NITI Aayog Collab With Former Microsoft India Chairman Founded GAME to Boost Local Entrepreneurship

Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and NITI Aayog have officially joined forces to strengthen entrepreneurship ecosystems across India, reported news agency IANS. Their collaboration, announced on May 2, 2025, will kick off with pilot projects in Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, and select locations in Uttar Pradesh.

With a mission to create 50 million new jobs by 2030, the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) was founded by Ravi Venkatesan, Madan Padaki, and Mekin Maheshwari, in 2018.

While Ravi Venkatesan is a former Chairman of Microsoft India, Madan Padaki is a seasoned entrepreneur, he co-founded MeritTrac, one of India’s largest skills assessment companies. And, Mekin Maheshwari was previously Chief People Officer at Flipkart, he has been instrumental in shaping India's startup culture. He also founded Udhyam Learning Foundation, which focuses on entrepreneurial education.

The initiative with NITI Aayog aims to empower local entrepreneurs by bringing together key stakeholders—government bodies, corporations, educational institutions, financial organizations, and community groups. GAME will implement proven methodologies such as access to finance, capacity-building programs, and policy advocacy to create self-sustaining business ecosystems.

The Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) has launched pilot projects in Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, and Uttar Pradesh in collaboration with NITI Aayog. These initiatives aim to create self-sustaining entrepreneurial ecosystems by bringing together government bodies, corporates, educational institutions, financial organizations, and community leaders.

Key Focus Areas:

• Access to Finance: Helping entrepreneurs secure funding to start and scale businesses.
• Capacity Building: Providing training and mentorship to strengthen business skills.
• Policy Advocacy: Addressing systemic barriers to entrepreneurship.
• Community-Driven Initiatives: Encouraging local collaboration to foster innovation.

GAME has already impacted over 300,000 entrepreneurs, and this partnership is expected to accelerate opportunities for aspiring business owners.

Ketul Acharya, President of GAME, emphasized the transformative power of entrepreneurship, stating that this partnership will inspire innovation and drive inclusive growth. With GAME already impacting over 300,000 entrepreneurs, this collaboration is expected to accelerate opportunities for aspiring business owners.

Niti Aayog Announces Frontier Tech Hub and Releases a Paper on Quantum Computing

NITI Aayog has recently launched the Frontier Tech Hub (NITI-FTH), a pioneering initiative aimed at transforming India into a technology-driven economy. This hub will act as a frontier tech action tank, fostering advanced technological innovations to accelerate India's economic and social development. The initiative also seeks to promote emerging technologies that contribute to both human progress and environmental sustainability.

In conjunction with the launch, NITI Aayog released a strategic paper titled “Quantum Computing: National Security Implications & Strategic Preparedness”. This paper highlights the rapid evolution of quantum computing and its transformative potential across multiple sectors, including defense, intelligence, and cybersecurity. It emphasizes the need for a proactive, multi-pronged approach to ensure national security in the quantum computing era.

The paper outlines several key recommendations, such as establishing a task force to track global quantum advancements, assessing vulnerabilities in critical national systems, and creating directives and guidelines on crypto agility. It also calls for establishing bilateral partnerships for rapid adoption of quantum technologies.

The NITI Aayog paper on "Quantum Computing: National Security Implications & Strategic Preparedness" outlines several key implications:

1. Geopolitical Power and Military Dominance: Quantum computing is seen as a critical factor in achieving geopolitical power and military dominance. Nations that achieve early breakthroughs in quantum computing will gain a strategic edge, influencing global technology standards and norms.
2. Economic Warfare and Espionage: Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize intelligence analysis and economic espionage. It can process vast, complex datasets far beyond classical capabilities, enhancing signals intelligence and reshaping espionage.
3. Cryptography and Cybersecurity: A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could break widely used public-key encryption algorithms, rendering modern internet security, online banking, and secure communications obsolete. This could destabilize financial markets, compromise banking systems, and endanger digital payment infrastructures.
4. Strategic Blind Spots: Advancements in quantum technology could expose nations to increased risks of technological surprise and strategic blind spots. Being caught off guard by these advancements could jeopardize national security and economic competitiveness.
5. Global Investments and Collaboration: The paper highlights the significant investments made by countries like the US, China, and Europe in quantum computing. It recommends establishing a task force to track global quantum advancements, assessing vulnerabilities in critical national systems, and creating directives on crypto agility.
6. National Security Priorities: Quantum technologies are set to redefine national security priorities across multiple domains, from breaking encryption to designing next-generation weaponry. Nations that successfully advance quantum capabilities will gain an unprecedented strategic edge.

These implications underscore the transformative potential of quantum computing and the need for proactive measures to ensure national security and strategic preparedness.

Health Ministry Launches MedTech Mitra To Strengthen India's Medical Device Industry

Union Minister, Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya has, on Monday, inaugurated "MedTech Mitra," a groundbreaking initiative by ICMR Delhi and Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), supported by Niti Aayog.

MedTech Mitra will hand-hold innovators and help them in getting regulatory approval. This new platform, along with the recent medical devices policy and the production-linked incentive scheme, will together provide a boost to the medical devices sector and encourage domestic manufacturing of these devices, the minister said.

MedTech Mitra streamlines MedTech R&D with preclinical & clinical support, collaboration initiatives, & funding opportunities. It is a primary step towards building a robust, self-reliant ecosystem for affordable & accessible healthcare in India.

Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya said, "MedTech Mitra is a platform that will help the young talents of the country by holding their hands and giving them final shape to their research, knowledge, logic and help them in getting regulatory approval."

"The medical devices sector is an essential and integral constituent of India’s healthcare sector. Pursuing the vision of Viksit Bharat, India is taking a holistic approach to health with a vision to transform the health landscape in the country by 2047, " added Dr. Mandaviya.

MedTech Mitra will empower emerging start-ups and ensure ease of innovation, ease of doing research and development, ease of rendering service in building an Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Highlighting the fast pace of growth in technology, Dr. Mandaviya added “Due to the developments taking place in sectors like Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Virtual Reality, Nano Technology, the medical device sector is changing rapidly today.”

Lauding the initiative and efforts of the innovators and youth, Dr. Mandaviya stated “There is immense power among the innovators, researchers and start-up youth in the country who know how to do Research and Logic Development. If one gets help at the approval stage itself, then wonders can be achieved which will take India miles ahead in becoming Atmanirbhar and achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat”

Underlining the alignment of MedTech Mitra with the medical devices ecosystem as well as overall boosting the growth and development of health domain, Dr. V.K Paul, Member Health, Niti Aayog, said, “This platform will serve to strengthen India’s commitment to Universal Health Coverage, further consolidating reach of healthcare services to the innermost corners of the nation to become an integral aspect of Viksit Bharat.”

Earlier this month, ICMR signed a Memorandum of Agreement with AcSIR (Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research) for a new faculty of "Medical Research" that has been created at AcSIR. This is a significant development towards making AcSIR a multi-disciplinary Research Institution for promotion of cutting-edge research in cross-disciplinary areas. This would provide much needed impetus to the medical research in India.

National Space Innovation Challenge 2023 Launched by AIM, NITI Aayog in Collab with ISRO and Navars Edutech

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Navars Edutech successfully launched the National Space Innovation Challenge (NSIC) 2023.

NSIC 2023 is a National-level campaign designed to ignite next generation space enthusiast to understand and contribute towards growing Indian space economy and future space workforce. It’s a National platform to get inspired by industry leaders, seek opportunities for exploration and showcase ones innovation to the world.

NSIC 2023 is a unique challenge for school students across India that aligns with the nationwide excitement around the successful launch of Chandrayaan III by ISRO.

School Teachers, ATL In-Charges and mentors are encouraged for active participation.

