New Index to Measure Innovation Performance of Indian States

world economic forum

  • The World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog, World Intellectual Property Organization and Cornell University have agreed to work together on an India innovation index
  • The index will measure and rank the innovation performance of all Indian states with the aim of moving India towards an innovation-driven economy
  • The first ranking is expected to be released at the India Economic Summit on 4-6 October 2017 in New Delhi
  • For more information on the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017, taking place this week, see http://wef.ch/davos17
19 January 2017, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland – The World Economic Forum today agreed to work together to develop an India Innovation Index together with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and NITI Aayog. The index will provide impetus to Indian states to drive the innovative spirit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has included innovation at the top of his agenda for national development and global competitiveness. India’s ranking rose considerably in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2016 and the country is now an Innovation Achiever. Based on the GII, the India Innovation Index will be tailored to better reflect the ground reality of India and include metrics well suited to the Indian context. Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, said, “Prime Minister Modi believes that competitive and cooperative federalism is key to India’s progress. This index will encourage states to compete with each other and, in turn, lead to better policies for inclusive growth.”

“I am impressed by the high-level priority that the Indian government attaches to the development of its innovation system. We are very excited to collaborate on this and hope that this will further mobilize the availability of new data for the GII itself,” said Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The index will be based on key pillars of innovation and sub-indices that together will assist in tailoring policies that promote inclusive growth. The pillars include the strength of institutions, capacity of human capital and research, supporting infrastructure and the level of business sophistication, among others.

“The India Innovation Index can create a transparent benchmark of innovation for Indian states. This will spur competition and ensure progress towards innovation at the local level in India,” said Soumitra Dutta, co-editor of the GII and Dean, College of Business, Cornell University, USA.

Each partnering organization will nominate a working group member to work on the index. The first ranking of Indian states is expected to be released at the India Economic Summit in October 2017.

“We are delighted to collaborate on this index and believe that it can move India to an innovation-driven economy. We want to identify and measure the grass-roots issues that affect innovation capabilities,” said, Viraj Mehta, Head of India and South Asia, World Economic Forum.

The 47th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is taking place on 17-20 January in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership. More than 3,000 participants from nearly 100 countries will participate in over 400 sessions.

The India Economic Summit will be held in New Delhi on 4-6 October 2017.

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. (www.weforum.org).