Maharashtra outsmarted Tamil Nadu to reach the second place after Karnataka in India Innovation Index 2020 that was released by the NITI Aayog. Maharashtra, which is currently ruled by the Shiv Sena led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had ranked third last year.
Maharashtra Minister of Skill Development Nawab Malik told Free Press Journal, “The government has taken a slew of decisions to promote skill development, start-up, innovation and fintech to get number one slot in the Innovation Index. The government also aims to make Maharashtra a key innovation hub. The government will strive to get Maharashtra at the top.”
Malik said the government will further promote startups and innovation through its Innovative Start-Up Policy. “The Maharashtra State Innovation Society will organise start-up weeks and lay emphasis on creating a chain of startups while the government will make available necessary funds so that the state becomes a leading innovation hub,” he noted.
Maharashtra has scored 38.03 in innovation, enablers (34.71), human capital (46.43), investment (13.04), knowledge workers (22.81), business environment (29.26), safety and legal environment (62.01), performance (41.35), knowledge output (34.57) and knowledge diffusion (48.12).
Maharashtra’s improved ranking in India Innovation Index, 2020 is certainly good news for the MVA government as the state could not make it to the top 10 in the Ease of Doing Business Rankings for 2019 released last year by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The state, however, can take some consolation in the fact that it has maintained its 13th position compared to the previous list.
The Niti Aayog report examined the innovation capabilities and performance of the states and union territories. The index found that the level of competitiveness among the states and union territories was high, which is essential for them to continually improve on their enabling factors as well as innovation performance, year by year.
Overall, India Innovation Index 2020 framework consists of 36 indicators, which include hard data (32 indicators) and four composite indicators. The list of composite indicators in the framework: ease of doing business ranking, cluster strength, publications and citations.
