India has climbed 4 spots and has been ranked 48^th by the World Intellectual Property Organization in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings. In midst of the Covid -19 pandemic, it comes as an uplifting news for India, and is a testament of its robust R&D Ecosystem. India was at the 52^nd position in 2019 and was ranked 81^st in the year 2015. It is a remarkable achievement to be in a league of highly innovative developed nations all over the globe. The WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last 5 years.

The consistent improvement in the global innovation index rankings is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant startup ecosystem, and the amazing work done by the public & private research organizations. The scientific ministries like the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of space have played a pivotal role in the enriching the national innovation Ecosystem.

The NITI Aayog has been working tirelessly to ensure optimization of national efforts in this direction by bringing policy led innovation in different areas such as EVs, biotechnology, Nano technology, Space, alternative energy sources, etc. The India Innovation Index, which was released last year by the NITI Aayog, has been widely accepted as the major step in the direction of decentralization of innovation across all the states of India. A constant thrust in monitoring and evaluating India’s position in global rankings has be provided by the NITI Aayog, including the global innovation index.

India must aim high and double its efforts in improving its ranking in the global innovation index. The call for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat by the Hon’ble Prime Minister could only be realized if India punches above its weight class and compete with global superpowers in developing scientific interventions. It is time that India brings a paradigm shift and aims to be in the top 25 countries in the next global innovation index rankings.

Innovation policy performance drives national competitiveness, urging intensified R&D and coordinated policy action to raise global rankings. India's Global Innovation Index improvement is attributed to a stronger R&D ecosystem, knowledge capital, a vibrant startup sector and coordinated contributions from public and private research organisations, with scientific ministries playing pivotal roles. NITI Aayog's policy coordination-via the India Innovation Index and sectoral policy initiatives in areas like biotech, space, nanotechnology and alternative energy-is identified as central to optimising innovation outcomes and monitoring global rankings, coupled with a national call to intensify efforts to achieve higher standing in future indices.