With the goal of fostering innovation and curiosity among school students across the nation, the Atal Innovation Mission is proud to announce National Space Innovation Challenge (NSIC) open for all the school students across the country. Students of Classes 5 to 12 are given an open platform where they can innovate and enable themselves to solve modern-day space technology problems from August 11 to September 20, 2023.

Students (from ATL and Non-ATL schools) can submit their entries on the automated technology platform implemented by Navars Edutech through the link -https://navarsedutech.com/nsic/. Each student based on their interest and understanding, must select one problem which falls under any one of the Challenge themes.

NSIC offers integrated content from Industry mentor videos, resources and challenges for Junior Scientists (Grade 5-8) & Senior Scientists (Grade 9 -12) which the students can use to ideate and submit a short research report on a solution across diverse topics like Space Junk Collection Robot, Reusable Rocket Design, Satellite Design, Indian Spaceship Design for Mars, and more.

Navars Edutech is a Hyderabad-based astronomy and space edtech company that caters to school students.

NITI Aayog Releases IIT Bombay-designed Analytical Tools for Managing Climate Change and Exploring Net Zero Pathways

IESS is a user-friendly and Interactive Energy Modelling tool that takes into account the Green Policy Initiatives and explores Possible Decarbonisation Pathways towards Net-Zero

A Revamped India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 (IESS 2047 V3.0) to assess the integrated impact of various green energy policies of Government of India was released by NITI Aayog on Thursday.

An open-source tool, IESS incorporates several policies related to alternative energy resources like Green Hydrogen, Energy Storage, Renewable Purchase Obligations, PM-KUSUM, offshore wind strategy, Electric Vehicle policy, Energy efficiency, etc. Assessing the demand and supply of energy in the country, the tool helps in analysing emissions, cost, land, and water requirements till 2047.

The web version of the tool offers user-friendly graphical representations of energy demand and supply scenarios for the country based on user choices. The results of some of the illustrative scenarios from IESS are shown below:

With an aim of making this technology available to the people, this version of IESS is easily downloadable and facilitates users to generate their own pathways. It will help researchers and think tanks to develop user-specific scenarios and the option of customised applications on the basis of share of industry/services/agriculture, population, the pace of urbanisation, end-use energy demand etc.

IESS 2047 is a user-friendly interactive tool that can help ministries/ departments to develop a variety of energy transition scenarios to achieve net-zero. The tool is flexible enough to provide many permutations and combinations of net-zero pathways. It provides capabilities to compute the energy needs and estimates of the country and hence reduce India’s dependency on external agencies for the estimates.

Designed with the help of IIT Bombay, the revamped IESS 2047 will be updated on yearly basis. The baseline has been standardised at 2020 and calibrated up to 2022.

Shri Suman Bery, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog appreciated the indigenization of IESS 2047 and termed the tool a big facilitator in achieving net-zero target by 2070.

Shri BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog termed IESS as a national asset and an outstanding example of the research and development being undertaken at NITI Aayog. Emphasising upon the fine balance between justified growth aspirations and sustainability, he said that it is important to have such tools and data platforms for holistic planning and policy making at national and state level.

Here're 12 Winning Startups from 9 Indian States at Youth Co:Lab National Innovation Dialogue 2022

Twelve start-ups from 9 Indian states emerge winners at Youth Co:Lab National Innovation Dialogue 2022

The winning 12 start-ups receive seed funding of up to $5,000 to scale up their innovations.

Twelve top start-ups from across 9 Indian states working in agriculture, ed-tech, women’s livelihood, circular economy, and biodiversity were announced as winners at the 5th Edition of Youth Co:Lab National Innovation Dialogue India.

Youth Co:Lab, co-created in 2017 by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Citi Foundation, aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth, so that they can accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Youth Co:Lab was launched in India in 2019 in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog. The 2022-23 edition received 378 applications from 28 states across the country.

Dr.Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, AIM; Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India; and Ms. Sanjana Sanghi - Actor and UNDP Champion felicitated the winners.

“Social startups are not just businesses; they are catalysts for social change. They address pressing social and environmental challenges, stimulate economic growth, inspire other businesses, leverage technology, and promote collaboration. Their innovative and entrepreneurial spirit drives us towards a more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive future. Let us celebrate and support social startups as they continue to shape our world for the better,” said Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, AIM while announcing the winners. 

Mr. Ashu Khullar Citi India CEO said, “Citi places great emphasis on supporting the aspirations of youth and young entrepreneurs. There has been tremendous innovation and creativity in addressing various social challenges through the Youth Co:Lab. My congratulations to the top 12 finalists working across important fields for the country’s sustainable development.”

Speaking at the event, Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India said, “With 254 million young people aged between 15 and 24 years, India has a unique opportunity to lead innovation and social entrepreneurship and make the voices of young people count. I am excited to see the diversity of ideas and frugal innovation the winners bring this year. With Youth Co: Lab, UNDP is happy to provide a platform for young social entrepreneurs to scale their initiatives and recognize, value, and support the solutions they bring.”

The winners across each thematic area received a seed grant of US$ 5,000; while the runners-up received US$ 3,000. This funding will help the winners scale their ideas into tangible products or services.

Felicitating the winners, Ms. Sanjana Sanghi, Actor, and UNDP Champion, added, "I believe that today's young people hold immense power to drive innovation and create meaningful change through social entrepreneurship. Youth Co: Lab offers them a platform to convert their ideas into solutions that transform lives and communities. Youth have the passion, the ideas, and the drive to make a difference in the world.”

Youth Co:Lab India 2022-23 focused on 6 thematic areas; Digital and Financial Literacy for Youth, Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment, Developing FinTech Solutions focused on Biodiversity Conservation, Promoting Biodiversity-friendly Lifestyles through Technological Solutions in Finance, Accelerating Circular Economy through Upcycling Innovations and Behavioural Nudges for LiFE ( Lifestyle For Environment).

Out of the applications, 47 short-listed start-ups received one-on-one mentoring and capacity-building sessions from experts for two months through the Youth Co:Lab Springboard Programme, a start-up support platform for SDG innovators. These start-ups then presented their ideas to an esteemed jury in May 2023, from which the 12 winners were selected.

Since 2017, Youth Co:Lab has supported young aspiring, and inspiring social entrepreneurs in 28 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific. The national dialogues, regional summits, social innovation challenges, and workshops have reached over 240,000 participants. The national youth social innovation and entrepreneurial skills development activities have served over 14,000 young people and launched or improved 1,530 youth-led social innovation teams.

National Innovation Dialogue 2022 Winners:

THEME 1: Digital and Financial Literacy for Youth

1. SaralX- Enhancing access and opportunities for people with disabilities
• Founder Name: Akashdeep Bansal
• Age: 30
• Location: Pune
2. Edubuild - Experinships for youth
• Founder Name: Saksham Gupta
• Age: 27
• Location: Jaipur

THEME 2 - Gender Equality and Women Economic Empowerment

1. Project Baala - Menstrual hygiene for economically marginalized menstruators
• Founder Name: Soumya Dabriwal
• Age: 27
• Location: Mumbai
2. Agrosure - Mechanisation solution for women farmers

• Founder: Akshay Dipak Kawale
• Age: 30
• Location: Maharastra

THEME 3 - Developing FinTech Solutions focused on Biodiversity Conservation

1. Gepo Aali - To nurture back the lost indigenous crop variety of the region using ancestral farming practices.
• Founder Name:Dimum Pertin
• Age: 30
• Location: Arunachal Pradesh
2. Nutty Village - Managing farm to fork organic value chain in groundnuts
• Founder Name: Aman Kumar
• Age: 28
• Location: Uttar Pradesh

THEME 4 - Promoting Biodiversity-friendly Lifestyles through Technological Solutions in Finance

1. Promeat - Plant based meat
• Founder Name: Debabrata Das
• Age: 25
• Location: Assam
2. Myplan 8 - Incentivising spend on low carbon sustainable alternatives

• Founder Name: Rajat Sohan Vishwakarma
• Age: 27
• Location: Mumbai

THEME 5 - Accelerating Circular Economy through Upcycling Innovations

1. Dump in Bin - Using plastic waste in pavement manufacturing
• Founder Name:Rishabh Patel
• Age: 29
• Location: Gurugram
2. Econscious - Functional and aesthetic recycled plastic products
• Founder Name:Sonal_Shukla
• Age: 29
• Location: New Delhi

THEME 6 - Behavioral Nudges for LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) 

1. Digi Swasthya- Telemedicine for rural India
• Founder Name: Sandeep Kumar
• Age: 27
• Location: Uttar Pradesh
2. Sputnik Brain - Non-invasive brain modulation for stress management
• Founder Name: Shankar Sri
• Age: 23
• Location: Banglore

About Atal Innovation Mission (AIM):

AIM including Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) is the Government of India’s endeavor to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. Its objective is to serve as a platform for promoting world-class innovation hubs, grand challenges, start-up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.

