NEW DELHI, July 23 (Xinhua) -- India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will launch the "Global Innovation Index (GII)" in New Delhi on Wednesday, government sources said Tuesday.
The GII 2019, with the theme "Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation," aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare. The GII is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation.
The launch ceremony would be co-hosted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The GII details the metrics about innovation performance in 129 economies around the world, in 80 indicators exploring a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.
Over the last few years innovation has become central to the government of India's economic policy. And, as a result India jumped 24 places in four years.
"India was 81 in 2015, rose to 66th position in 2016, India was ranked 60th in GII in 2017 and in 2018 achieved the 57th position in the GII. India's efforts are a showcase of how policy efforts can boost innovation," said an official statement issued by the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
DPIIT Secretary Ramesh Abhishek on Tuesday told media persons that India is hopeful of further improving its GII ranking. "We are definitely hoping an improvement as we have improved in indicators like ease of doing business," he said.
