India is ranked 60th among 130 nations in Global innovation Index. What steps do you think should be taken to improve the innovation ecosystem in India? Discuss.

India’s improvement in Global Innovation Index ranking for past two years shows that Indian economy is transitioning to Innovation economy. Though in 2017, it has ranked much ahead of other Central and South-east Asian countries but still lags far behind countries like China.
In order to improve innovation ecosystem in India, following steps are necessary

• India needs to raise its investment in R&D which is meager 0.8-0.9% of GDP much lower than countries like China (2%), Japan (3.5%), South Korea (4.15%), and Israel (4.1%). This can be achieved through rise in both public as well as private investment. Government needs to incentivize private investments into R&D through policies like tax cuts etc.
• Encouraging stronger competition among private enterprises removing nonessential regulations and applying essential ones more transparently in product, land, labor, capital, and infrastructure services markets—for example, easing limits on small industries, restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI).
• It is imperative that policy measures incentivize stakeholders government and private sector to share information and collaborate to unleash the innovative potential of the country.
• Continual improvement in tertiary education is required to attract more talent in the field of research
• Government of India set up the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), along with the Self Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) scheme administered by Niti Aayog to create an ecosystem for innovation needs to be backed by universal and quality elementary and secondary education
• Bridging digital gap would allow the flow of data and knowledge across regions from creator to consumer thus helps in commercialization and makes knowledge accessible for innovation.
• Potential of Diaspora needs to be tapped.