About UNDP India:

UNDP has worked in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development, from systems and institutional strengthening to inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods, as well as sustainable energy, environment, and resilience. UNDP’s programmes fully integrate a global vision for catalytic change with India’s national priorities. With over 30 projects on the ground in almost every state, today, UNDP India works to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by transforming traditional models to do development differently.

About Citi Foundation

The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyse job opportunities for youth and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant communities. The Citi Foundation’s “More than Philanthropy” approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfil our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. Learn more at www.citigroup.com/citi/foundation

About Youth Co:Lab:

Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. Read more about Youth Co:Lab. 

India Partners with Australia's Science Agency To Drive Innovation in Areas of National Challenges and Shared Priorities

Atal Innovation Mission & CSIRO to lead IA-ITC program

India's flagship initiative, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), and the country's think tank NITI Aayog have joined hands with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency, by signing a Letter of Intent to encourage joint cooperation to drive innovation activities in areas of national challenges and shared priorities of both countries.

The move comes during the India visit of the Australian Prime Minister Mr. Anthony Albanese as he met the Indian Prime Minister Sh. Narendra on 10 March 2023 in New Delhi. The meeting between the Prime Ministers spanned across areas of mutual interest and explored avenues of strengthening bilateral engagement in a range of key areas with innovation as one key item.

The Letter of Intent between AIM and CSIRO calls for a greater collaboration in areas of mutual interest and strategic priorities and serves as a general framework for cooperation intended to facilitate the development of more program specific interventions.

The core of the bilateral engagement is the India Australia Innovation and Technology Challenge (IA-ITC) - a program envisioned to bring together the innovation ecosystems of India and Australia to address our shared environmental and economic challenges by supporting cohorts of start-ups and SMEs on their commercialisation pathways and bring to market innovative tech-based solutions spanning across circular economy, energy transition and food system resilience etc. The program intends to leverage the complementary capabilities and resources of the innovation ecosystem of both the countries.

The IA-ITC builds on the success of the India Australia Circular Economy (IACE) hackathon 2021, which witnessed university students, start-ups, and SMEs from both India and Australia develop innovative tech-based solutions for circularity in food system value chain.

"We are thrilled to partner with CSIRO on fostering innovation and co-developing the India Australia Innovation and Technology Challenge," said Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director - AIM, NITI Aayog. "This partnership and the IA-ITC program in particular is an exciting opportunity for India and Australia to collaborate at different levels of the ecosystem involving start-ups, SMEs, business incubators and accelerators, VCs and the industry. This will open new horizons in knowledge sharing and co-creation given CSIRO’s vast experience with Science and Technology programs."

"CSIRO is excited to partner with AIM and work towards solving shared global challenges. AIM has an impressive track record of fostering and leveraging world-class innovations and entrepreneurs. We look forward to combining our strengths and expertise to create scientific breakthroughs that make real-world social, economic and environmental impact." said Jonathan Law, Executive Director – Growth, CSIRO.

AIM and CSIRO are currently working on the design and development of the IA-ITC program delivery model to ensure the IA-ITC is sustainable, innovative, impactful and aligns with the strategic interests of both India and Australia. The official launch of the program is expected to be in July 2023.

India’s Fintech Adoption is 80% Compared to World’s Adoption of 64% - Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Govt. Of India

Three-day FinTech Festival India is being held between July 20-22; organized by Constellar and supported by Niti Aayog and six central ministries

FinTech Festival India, the country’s biggest FinTech event is being held between July 20 and 22 at Pragati Maidan, Delhi, organised by Constellar and supported by Niti Aayog and six central government ministries.

Speaking at the conference, Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India, said, “India’s fintech adoption is at 80 per cent as compared to world’s adoption of 64 per cent. Economic events such as demonetization, GST implementation and latest covid induced lockdown has made the Indian public tech savvy even in the informal sector. India is the best investment destination in the world despite of the three covid waves. Now it is time to convert fintech initiatives into fintech revolution to make every Indian citizen empowered financially.”

Elaborating on inequality, climate and economic instability, Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India, said, “Behavioural change in the private sector which includes the ordinary household will have a huge bearing on the success of climate change mitigation. Today many countries globally have shifted their focus from energy transition to energy security. But it is not just about resources, getting the private sector to finance sustainability initiatives is crucial. However with interest rates on the rise, multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank etc. should consider providing first loss guarantee or back stops, which will lower the cost of funds. Additionally multilateral financial institutions can also tweak their operating models and become risk managers for the private sector to crowd in private capital.

“India has already announced the National Hydrogen Mission and we are the leaders of the International Solar Alliance, but right now cracking the ‘storage’ aspect will be most significant as it will offer a huge boost to decarbonisation efforts. Our country has very well laid out plants all the way until 2030 backed with ambitious targets for the share of renewable energy and therefore building concrete plants beyond 2030 to 2070 is going to be extremely crucial”, Dr. Nageswaran added.

Baldeep Singh Pahwa, Country Head - India, Constellar said, “Fintech Festival India has been instrumental in driving a national discourse on fintech and its impact on the Indian ecosystem over the last 12 months. We have brought together leaders from across the country for discussions on new ideas and technologies, while also providing productive engagements and networking among the stakeholders. India is one of the global giants in fintech with tremendous potential and we at FFI hope to play a key role in unlocking the opportunities by taking the Indian success story to the global center stage.”

“We are extremely grateful to receive massive support from the Government of India, Government of Tamil Nadu and Government of Karnataka throughout Fintech Festival India. The first edition of the conference has been a grand success and we aim to be back with the next edition very soon.”

The two day conference is being attended by leading industry stalwarts such as Sarbvir Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Policybazaar; Suhail Sameer, Chief Executive Officer, BharatPe; Raghu Ramanujam, Director of Product, Flipkart; Mridul Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, CoinDCX; Santosh Kumar, Innovation Head, Citi Markets India; Hitesh Sachdev, Head – Startup Engagement & Investments, ICICI Bank and Sunit Vakharia, Head - Consumer Banking Technology India, DBS Bank amongst others.

Variety of discussions are being held on macro-economics, sustainable future, crypto & blockchain technology, Web3, InsurTech, RegTech, financial inclusion, CBDC, cloud adoption, metaverse, NFT’s, finance and payment app security and more.

FinTech Festival India is the country’s largest FinTech confluence. It witnessed participation from over 5,000+ attendees, 160+ speakers and 90+ sessions over a period of 8 months.

The conferences are supported by Government of India’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME), The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited ( A Government of India Enterprise – Under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) and Startup India (Department for promotion of Industry and Internal Trade & Invest India). It has also received support from the Government of Tamil Nadu, Government of Karnataka and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT).

