Karnataka tops as the most innovative state in NITI Aayogs’ India Innovation Index 2019

On October 17, 2019, The National Institution for Transforming India(NITI) Aayog along with the Institute for Competitiveness as competitive partner, launched the India Innovation Index (III) 2019. According to the index, Karnataka ranked as the most innovative state in India. It was followed by TamilNadu and Maharashtra in the second and third places respectively. The index examines innovation ecosystem in the nation and aims to address the challenges in it.Key points
i. Report:  Most of the top 10 states were from southern and western parts of the country. The other states in the top 10 list were Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh in the increasing order of rank.

• Among the Northeastern & hill states, Sikkim topped the list, while Delhi topped the list in Union Territory(UT)/city states/small states category.
• The most efficient states were Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand were the bottom performer states in the index.

ii. Index framework: A Framework for the index was created for all the states and UTs. Ranking based on index scores, recognizing challenges and opportunities and assistance in fostering innovation were those frameworks.

• The III 2019 was calculated as the average of the scores of its two dimensions – Enablers and Performance. Enablers were grouped in five pillars such as human capital, Investment, knowledge workers, business environment, and safety & legal Environment while performance were divided in two pillars knowledge output and knowledge diffusion.
• The index also included a section on state profiles covering 33 indicators looking at the different facets of innovation in India.

iii. Index release: The index which was divided into 3 categories(major states, north-east, and hill states, and union territories/city states/small states) was released by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog its Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Amitabh Kant in presence of Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary in the Department of Science(DoS); RenuSwarup, Secretary in the Department of Biotechnology(DBT) and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary of AYUSh(Ayurvedic, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy).
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About NITI Aayog:
Formed-  January 1, 2015.
Headquarters-  New Delhi.
The NITI Aayog (Policy Commission) is a policy think tank of the Government of India, established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals.