for innovation in various sectors of the State. "The department of Information Technology is in coordination and consultations with other departments in this regard. The gap finding report about innovative opportunities will be prepared soon," he added.

Dr E.V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T added, "It is indeed a proud moment for the State that Karnataka has been ranked as the Most Innovative Major State by the NITI Aayog India Innovation Index Report 2020. The fact that this is the second year in a row that Karnataka has been ranked the Most Innovative shows that not only do we have the capability to reach the top, but also maintain that position of leadership."