In addition to the government, FFI which aims to unleash the power of FinTech across the country, has also drawn interest from industry including Powered By sponsor CoinSwitch Kuber, Platinum Sponsors M2P, Sustainability Partners The Green Billions, Digital Asset Infrastructure Partner Fireblocks, Gold Sponsors BharatPe, LIC, Moengage, Rapyder, Thales, Exclusive Networks, WebEngage, Sales acceleration partner Vymo, Payments partner In-Solutions Global Ltd., Identity verification partner IDFy, Registration Partners CoinDCX, Digital Edition Partners JuicyScore, Spice Money, Experian.

About Constellar

Constellar connects a global eco-system of event partners and consumers through a holistic portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. As Asia's partner of reference for curating innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar activates impactful networks to bring global markets, businesses and consumers together for sustainable growth. With our expertise and dedication, we are invested in helping you build trusted relationships with stakeholders for the long term and enabling cross-industry collaboration through world-class audience engagement solutions. Visit constellar.co for more information.

Electric Vehicles: NITI Aayog Releases Draft Battery Swapping Policy, Invites Comments from Stakeholders

This Policy underlines the importance of re-use of end-of-first-life swappable batteries and recycling of end-of-life batteries

At the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) summit held in Glasgow in November last year, India committed to reduce carbon emission intensity by 45%, and take its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and meet 50% of the country's energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030, and finally achieve the Net Zero target by 2070.

To meet these targets on-time, clean mobility - led by electric vehicles (EVs) - is paramount for India and electric mobility represents a viable option to meet these commitments, while packed with innovative business solutions, appropriate technology, and support infrastructure. Several supporting initiatives have been implemented, such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (Hybrid) Vehicles in India (FAME) I and II, and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for National Programme on Advanced Cell (ACC) Battery Storage (NPACC), to boost indigenous battery manufacturing capacity.

To recall, in February 2022, NITI Aayog held an inter-ministerial discussion to formulate a robust and comprehensive Battery Swapping policy framework. NITI Aayog also held an extensive pre-draft stakeholder discussion with a wide spectrum of stakeholders representing Battery Swapping Operators, Battery Manufacturers, Vehicle OEMs, Financial Institutions, CSOs, Think Tanks and other experts.

While the upfront costs for EVs are typically higher than internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts, these are offset by lower operations and maintenance costs over its lifetime which has brought the total cost of ownership of electric vehicles at par with ICE vehicles.

Battery swapping is an alternative which involves exchanging discharged batteries for charged ones. Battery Swapping de-links the vehicle and fuel (Battery in this case) and hence reduces the upfront cost of the vehicles. Battery swapping is popularly used for smaller vehicles such as 2 and 3 wheelers which have smaller batteries that are easier to swap compared to other automotive segments wherein the same can be implemented mechanically.

Battery swapping stations require less space than public charging stations for a given number of vehicles served, due to a quicker turnaround time per vehicle.

Thus, battery swapping offers three key advantages relative to charging --- Time, Space, and Cost Efficient, provided each swappable battery is actively used. Further, Battery Swapping provides level playing field to innovative and sustainable business models such as ‘Battery As a Service’.

Considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations at scale, Hon’ble Finance Minister in her Budget Speech 2022-23 announced that the Government will be introducing Battery Swapping policy and interoperability standards in order to improve efficiency in the EV Ecosystem.

In a latest now, NITI Aayog has drafted the Battery Swapping Policy. One may review the draft Battery Swapping Policy here. All the stakeholders are requested to submit their comments latest by 5th June 2022. One may submit the views in the google form here.

The target vehicle segments for battery swapping are e-2Ws and e-3Ws, which are heavily concentrated in urban areas.

Key Points of Battery Swapping Policy Drafted

• Any individual or entity is free to set up a battery swapping station at any location, provided that the specified technical, safety and performance standards are adhered to. 
• Transport Departments and State Transport Authorities are responsible for easing registration processes for vehicles sold without batteries or for vehicles with battery swapping functionality.
• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the Central Nodal Agency responsible for the rollout of EV public charging infrastructure, will be responsible for the implementation of battery swapping networks across the country. 
• States or local authorities may mandate that the required licenses and approvals should be expedited and provided within 5 days of application, through the single window in digital format. 
• Charging of swappable batteries at other places like kirana stores, commercial or private properties and other such facilities using existing electricity connections will attract tariffs set by the appropriate Commissions for those consumer types.
• Metropolitan cities with a population greater than 4 million (as per Census 2011) will be prioritized for development of battery swapping networks under the first phase.

This Policy is targeted at supporting the adoption of battery-swapping primarily for battery swapping systems destined to be used for light electric power train vehicles (LEV) of category L, and E-Rickshaw/ECart.

In addition, state governments are developing complementary policies to promote EV adoption.

Niti Aayog and Phonepe Together Launch the Fintech Open Hackathon

The Hackathon aims to showcase path-breaking solutions for the Fintech Ecosystem

Winning teams stand to win exciting cash prizes

As a part of the Fintech Open Month, NITI Aayog in association with PhonePe will be hosting the first-ever open-to-all Hackathon event for ideating and coming up with the most creative solutions for the FinTech space. The Hackathon will provide an opportunity for innovators, digital creators and developers from all over India to think, ideate and code

Participants at the hackathon need to use any open-data APIs like PhonePe Pulse along with frameworks such as Account Aggregator as a foundation to power the following use cases:

• Alternate risk models for Lending, Insurance or Investments with focus on financial Inclusion
• Innovative Products that use the power data signals for various demographics and Geos for broader adoption of financial services
• Improved Visualisation and Derived intelligence based on the Digital payments data
• The final app that participants come up with must incorporate one of the above.

Participating teams can have one 1 (solo) to 5 participants. Participants can use data sources like PhonePe Pulse, the Open Government Data Platform and RBI reports on payments to build on their submission. In addition, they can access any other open data platforms that they are aware of along with the Setu AA Sandbox or the Setu Payments Sandbox to develop their hacks. By the end of the event, participants will be required to present a working prototype of their hack to the judges, post which each hack will be judged based on certain parameters. While the judges consider the hacks, they might ask for additional information on the prototypes.

The winning teams will get exciting prizes:

The top 5 hacks will be awarded a prize money in the following denominations:

• 1st place : INR 1,50,000 for the team - 1 prize
• 2nd place : INR 1,00,000 for the team - 2 prizes
• 3rd place : INR 75,000 for the team - 2 prizes

Judges may decide to award fewer or more prizes depending on the hacks submitted.

The last date to register for the event is 11:59 PM, 23rd February, 2022 and the deadline to submit the final entries is 12:00 noon, 25th February, 2022. There will be a Live AMA on Monday, 21st Feb, 2022 at 4:00 PM to answer any questions the participants may have about the Hackathon. The winners of the Hackathon will be announced on 28th February, 2022.

To register and get more details visit: https://cic.niti.gov.in/fintech-open-month-hackathon.html

NITI Aayog, AWS and Intel Join Hands To Establish "New Experience Studio" As Hub for Accelerating Digital Innovation in India

NITI Aayog, AWS,and Intel Collaborate to Accelerate Digital Innovation in India

New Experience Studio at the NITI Aayog Cloud Innovation Center to be a hub for collaboration and experimentation, initially focusing on healthcare, agriculture, and smart infrastructure verticals

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the Government of India’s national policy think tank, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Intel have come together to establish a new experience studio at the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC). Located in NITI Aayog’s New Delhi premises, the studio will bea hub for collaboration and experimentation to enable problem solving and innovation between government stakeholders, startups, enterprises, and industry domain experts.

