SME Times News Bureau | 24 Jul, 2019
Union Minister of Commerce
& Industry Piyush Goyal, launched the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 on
Wednesday in New Delhi.
India jumped five places to
improve its position from 57th last year to 52nd in 2019.
Speaking on this occasion Goyal
first congratulated all those involved in the process and said that India has
made a significant progress to 52nd rank in the GII-2019 and now the culture of
innovation is coming to the centre-stage.
He said that India will
continue its efforts to reach upwards of top 50 ranks in the GII that Prime
Minister, Narendra Modi set a goal.
He further said that India
will not rest on past laurels until it achieves its target of positioning
itself among the top 25 countries of the Global Innovation Index. To achieve
this ranking he urged all stakeholders to work in mission mode.
Goyal urged the R&D
institutions, universities and private sector to transform the country into a
hub of innovation.
The Commerce and Industry
Ministry requested the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to
factor in India’s rural innovation as part of the innovation index in future.
He in his address said that
the improvement in the rankings should inspire Indians to help marginalized and
under privileged section of society and R&D must provide sustainable
solutions to the problems that India is facing at present like rising pollution
levels in cities, water crises faced in different parts of the country,
depleting natural resources, issues of climate change and solving problems of
food wastage.
All these problems that the
country is facing should be solve through innovative ideas. The Commerce and
Industry
The minister further added
that India must be a responsive country and work in mission mode by engaging
with academia, private sector and government agencies to improve the quality of
citizens’ lives even in the remotest parts of the country.
Referring to GII theme of this
year which is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation,
PiyushGoyal said that Government of India is focusing on not just curative but
preventive healthcare where wellness becomes a part of society.
The GII rankings are published
every year by Cornell University, INSEAD and the UN World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) and GII Knowledge Partners. This is the 12th edition of the
GII rankings of 129 economies based on 80 indicators ranging from intellectual
property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and
scientific and technical publications.
Switzerland remains number one
is the GII index followed by Sweden, the United States of America, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Singapore, Germany and Israel.