Karnataka has topped the list of states in innovation that were ranked in Niti Aayog's second Innovation Index released on Wednesday.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala have found themselves in the second, third, fourth, and the fifth places, respectively. The government think-tank has declared the names of the top five states in the innovation index.
You can check out the entire list here:
The index, released by Aayog's vice chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant, has been developed in the lines of Global Innovation Index.
Karnataka topped the Index for the second year in a row. Soon after the list was revealed, the state's chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa took to his official handle on Twitter to intimate netizens of the development.
"Karnataka is the leader in Innovation - the top position confirmed again by the NITI Aayog‘s India Innovation Index 2020 ranking released today," wrote the Karnataka chief minister, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the tweet as well.
"Amongst major states, the average innovation score is 25.35. Karnataka tops at 42.5, which is attributable to its strong number of venture capital deals, registered GIs (Geographical Indications) and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) exports. Karnataka's high FDI inflow has also enhanced the innovation capabilities of the state," the India Innovation Index 2020 said.
What about the other states and union territories?
Notably, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar have found themselves ranked at the bottom of the Index.
Among Union Territories, Delhi topped the chart, while in the North-Eastern and Hill States category Himachal Pradesh occupied the top spot.
Maharashtra was ranked second with an innovation score of 38, while Bihar finished last at 14.5.
"The case for the southern states as the top performers has also become stronger as four of them occupy the top-five spots within the major states," it added.
According to the index, the North-Eastern and Hill states achieved an average innovation score of 17.89, with Himachal Pradesh as the best performer with a score of 25, followed by Manipur (22.77) and Sikkim (22.28), respectively.
"With 31.9 per cent of its total employment generated being knowledge-intensive, Himachal Pradesh benefits from a high number of knowledge workers," it said.
The Index noted that the innovation score of Union Territories and city states averages at 26.01. Delhi was the best performer among all groups.
Among UTs, after Delhi, "Chandigarh follows second with a score of 38.57, whereas Lakshadweep and Jammu and Kashmir occupy the last two positions in the group respectively," it said.
Aim to improve India's innovation ecosystem
Speaking at the event, Kumar said the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor and Niti Aayog are working closely to create a seamless interaction among institutions that are there in any city to improve India's innovation ecosystem.
He also said that with the partnership with the Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan, the Niti Aayog is working very hard to try and bring back and attract Indian talent from abroad.
"There are some schemes (to bring back Indian talent) already, we want to sharpen them, we want to improve them," the Niti Aayog vice chairman said.
"Maybe that will also become an indicator... Which state is able to attract a larger number of Indian talent back to the country, making our system more flexible, less red tape and by making our environment far more attractive," he added.
How were the states ranked?
The India Innovation Index 2020, ranks the states and union territories based on their relative performance of supporting innovation, and aims to empower them to improve their innovation policies by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
The states and union territories have been divided into 17 'major states', 10 'North-Eastern and hill states', and 9 'city states and Union Territories', for effectively comparing their performance.
Overall, the framework of India Innovation Index 2020, consists of 36 indicators, which include hard data (32 indicators) and four composite indicators
