Chapter 6- Innovation Oriented Initiatives in Higher Education

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.

-Rabindranath Tagore

Successful pursuit in science, engineering and technology yields discovery invention and innovation respectively. Therefore, engineering education must build on relevant scientific theories and principles to address the issues of ‘need’ of the society

MHRD Initiatives on Promotion of Innovation:

In recent times, the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has launched several new and innovation programs to make higher education more pervasive and effective and usher in significant positive changes in the higher education system, particularly in engineering and technology. Some of the notable initiatives are summarized below:

Research and Innovation: Start up India Initiative for HEIs

To promote the culture of ‘innovation’ in tune with the declaration of 21^st century as the century of innovation and the PM’s desire to dedicate 2010-20 as the ‘Decade of Innovation’, MHRD has launched MHRD Innovation Cell (MIC) and Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) to systematically foster the culture of innovation in all higher education institutes (HEIs) across the country by encouraging and nurturing young students to explore new ideas that can result into innovative products and activities and in turn can make them successful entrepreneurs one day. The initiative envisages creation of 1000 Institute Innovation Centers (IIC) across the country to spread awareness, promote the culture of innovation among students and create an effective eco system for ushering in ‘New India’ that can compete with likes of Stanford and MIT

Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN)

GIAN aims to connect the Indian academia with the international talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs by inviting them to teach and participate in research in Indian HEis. GIAN should augment quality of professionals in academia, and elevate India’s scientific and technological standing in the global benchmark.

Scheme for Academic Research and Promotion by Collaboration (SPARC)

SPARC is a new and logical follow up initiative of MHRD after GIAN for improving the research ecosystem of India’s HEIs by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian academia and best institutions in the world.

Digital India-e-learning

The main objective of this virtual classroom initiative is to enable millions of youth outside the university campus to access best quality teachers and teaching courses in an easy paced manner without having to pay large tuition fees or even qualify through JEE or other entrance examinations. MOOCs will allow limited interaction with faculty, take examinations and even earn certificates that may help in getting employment.

Research and Innovatio

Under this initiative, 20 new Design Innovation Centers (DIC), one Open Design School (ODS) and a National Design Innovation Network (NDIN) are planned to be set up with interlinks.

Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY)

UAY promotes industry sponsored, outcome-oriented research projects. The project cost is met to the extent of 50 per cent by MHRD and 25 per cent each by the Industry and host Institute. The objectives of UAY scheme are to promote innovation in IITS, connect with manufacturing industries, spur innovative mindset and promote collaboration and cooperation between academia and industry.

Innovation in HEIs-IMPRINT:

The Government of India, in order to promote the culture of innovation in India, particularly in the technology institutions like IITs, NITs and all other HEIs recently formulated a new and unique scheme called Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT), primarily with the goal of translation of knowledge from research into viable technology (product or process)

Imprint:

IMPRINT is different from usual research initiatives because

it is meant not only for creation but for translation of knowledge into viable technology,
it addresses not just one but all technology challenges faced by the nation,
it relies upon a total inclusive model of crowd sourcing and involving all concerned stakeholders from Ministry to industry.

Imprint II:

Encouraged by the success of IMPRINT I, a newer version called IMPRINT II, was planned in a more inclusive manner by expanding the catchment of implementing institutions by adopting a more demand-driven strategy of solution development and by incorporating the specific requirements of the states of India so as to make end-user translation and technology adoption easier. The SERB (Science and Engineering Research Board) in the Department of Science & Technology (DST) was made the nodal agency for implementing the IMPRINT II initiative working along with the National Coordinator.

Core mandate of IMPRINT II :

Develop products/processes and viable technologies for addressing the identified challenges in different domains
Formulate and develop focused translational projects against identified technology thrust areas by various stakeholder ministers
Evolve new technology transfer models for enabling technology diffusion to industry and stakeholders
Continuously monitor and refine the challenges and gaps in the various technology domains and collect feedback from stakeholder ministries/industry
Align the programmers and projects with the needs of various industry sectors and the States of India in order to achieve end-user translation
Facilitate building capability and competence in identified technology thrust areas in the various HEIs and universities in order to plug the demand-supply gap

Conclusion:

Innovation has become synonymous with evolution and progress in life. Education is the only way to effectively train the population not only to benefit from the exploits and fruits of innovation but also to actively participate and contribute to this crusade for creating a better, safer and healthier planet.