New Delhi, July 25 (KNN) Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal has urged the R&D institutions, universities and private sector to transform the country into a hub of innovation.

Speaking at the launch of Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 here, Goyal urged the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to factor in India’s rural innovation as part of the innovation index in future.

Congratulating all those involved in the process, he said that India has made a significant progress to 52nd rank in the GII-2019 and now the culture of innovation is coming to the centre-stage.

He said “India will continue its efforts to reach upwards of top 50 ranks in the GII that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi set a goal”.

He further added that India will not rest on past laurels until it achieves its target of positioning itself among the top 25 countries of the Global Innovation Index. To achieve this ranking he urged all stakeholders to work in mission mode.

Commerce and Industry Minister in his address said that the improvement in the rankings should inspire Indians to help marginalized and under privileged section of society and R&D must provide sustainable solutions to the problems that India is facing at present like rising pollution levels in cities, water crises faced in different parts of the country, depleting natural resources, issues of climate change and solving problems of food wastage.

All these problems that the country is facing should be solve through innovative ideas, he added.

The Minister further added that India must be a responsive country and work in mission mode by engaging with academia, private sector and government agencies to improve the quality of citizens’ lives even in the remotest parts of the country.

Referring to GII theme of this year which is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation, PiyushGoyal said that Government of India is focusing on not just curative but preventive healthcare where wellness becomes a part of society.

The GII rankings are published every year by Cornell University, INSEAD and the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and GII Knowledge Partners. This is the 12th edition of the GII rankings of 129 economies based on 80 indicators ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and scientific and technical publications.

Switzerland remains number one is the GII index followed by Sweden, the United States of America, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Singapore, Germany and Israel.