President Ram Nath Kovind Monday inaugurated the Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FINE) and presented the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the vision of a newer and better India calls for meeting certain developmental milestones, some of these as early as 2022.

The President said that innovations by themselves are not enough.

We must also build an ecosystem for converting innovations into enterprises. This requires support for start-ups and for incubating young innovators. The concept of FINE brings the two wings of the bird of imagination together, he said.

We need to connect all the links of incubating innovations into enterprises by providing financial, mentoring and policy support, he added.

FINE, an initiative to recognise, respect, showcase, reward innovations and to foster a supportive ecosystem for innovators, is being organised by Rashtrapati Bhavan in association with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and the National Innovation Foundation from March 19 to 23, 2018.

Integral to FINE will be an exhibition of innovations that will remain open for public viewing between 1200 hrs to 1700 hrs from March 20 to 23.