Shiksha Samachar: UKIERI Round Tables on Innovation and Skills Development

UKIERI Round Tables on Innovation and Skills Development
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Rizwan Khan on 20/02/2013 23:22:00


On April 20, 2012, Shri Kapil Sibal, the then Minister of HRD, presided over the
India-UK Round Table Conference on Innovation and Skill Development. The Round
Table was a part of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).
In his speech, Shri Sibal, said “Economic resources defined the milestones of
the 20th century but the defining story-line of the early 21st century will be
that of human resources. Today’s challenges are
qualitatively different from the past in their global Shri Peter R deSouza,
Director, IIAS and Ms. Lise Grande, UNDP Resident Representative, India. The
agreement was signed on August 22, 2012. The Centre will provide research and
analysis support on the policy dimensions of a human development approach that
can help translate the human development concept into policies aimed at
improving human development at national, sub-national and local levels;
developing capacity of national governments, parliamentarians, CSOs and academia
to undertake human development-oriented policymaking and advocacy, etc.
Exchange of Ideas Taking the educational partnership between India and the US a
step forward, the second Indo-US Higher Education dialogue was held in
Washington, D.C., United reach. Therefore, engagements like we are having today
in the backdrop of a successful partnership initiative like UKIERI are extremely
important and we have a lot to learn and share.”
Revealing that the Government of India had declared the 2010-2020 decade as the
“Decade of Innovation,” the former Minister said that innovation is the
“enginefor national and global growth, employment, competitiveness and sharing
of opportunities in the 21st century.” He further said, “India is uniquely
poised to reap the advantage of the comparatively young population, its
leadership role in ICT and software, with over 800 million people connected
through mobile phones that provide for unprecedented advantages for development
of inclusive models of innovation for making the country to become not merely a
knowledge producing economy but a knowledge sharing society. Our core idea of
innovations is to go beyond R&D parameters and to produce affordable and
qualitative solutions that address the needs of people at the bottom of the
pyramid, and focus on inclusive growth model and the National Innovation Council
acts as a catalyst in this effort to break barriers and seize new opportunities.
The National Innovation Council has made several recommendations to support
entrepreneurship arising from University research. Sector Innovation Councils
are also formed for focusing on specific sectors.”
Source : DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION MHRD GOVERNMENT OF INDIA