The studio will help showcase the potential of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/ VR), blockchain, and robotics to accelerate their application in public sector use cases. The studio will encourage open innovation and serve as a hub for government, healthcare, education, and nonprofit startups from India to showcase their solutions. It will also provide startups with an option to access necessary support to enhance and scale their solutions.

NITI Aayog will also leverage the studio to demonstrate the application of geospatial, AR/VR, drone, and IoT solutions in verticals such as healthcare, agriculture, and smart infrastructure. Major homegrown industry leaders in respective fields of technology and research – like MapMyIndia in geospatial solutions, Raphe mPhibr Pvt. Ltd. in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the Centre for Advanced Research in Imaging, Neuroscience and Genomics (CARING), which delivers AI in healthcare – and global leaders like Dassault Systemes are demonstrating their solutions at the studio. Start-ups like Vizara Technologies and Agatsa Software private Ltd will be showcasing their innovative products. Startups will also be encouraged to participate actively in the studio through hackathons, grand challenges, and other capacity building initiatives, in collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Atal Incubation Centres (AIC).

The studio was inaugurated today the presence of Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Rahul Sharma, President, Public Sector – Amazon Internet Services Pvt. Ltd. (AISPL), AWS India and South Asia. Prakash Mallya, VP & MD – Sales, Marketing & Communications Group, Intel India attended the inauguration virtually.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that effective collaboration and experimentation matter significantly when developing innovative solutions to address problems of scale in the country. As the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC identifies societal challenges to address, it is important to embrace a culture of open innovation and working backwards from problem statements. The new experience studio with AWS and Intel will further support our mission to identify and deploy leading edge technologies to drive continuous innovation in delivering citizen services,” said Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

“The new experience studio at the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC, based on the AWS Cloud Innovation Centers program, aimstoquickly solve public sector challenges through collaboration and actualize innovations from experimentation and prototypes. The studio will help subject matter experts from different verticals, government stakeholders, and startups to apply design thinking to go deeper into problem areas and develop solutions to enable digital healthcare, build the digital agriculture ecosystem, and develop the digital infrastructure for smart cities in India. It will be a hub for creativity, experimentation, and testing new ideas to solve challenges sourced from the community,” said Rahul Sharma, President, Public Sector – AISPL, AWS India and South Asia.

“Cloud innovation is fundamental to unlocking the potential of future technologies to create scalable impact across sectors. Intel is committed to expanding access to technology resources and knowledge through our collaboration with NITI Aayog and AWS to develop, build, and support cloud services that can enrich the lives of people in India and around the world. The new NITI Aayog CIC Experience Studio is a powerful example of industry collaboration to accelerate technology solutions for meaningful social impact,” said Prakash Mallya, VP & MD – Sales, Marketing & Communications Group, Intel India.

The experience studio at the NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC will adopt a hybrid model enabling physical and virtual workspaces to collaborate seamlessly. The physical workspace design in the studio will enable solutions showcase, interactive demos, and rapid prototyping among stakeholders to converge on ideas for further action. The studio’s digital workspace will enable state-of-the-art collaborative environments to invite experts from various verticals, government departments, research institutions, and not-for-profit organizations for hands-on workshops.

The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC was established in October 2020 as part of the AWS Cloud Innovation Centers Global Program. Focusing on tackling the challenges facing India, the CIC recently developed COvAID during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Developed in five days, COvAID provided a platform for consolidating the end-to-end flow of aid received to support COVID-19 affected people, distributing the aid in a transparent manner, and accelerating the speed at which the aid reaches beneficiaries. In another example, working with the Digi Yatra Foundation, the CIC also anchored the Digital Yatra Central Ecosystem (DYCE) Challenge, inviting startups to develop a real time facial biometric validation solution to provide a friction-less, hassle-free, contact-less, and safe experience to passengers during air travel.

AWS Public Sector CICs are also present across Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, and United States. Earlier this year, AWS also collaborated with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in India to establish a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the country, focused on accelerating quantum computing-led research and development, and enabling new scientific discoveries aligned to the government’s science and technology priorities.

NITI Aayog Ties with Cisco to Foster Women Entrepreneurship, Women-Led Startups in India

The next phase of NITI Aayog's Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP)will leverage Cisco's technology and experience working with India's startup ecosystem to enable more women-owned businesses across the country

Building on their shared commitment to empower women entrepreneurs across India, NITI Aayog, the Government's public policy think tank, and Cisco today launched the next phase of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) Titled "WEP Nxt", this next phase of NITI Aayog's flagship platform will leverage Cisco's technology and experience working with India's startup ecosystem to enable more women-owned businesses across the country. Amitabh Kant (CEO NITI Aayog), Anna Roy (Senior Adviser NITI Aayog),Maria Martinez (EVP & COO, Cisco), Daisy Chittilapilly (President, Cisco India & SAARC) and Harish Krishnan, (Managing Director, Public Affairs and Strategic Engagements, Cisco India and SAARC), were present at the launch.

WEP, initially launched by NITI Aayog in 2017, is a first-of-its-kind, unified portal that brings together women from diverse backgrounds and offers them access to a multitude of resources, support, and learning. WEP Nxt is a significant step to augment these efforts. Based on a focused study of Indian women entrepreneurs and their most urgent needs across six key verticals – community and networking, skilling and mentorship, incubation and acceleration programs, and financial, compliance, and marketing assistance - WEPNxt will be driven by evidence-based decision-making. The focused study, fuelling this transition, is also being made available for the benefit of the ecosystem.

Additionally, as a part of this initiative, Cisco, in collaboration with the Nasscom Foundation, Sattva Consulting, and the DeAsra Foundation, will enable technology-led experiences and engagements to address the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs at individual and enterprise levels and create new opportunities for growth.

“As per the Sixth Economic Census, women only constitute 13.76% of the total entrepreneurs, i.e., 8.05 million out of the 58.5 million entrepreneurs in the country. This may have been a missed opportunity in the past, but I am confident as the Government of India and Private sector hold hands through initiatives such as the WEP, we will realize this vision of a new India – where men and women have the equal opportunity to build and to share in the glory of achievement, “ said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. “WEP Nxt will further catalyze this movement and I am confident with Cisco as our partner, this technology platform will soon be the personalized guide for every woman entrepreneur in the country to realize her dreams “

"As we enter a new phase of recovery, we see a collective agreement that a diverse, inclusive, and digitally-enabled world is far more prosperous," said Cisco Chief Operating Officer, Maria Martinez. "It is our responsibility to step up to the challenges of inequity and create new pathways to economic prosperity that enable people and communities, especially women, to break through barriers, spark new ideas, and ignite innovation. We are excited about our partnership with NITI Aayog and hope to bring the benefits of digital technologies to more women-owned enterprises."

"According to the WEP focused study, in addition to greater innovation, up to 170 million jobs could be created by 2030, and our annual GDP could rise by 1.5% if more women took up entrepreneurship – a massive opportunity lost if we delay action to uplift women-owned businesses," said Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India & SAARC.

WEP Nxt is aimed at bridging the existing gaps and forging new possibilities for women in India. We are proud to partner with NITI Aayog to accelerate our shared vision of a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

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About Women Entrepreneurship Platform, NITI Aayog

The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is NITI Aayog's flagship initiative – a one-of-its-kind, unified informationportal for women entrepreneurs. It strives to improve industry linkages and awareness of existing programs and services and provide access to peer support, learning resources, fundraising opportunities and mentorship. With an overarching objective of becoming an aggregator platform that solves for the information asymmetry in the ecosystem, WEP serves as a one stop solution for information and services relevant to women entrepreneurs. The platform currently hosts over 16,000 registered users and 30 partners and caters to six focus areas: Funding & Financial Management, Incubation Connects, Taxation & Compliance Support, Entrepreneur Skilling & Mentorship, Community & Networking and Marketing Assistance.

