To thrive and excel in today’s competitive environment, innovation, knowledge generation with value addition and translational research are the new mantras, said NITI-Aayog member V.K. Saraswat on Saturday.
Delivering the 21st convocation address at the National Institute of Technology (NIT-Warangal) here, Mr. Saraswat said, “Innovation has the power to transform societies, economies and quality of lives. India has a long and rich history of innovation from ancient discoveries in mathematics, astronomy and other sciences.”
Though India is currently ranked 40th out of 132 countries on the global innovation index, in the quest to become the global innovation, entrepreneurship and technology hub, India faces several challenges, most notable of which is the lack of access to capital and the dearth of a robust ecosystem for intellectual property protection, he noted.
He added that efforts are needed to prioritise the development of skills and talent that are necessary for innovation. One of the key drivers of this innovation ecosystem is our youth population.
Underlining the importance of ‘Transformation through youth participation’, he said, “With more than 600 million people under the age of 25, we have a unique opportunity to harness the potential of our demographic dividend and create a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
India can become the human resource capital of the world. As our honourable Prime Minister says the government is trying to make a new India with the dream and participation of its youth.
Mr. Saraswat further said the successful launching and landing of Chandrayaan-3 by ISRO and the exhaustive analysis of lunar surface characteristics and successful interception of a satellite in LEO by a ground-launched interceptor under Mission SHAKTI by DRDO has already put the country at the forefront of technology developments. This exhibits the indigenous capability of our scientists and engineers.
He noted that the research environment at NIT-Warangal has matured consistently. This has also led to incubate startups by students and faculty members, leading to forecast by Nasscom-Deloitte defining Warangal as destined to be one among the next wave of technology hubs.
NIT-Warangal director Bidyadhar Subudhi presented the annual report. According to a press release, a total of 2,029 students received their degrees in the 21st convocation. These included 1,064 B.Tech, 603 M.Tech, 154 M.Sc, 7 PG Diploma, 23 MBA, 52 MCA, and 126 Ph.D students.
