New Delhi: NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said that the private sector in the country is not paying enough attention towards innovation adding that competitiveness of economy depends on innovation.
While addressing a press conference, Rajiv Kumar said, "Our country has R&D expenditure at 0.72 percent of GDP, out of which 80 percent comes out of the public sector. I think it's high time, we must work more and more on Innovation."
The India Innovation Index was released in the presence of Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science, Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH.
Speaking at the event, Rajiv Kumar said, "It is now the competitiveness of each economy that matters in the global rankings today, underlining that there must be innovation."
"Innovation is the key to take technology out of labs for commercial use in the industrial sector. To that extent, the more we can emphasize on innovativeness, it will be better for our country," he added.
NITI Aayog released its first-ever India Innovation Index, aiming to examine the performance of Indian states in terms of their innovation capabilities, so that "Philosophy of naming and shaming" can help them to innovate.
In a response over the issue of economic slowdown in the country, VC NITI Aayog said he believes that the growth of economy will be increased in the second half of this Financial Year and innovation will play a significant role in this growth as the country needs to opt new ways in the present time of fourth Industrial revolution.
Read: Karnataka tops innovation ranking of states, best investment destination in India: Niti Aayog