Niti Aayog Ties With Cisco To Launch the Next Phase of the Women's Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP)

NITI Aayog, in collaboration with Cisco, has launched the next phase of the Women's Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), called WEP Nxt.

WEP Nxt focuses on six key verticals: community and networking, skilling and mentorship, incubation and acceleration programs, and financial, compliance, and marketing assistance. The goal is to provide women entrepreneurs with the resources, support, and learning opportunities they need to grow their businesses.

It's a significant step towards fostering a more inclusive and digitally-enabled entrepreneurial landscape in India.

WEP, initially launched by NITI Aayog in 2017, is a first-of-its-kind, unified portal that brings together women from diverse backgrounds and offers them access to a multitude of resources, support, and learning. WEP Nxt is a significant step to augment these efforts.

Additionally, as a part of this initiative, Cisco, in collaboration with the Nasscom Foundation, Sattva Consulting, and the DeAsra Foundation, will enable technology-led experiences and engagements to address the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs at individual and enterprise levels and create new opportunities for growth.

“As per the Sixth Economic Census, women only constitute 13.76% of the total entrepreneurs, i.e., 8.05 million out of the 58.5 million entrepreneurs in the country. This may have been a missed opportunity in the past, but I am confident as the Government of India and Private sector hold hands through initiatives such as the WEP, we will realise this vision of a new India – where men and women have the equal opportunity to build and to share in the glory of achievement, “ said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. “WEP Nxt will further catalyse this movement and I am confident with Cisco as our partner, this technology platform will soon be the personalized guide for every woman entrepreneur in the country to realize her dreams “

"As we enter a new phase of recovery, we see a collective agreement that a diverse, inclusive, and digitally-enabled world is far more prosperous," said Cisco Chief Operating Officer, Maria Martinez. "It is our responsibility to step up to the challenges of inequity and create new pathways to economic prosperity that enable people and communities, especially women, to break through barriers, spark new ideas, and ignite innovation. We are excited about our partnership with NITI Aayog and hope to bring the benefits of digital technologies to more women-owned enterprises."

"According to the WEP focused study, in addition to greater innovation, up to 170 million jobs could be created by 2030, and our annual GDP could rise by 1.5% if more women took up entrepreneurship – a massive opportunity lost if we delay action to uplift women-owned businesses," said Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India & SAARC."WEP Nxt is aimed at bridging the existing gaps and forging new possibilities for women in India.We are proud to partner with NITIAayog to accelerate our shared vision of a more inclusive and equitable future for all."

NITI Aayog Launches Programme for Science-based Deep-Tech Startups

In a major push towards deep technology and driving the country to become a digitally transformed nation, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog has launched AIM-PRIME (programme for Researchers on Innovations, Market-Readiness & Entrepreneurship), a programme to promote and support science-based deep-tech startups & ventures across India.

In this regard, AIM has joined hands with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to launch this nationwide programme which will be implemented by Venture Centre - a non-profit technology business incubator hosted by CSIR-NCL.

The first cohort of the programme is open to technology developers (early-stage deep tech start-ups, and scientists/ engineers/ clinicians) with strong science-based deep tech business ideas. The programme is also open to CEOs and Senior incubation managers of AIM Funded Atal Incubation Centres that are supporting deep tech entrepreneurs.

The benefits of this programme are aimed at addressing these specific issues through training and guidance over a period of 12 months. Candidates selected for the programme will get access to in-depth learning via a comprehensive lecture series, live team projects, exercises, and project-specific mentoring. They will also have access to a deep tech start-up playbook, curated video library, and plenty of peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

Director of Venture Centre Dr. Premnath said “The hallmark of the AIM-PRIME programme shall be hands-on practical insights and mentoring from experts and mentors who have been nurturing science-based deep-tech startups in global innovation hotspots as well as in India.”

The programme is catalyzed by the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, and the Pune Knowledge Cluster. Details on the AIM-PRIME programme are available at aim.gov.in or www.primeprogramme.in

India Innovation Index - Delhi Tops the List, Chandigarh Major Gainer, Himachal Tops among North-East and Hill States

NITI Aayog, along with the Institute for Competitiveness, today released the second edition of the India Innovation Index in a virtual event. The report examines the innovation capabilities and performance of the states and union territories. The first edition of the index was launched in October 2019.

The India Innovation Index 2020 was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, in the presence of Member (Health), Dr VK Paul, Member (Agriculture), Dr Ramesh Chand, CEO Amitabh Kant, Adviser (Science and Technology) Neeraj Sinha, and Institute for Competitiveness Chair Dr Amit Kapoor.

The event was attended by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Secretary Dr Shekhar C. Mande, Department of Biotechnology Secretary Dr Renu Swarup, Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary Dr MN Rajeevan, Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Secretary Dr Kshatrapati Shivaji, among others.

In the second edition too, the index found that the level of competitiveness among the states and union territories was high, which is essential for them to continually improve on their enabling factors as well as innovation performance, year by year.

In the ‘Major States’ category, Karnataka continued to occupy the top position, while Maharashtra moved past Tamil Nadu to reach the second place. Telangana, Kerala, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab completed the top ten in that order. Karnataka’s rank is attributable to its substantive number of venture capital deals, registered geographical indicators and information and communications technology exports. Karnataka’s high Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow has also enhanced the innovation capabilities of the state. Four southern states—Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Kerala—occupied the top five spots under the ‘Major States’ category this year.

Overall, Delhi retained its first rank, while Chandigarh made a big leap since 2019 and landed in the second place this year. Under the ‘North-Eastern/Hill States’ category, Himachal Pradesh moved up from the second position to emerge as the top ranker this year, while 2019’s top performer (in this category), Sikkim, slipped down to the fourth position.

The innovation inputs were measured through five enabler parameters, and the output through two performance parameters. While ‘Human Capital’, ‘Investment’, ‘Knowledge Workers’, ‘Business Environment’, ‘Safety and Legal Environment’were identified as enabler parameters, ‘Knowledge Output’ and ‘Knowledge Diffusion’were chosen as the performance parameters.

India’s average score on the Business Environment pillar is 16.8, with Delhi yielding a score of 39.7,
placing it at the top spot. Kerala (37.1) has emerged as the best performer among Major States,
and Himachal Pradesh (22.9) among NE and Hill States. On the other hand, Arunachal Pradesh
(2.8) finished last overall and among NE and Hill States, Bihar (5.2) among Major States, and
Puducherry (8.2) among UT and City States.

During the event, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said, ‘The India Innovation Index will create synergies between different stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem, thus enabling India to shift to competitive good governance.’ He also said the index is a great beginning to improve the innovation environment in the country. It is the right step towards making India the innovation leader of the world.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ‘The India Innovation Index is a major step towards measuring innovation outcomes of states and facilitating optimal utilization of national and state mechanisms to realize the goal of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.’

‘The index could be of vital significance to the states in identifying their innovation performance and initiating necessary policy interventions to leverage their unique strengths,’ said NITI Aayog Adviser Neeraj Sinha.

Dr. Amit Kapoor, Chair, Institute for Competitiveness, said, ‘The index can help the Central and state governments to benchmark regional performance with respect to innovation, and provide policy insights on what needs to be done to improve and enhance it.’

The India Innovation Index aims to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of India’s innovation environment. The index aims to rank states and UTs based on their scores, recognize opportunities and challenges, and assist in tailoring government policies to foster innovation.

NITI Aayog, with its mandate of promoting ‘competitive federalism’ among all states and union territories, is committed to utilize the India Innovation Index in catalysing the innovation outcome of the nation.

