Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 26: Terming setting up of the J&K State Innovation Council as an important step towards encouraging new ideas and innovations among the talented youth in the State, Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khanday today said that Jammu and Kashmir Government has already set out on the path to scout for innovation in the State.
The Chief Secretary was speaking during the interaction session to discuss and exchange ideas for the formulation of State’s Innovation Road Map for creating an innovation eco-system and its effective implementation.
Experts from National Innovation Council and Confederation of Indian Industries, NIF, CSIR, and members of J&K State Innovation Council participated in the interaction session.
The Chief Secretary said that the State Innovation Council is keeping constant touch with the National Innovation Council to make use of its experience at the National Level to enable the State to crystalize the programme in an effective manner. He said that the State Innovation Council has already taken steps to put in place an effective institutional mechanism to identify and support innovation in local Universities, Colleges, Schools, MSME and R&D institutes, adding that directions have already been issued to the Science and Technology Department along with School and Higher Education Departments to give orientation to the education system towards innovations.
Chief Secretary also expressed gratitude to Veena Upadhyay, an expert from the National Innovation Council and her team of experts for their presentations and sharing valuable experiences to support the State carry forward the work of encouraging and supporting innovations in various fields and to prepare an effective road map for future.
Earlier, Veena Upadhyay, while expressing her gratitude to the State Government for holding the interaction session, said that the innovation road map should be inclusive covering high level to lower level technologies with maximum social benefit at minimum cost.
Ms. Upadhyay gave a detailed presentation touching various aspects of innovation and its significance, highlighting the need for multipronged, cross-sectoral and mutually benefitting strategy and setting achievable goals. She said that domain experts working in the area of innovation will be collaborating with the State in coming days and sharing their valuable experiences for successful implementation of the road map.
She said that Universities and Technology Institutes can develop Technology Incubation Centers to help and nurture talented students to realise their potential for innovation. She said J&K State Innovation Council can create a separate fund to finance innovation projects which are identified and assessed as having considerable social benefit and impact. She said steps should also be taken towards fostering creativity in education, industries and other sectors, moreover, she suggested that the State Innovation Council can also include members of National Level bodies to facilitate greater exchange and benefits.
Representatives of Confederation of Indian industries, NIF, CSIR, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and others gave brief presentations on innovation and gave their valuable inputs.
Principal Secretary Planning and Development, Principal Secretary Higher Education, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Director Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Vice Chancellors of Kashmir University, Jammu University, SKUAST-K, SKUAST-J, SMVDU-Katra, Director NIT Srinagar, Executive Director J&KEDI, and other senior officers took part in the interaction session.
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