Lok Sabha Question No. 3056 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-16
Subject: Global Innovation Rankings
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: KONAKALLA NARAYANA RAO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3056 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16/03/2016

## GLOBAL INNOVATION RANKINGS

## 3056.  SHRI KONAKALLA NARAYANA RAO:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó Ùðüëðó be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that recently the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)  has  released  its  Report  "Contributors  and  Detractors:  'Ranking  countries'  Impact  on Global Innovation" on innovation rankings and stated that India stood at bottom in doing the most for global innovation and India's policies have done the most to harm global innovation;

- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  the  global  innovation rankings;
- (d) whether it is also true that low budgetary allocation for primary and middle education sectors is the main reason for India's backwardness in global innovation rankings; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI.Y. S. CHOWDARY)

òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó +ÉÉè® ÑðöÆãðó òãðìððÐð ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó (gÉÉÒ ´ÉÉ<Ç. AºÉ. SÉÉèvÉ®ÉÒ)

(a) & (b):   Yes, Madam. As per the Information Technology &  Innovation Foundation (ITIF) report released in January 2016, 56 countries have been assessed based on  their existing public policies. These policies have been examined from the perspective of either  supporting  or harming global innovation and not from the perspective of affecting innovation in their own country. The final score of each country has been tabulated on a per capita basis and assessment is based on  27 factors,  out of which 14 factors which include  tax rates and credits, expenditure on education, world class universities, R&D investment, research citations, etc attribute towards  positive effect and  13  factors  which  include  trade  barriers,  intellectual  property  environment,  subsidies, restrictions etc attribute towards  negative impact on global innovation. The countries have been grouped under various categories and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China)  countries have been grouped under Innovation Mercantilist.  Based  on the score, India is at 54 th  Position on account  of  making  extensive  use    of    trade  barriers  and  providing  weaker  environment  for intellectual property protection.

(c) Many  new  initiatives  of  the  Government  of  India  are  already  underway  to  build  an enabling innovation ecosystem which also addresses some of the country specific challenges and

gap areas. The Government of India through the Department of Science and Technology brought out a policy on Science, Technology and Innovation in the year 2013. This was done to bring the country at par with the world in terms of fostering and promoting Science, Technology as well as Innovation. India has declared 2010-20 as the "Decade of Innovation". The Government has taken various measures for promotion and growth of scientific research in the country. These measures include  successive  increase  in  plan  allocations  for  Scientific  Departments,  setting  up  of  new institutions for science education and research, creation of centres of excellence for research and facilities in emerging and frontline S&T areas in national institutes, establishment  of new and attractive  fellowships  for  both  research  students  and  scientists,  recent  substantial  revision  of fellowships for research students, strengthening infrastructure for Research and Development (R&D) in universities, encouraging public-private R&D partnerships, recognition of R&D units, national  awards  for  outstanding  R&D  for  industries,  setting  up  of  Technology  Business Incubators and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Centres.

The recent national initiatives i.e Make in India, Start up India, Skill India, Smart Cities, Digital India, focus on  Ease of Doing Business and  infrastructure development will further boost the global innovation ranking of India.

(d) & (e):   No, Madam. Department of School Education & Literacy (SE&L) under Ministry of Human Resource  Development    implements    Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  Programme  (SSA)    for universalization of elementary education at primary and upper primary level. Rs. 634021.69 lakhs have been allocated for the SSA programme for the year 2015-16.  Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is a multiple component programme designed and implemented by  the  Ministry  of  Science  and  Technology,  that  aims  to  attract  talents  for  strengthening  the Research and Development base of the country and  caters to age groups of 10-32 years through various awards and scholarships. At higher education level, India's performance in research and innovation has been  promising and impressive in recent years which is evident from the fact that India's position globally in the scientific Publications as Scopus database has improved from 12 th position in 2005 to 6 th  position in 2013 with a growth rate of 13.4% as against the world average of 4.4% during 2005-2013. In the field of nanoscience and technology, India's global position has moved from 6 th  in 2011 to 3 rd  in 2013. Recent report of Springer Nature has indicated that India is ascending towards world class science and our country is at 13 th  position globally on an index of world class scientific journals.  An   increase in the number of patents filed by  CSIR both nationally and internationally also indicate a positive trend on innovation delivery.

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