The full document can be accessed here: https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-01/IndiaInnovationReport2020Book.pdf

India Witnessed US$38 Billion Inflow of FDI: NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

While the world reeled under the Covid pandemic, India witnessed 38 billion U.S. dollars inflow of FDI: NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant 

The Pandemic will end soon: Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Self-awareness is a very important trait for entrepreneurship: Yashish Dahiya

To administer vaccines to 1.3 bn people, we need 2.6 bn syringes and needles. We are worried about how much pollution they produce: Dr. Krishna Ella

 

Hyderabad, December 09, 2020….Post the opening of TiE Global Summit, much concurrent session held. In a session titled 'Transformation of India with a focus on entrepreneur ecosystem' in conversation with CNBC TV18's Nisha Poddar, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that India has grown as a technology country. India has world's second-largest start-up ecosystem, he said. While the world reeled under the Covid pandemic, India witnessed 38 billion U.S. dollars inflow of FDI.

He spoke about various fronts on which the Government is working to leverage technology for the benefit of India's 1.3 billion populations. The solutions will not only benefit 1.3 billion but the next 4-5 billion people who will move over from poverty to middle class, he said.

He said that Niti Aayog has taken up various measures to attract FDI and has pushed limits in innovation. India is becoming an innovation-driven economy by removing regulatory barriers. He propounded various measures such as Aadhaar, DBT, UPI, Aayushman Bharat, etc. He said that India can build a number of tech products as it has skilled manpower and unique problems. The Post Covid-19 era will be a world of technology, he said. India can be a tech garage for the world, he added. India has worked on a range of products solving problems, he said.

Speaking on data culture, data economy and A.I. competence, Mr. Amitabh Kant said that it is an evolving and fast-changing digital landscape. Though data privacy has been in the limelight, India needs data protection and data empowerment too, he said.

Using data history is very critical to us. A framework to share data easily and reliably with control is needed. We can use data for machine learning, artificial learning, data empowerment and responsible artificial intelligence. Personal Data Protection Bill is under scrutiny by the Parliament, he informed.

India is data-rich but it has to be data-intelligent, find solutions to problems, Mr. Amitabh Kant said. Artificial Intelligence can help add up to $957 billion to the Indian economy by 2035. The opportunity for AI in India is massive, he said. The focus should be on finding A.I. solutions and adopt them at scale. We should use A.I. for social good, he opined. Development and deployment of A.I. are mode critical, he added.

Answering a question on women entrepreneurship, Amitabh Kant said that the next big disruption in India will be led by women entrepreneurs. To transform India, we need to give a huge fillip to women entrepreneurship, he said. Speaking on the Startup ecosystem on India, Amitabh Kant called upon Indian companies and Indian family businesses to invest in the ecosystem. India should learn to support startups, he said.

WEALTH CREATOR DNA

Wealth Creator DNA session hosted by Sridhar Pinnapureddy, President, TiE Hyderabad with entrepreneurs Ritesh Agarwal (CEO, OYO), Sumant Sinha (Chairman and Managing Director of ReNew Power) and Yashish Dahiya (Group CEO, PolicyBazaar) threw up interesting stories of their journey and growth on becoming an entrepreneur.

The premise of the session in a Q&A format was on what makes these entrepreneurs special and where they born to create wealth? The session revealed the thought process behind their success and what it takes to become what they are.

Sharing his thoughts, Sumant Sinha said that question oneself and introspection play a vital role. He said that he saw himself as a builder/creator who wants to create something that has a lasting value. Ritesh Agarwal too opined that ability to reflect is critical. The most important thing was that he aspired to create value out of nothing. Yashish Dahiya said that self-awareness is a very important trait for entrepreneurship.

They shared the start of their journey to entrepreneurship and their biggest moments.

Sumant Singh disclosing his experiences said that he comes from a family were doing the job in the private sector a very daring thing to do. He opined that comfortable life, job, etc. are straight-jackets. It becomes difficult to start something. I first thought of becoming an entrepreneur sometime in my mid-30s, he said.

Answering a question on who their favorite wealth creators (with whom they are fascinated) were Sumant Sinha said that he admired Elon Musk and said that he was ahead of humanity and was a visionary and a problem solver. Ritesh Agarwal said that Bill Gates and Azim Premji were his role models as they not only created wealth but also gave back to society. Yashish Dahiya said that he is fascinated by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, his first investor for his guts. It takes a lot of guts to invest into an idea, he said.

Delivering the Vaccine: The Big Opportunity

Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman & MD, Bharat Biotech was in conversation with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Chairperson, Biocon, on delivering the vaccine: the big opportunity. Speaking to Kiran, Dr. Krishna Ella said India is one of the best Vaccine Industries in the world. One in every three children is vaccinated by Indian Vaccine Industry. In the past, R & D was not so much as it is in the Vaccine industry. Thanks to Pandemic, the industry got good recognition. India has the experience of polio immunization. But the number there is small just 125 million. Now in case of the Corona, it is 7bn adults, which is a huge challenge.

Replying about their plans, he said intranasal COVID-19 vaccine to enter phase 1 trials next month. We are setting up two more facilities for vaccine manufacturing including Covaxin, a vaccine for the coronavirus, that is when we will know our installed capacity well.

It is going to be a single-dose vaccine. The clinical trial process is also going to be faster," he said to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson of Bengaluru-based Biocon Limited with whom he was in conversation.

We have tied up with Washington University School of Medicine in St.Louis for a novel "chimp-adenovirus" (Chimpanzee adenovirus), single-dose intranasal vaccine for COVID-19.

On the pricing he said Indian vaccines will be much cheaper when compared to other countries.

So many manufacturers are working on at a faster pace with limited data and safety, efficacy, no information on long term efficacy, how does he address these concerns? We as manufacturers safety is our priority. Safety is the most important in the pandemic. Among different platforms based on which vaccines are manufactured, we are working on inactivated vaccines, informed Krishna Ella.

Speaking on the deployment Mr. Krishna Ella shared with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson Biocon Ltd, that we need to vaccinate 1.3 billion people and they need to be vaccinated twice. So we need 2.6 bn syringes and needles. And we are worried about the pollution these devices generate.

The double doses of vaccine with a gap of one month in between may add more complexity to the distribution, he observed. Besides that, he says, it is the largest ever vaccination program in the history of entire mankind.

Another huge challenge will be the availability of medical devices such as auto disposable syringes, needles required for the delivery of the vaccine. While demand is more, the supply is not in commensuration with the demand as companies have been working with far fewer resources.

The Art of Living as Entrepreneurs

In another session, Sridhar Reddy, Chairman, Ctrls&Cloud4c was in conversation with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Attendees from all over the world from Korea, Singapore, the USA and others asked questions on a wide range of subjects relevant entrepreneurship.

Replying to those questions, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, the pandemic is going to end very soon says Gurudev Sri Ravi Shankar while interacting at the TiE Global Summit on the of its inauguration.

Replying to a question from a business owner from Singapore on how business owners have to manage the tough times the whole world is going through currently, he said it is a passing phase and it will end very soon. This too will pass. Take for example how some countries who lost everything in the past two world wars and were reduced to rubbles and woke up from ashes, rebuilt everything. This is also something similar to that. Take this as an opportunity.

To construct a tall building you go so deep and down only to put up a massive structure. There is enough humanity, human values to support each other. Hold on the ground. This pandemic is going to end very soon, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar said.

Speaking about entrepreneurship he said, the name entrepreneur indicates that you are here to bring something new to the world. And if you fail to do so, you are no good he said.

Talking on failures in the entrepreneurial journey he said, take failures as challenges. To do that you need a lot of inner strength. If you are stressed out, you can't handle small problems or challenges. Train your mind to accept challenges, failures. Stand up for criticism. And always be ready to accept criticism. Don't shun it, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar said. 

Use of Tech to Advance Access to Justice through Online Dispute Resolution, NITI Aayog and Patna High Court Initiate A Drive

NITI Aayog in association with Patna High Court, organized the inaugural meeting in a broader engagement on efficient and affordable access to justice for all, through the the interplay of technology, law and innovation in the post pandemic world.

