Explaining the significance of public policy in defining national developmental priorities, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry said, "Public policy plays a pivotal role in creating an enabling environment conducive to innovation. Since the last two years, we have seen important activities around the GII in India like the formation of India's high-level Task Force on Innovation and consultative exercises on both innovation policy and better innovation metrics."

He also mentioned that "As part of this success story, CII in collaboration with NITI Aayog, launched for the first time the online India Innovation Portal which aims to capture state-level innovation data and benchmark states on their innovation capacity." Banerjee emphasized that "such a mechanism will not only make states competitive but also drive India towards an innovation driven economy".

The GII is co-authored by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and surveys some 130 countries using a range of metrics and indicators from patent filings to education spending to cultural output in the form of feature films and literature, providing legislators and decision makers a high-level look at the innovative activity that increasingly drives economic and social growth.

This year's theme of the index is "Innovation Feeding the World," which looks at innovation carried out in agriculture and food systems in the face of rising global food demand, increased competition for limited natural resources and climate change. 

END