This meeting was held on 7th December 2020 with a focus on ODR, with addresses by Hon’ble Justice Navin Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, Patna High Court, Hon’ble Justice Hemant Srivastava, Chairman Bihar State Legal Services Authority, Patna High Court, Hon’ble Justice Ashwani Kumar Singh, Chairman, High Court Legal Services Committee, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and domain experts. Over 1000 attendees participated in the online meeting, with participation from the entire Bihar Judiciary . At the meeting, the participants deliberated on the way forward for ensuring equitable and effective justice delivery for one and all.

ODR is the resolution of disputes, particularly small and medium value cases, using digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution (ADR), such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. While courts are becoming digitized through the efforts of the judiciary, more effective, scalable, and collaborative mechanisms of containment and resolution are urgently needed. ODR can help resolve disputes efficiently and affordably.

In his welcoming address, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said,“This historic meeting is the start of a collaborative exercise that sets into motion the use of technology towards efficient and affordable access to justice in our post-pandemic response.” He also mentioned that “one of the most encouraging developments recently is how progressive and in fact innovative the Courts have been in adopting technology.”

Hon’ble the Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, Patna High Court in his address affirmed that “All officers of Patna High Court have taken a vow since March of this year to transform justice delivery. We are dealing with a huge pendency of very old cases and new cases are arising. It requires a huge transformation in mindsets to deal with this challenge. We will work with NITI Aayog to outline a plan for finding a solution and ensure justice is both effective and expeditious.”

Hon’ble Mr Justice Navin Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India, in his Special Address, said“The justice system today is integrating both innovation and technology. Patna High Court has been the forerunner for integration of technology. I would like to see Patna High Court take the lead on Online Dispute Resolution in India.” He further added that “It is essential to ensure all stakeholders are trained and prepared for this new normal. We will be successful in ensuring justice delivery for all by taking a collaborative route as the way forward.”

At the meeting, Shri Desh Gaurav Sekhri, OSD and Head, Access to Justice,NITI Aayog made a presentation on the Draft Report for Formulating an Action Plan for ODR in India, under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) A.K. Sikri. Ms. Deepika Kinhal, Team Lead, JALDI, elaborated on the concept and benefits of ODR for citizens in India. Shri Vikas Mahendra, Arbitrator and co-founder, Center for Online Resolution of Disputes, expanded on the technology services that a wide range of ODR service providers have initiated in India in his presentation. Ms. Akshetha Ashok, co-founder, SAMA, shared the experience of collaborating with different States for organizing e-Lok Adalats with over 65,000+ cases being filed and 39898 + cases being settled, in her presentation.

The inaugural meeting generated tremendous recognition of the opportunity that ODR presents. CEO, NITI Aayog in his vote of thanks, extended gratitude to the Hon’ble Justices, especially to Justice Navin Sinha for giving the Special Address and lastly he shared his appreciation for Hon’ble Chief Justice Sanjay Karol for his progressive and visionary outlook.

The next meeting in the series will be held shortly.

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NITI Aayog Proposes Overseeing Body for Responsible Management of AI in India

For responsible management of Artificial Intelligence in India, Government think-tank Niti Aayog has proposed setting up an oversight body which will play an enabling role regarding technical, legal, policy and societal aspects of artificial intelligence (AI).


In its draft 'Working Document: Enforcement Mechanisms for Responsible #AIforAll', Niti Aayog said the oversight body must have industry representatives as well as experts from legal, humanities and social science fields.

"Use cases for Artificial Intelligence have emerged across sectors and the technology has shown rapid
growth over recent years. Approach to manage risks cannot be isolated. Such approaches must be highly participatory and must keep pace with technology. Risk across use cases and contexts vary and also evolve over time. One-size-fits-all approach is not sustainable.", said the document.

"A flexible risk-based approach must be adopted. In this regard, the National Strategy for Artificial
Intelligence proposes an Oversight Body.", said the draft.

Oversight body may identify design standards, guidelines and acceptable benchmarks for priority use
cases with sectoral regulators and experts. These may be made mandatory for public sector procurement

The oversight body must play an enabling role under the following broad areas -

1. Manage and update Principles for responsible AI in India
2. Research technical, legal,policy, societal issues of AI
3. Provide clarity on responsible behaviour through design structures, standards, guidelines, etc
4. Enable access to Responsible AI tools and techniques
5. Education and Awareness on Responsible AI
6. Coordinate with various sectoral AI regulators, identify gaps and harmonize policies across sectors
7. 'Represent India (and other emerging economies) in International AI dialogue.

Besides this, Niti Aayog has also proposed highly participatory advisory body called Council for Ethics and Technology, with a multi-disciplinary composition including Computer Science and AI experts, Legal and relevant sectoral experts, Humanities and Social Science experts , among few others.

Ethical Committees are accountable for enforcement of principles in the AI system’s lifecycle and must ensure the AI system is developed, deployed, operated and maintained in accordance with the Principles.

The Aayog has invited comments on the draft document by stakeholders by December 15.

The Niti Aayog had in June 2020 released a draft paper titled 'Towards Responsible#AIForAll' and had said there is a potential of large scale adoption of AI in a variety of social sectors.

NITI Aayog launches India's 1st Amazon Web Services Cloud Innovation Center

To address societal challenges through digital innovation, NITI Aayog today announced the establishment of a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) with Amazon Web Services (AWS)—the first of its kind in India.

This CIC is part ofthe AWS CIC Global Program, which provides an opportunity for government agencies, non-profits, and educational institutions, to come together on pressing challenges, apply design thinking, test new ideas, and access the technology expertise of AWS.

“We are seeing public sector organizations around the world use cloud technology to innovate in a fast and agile manner, address problems at scale, and transform public services for citizens,” said Max Peterson, Vice President, International Sales, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “Our Cloud Innovation Centers program is designed to be a catalyst for innovation in public sector, by bringing together technology experts to address challenges. We are excited to collaborate with NITI Aayog and support its public sector mission in India.”

‘We are delighted to collaborate with AWS in this endeavour. The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC will be a great enabler to budding innovators and start-ups, and help in piloting state-of-the-art, cloud-centric digital innovations by leveraging emerging technologies such as AI, IOT, robotics, blockchain, etc. It is also aligned to the Prime Minister’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, as well that of NITI Aayog and Atal Innovation Mission,’ said AIM (Atal Innovation Mission) Mission Director R. Ramanan.

“The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center will enable government stakeholders, start-ups, and local organizations in India to innovate and create new approaches to solving problems,” said Anna Roy, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog “Through the AWS CIC program, we now have the opportunity to experiment with the latest technology, and access world-class expertise that will help us advance citizen services, and better understand how frontier technologies can address the unique needs of our country," she added.

The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC addresses a core mission: to identify and deploy leading-edge technologies to drive continuous innovation in delivering citizen services. The center will identify and prioritize projects as well as collaborate with local leaders, including subject matter experts at the state and district levels, to solve critical challenges. Local enterprises, start-ups, researchers, and universities in India can experiment and build prototypes on AWS Cloud.

“With AWS Cloud, public sector organizations get the power of the broadest and deepest cloud services to accelerate their missions and make the world a better place,” said Rahul Sharma, Regional Head, AISPL Public Sector, AWS India and South Asia. “We are deeply committed to help public sector organizations in India achieve transformational economic and societal impact and look forward to sharing our global experiences to accelerate digital innovation in the country.”

The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC joins a global network of AWS public sector cloud innovation centers across Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, and United States. For more information about the Amazon Web Services Cloud Innovation Centers Program, visit https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/cloud-innovation-centers/.Amazon Internet Services Private Limited (AISPL) undertakes the resale and marketing of AWS Cloud services in India.