NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee today stressed on the need to have increased ‘open’ innovation in the government to serve citizens better as he was honored with a global leader award for initiating outstanding innovative programs from the top office of the country.
“Open innovation is a way to future as it captures knowledge-flow from all sources, both internal and external, in an organization. Open innovation is most essential for government entities, who are tasked to serve the citizens.
“Placing of data in public domain without compromising the privacy, promotes transparency, innovation and opens up new avenues to solve problems of citizens efficiently and effectively,” Mukherjee said.
He expressed these views after being presented the Garwood Award for ‘Outstanding Global Leader in Open Innovation’ by the UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business in California, United States of America, at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
Mukherjee dedicated the award to people of the country, his staff and colleagues at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, who he said, “rendered their support” to him in improving the lot of common people of India through such initiatives.
Mukherjee, in the about three-and-a-half years of his Presidency, has initiated a number of measures to encourage innovation amongst the young and others alike and the President’s Estate also held the first-ever ‘Festival of Innovation’ early this year in this context.
The President, in almost all his speeches to institutes of higher learning in the country, has stressed on innovation and focused attention on Research and Development along with forging of national and international collaborations by these institutions.
During the event held here, Mukherjee said innovation is “critical driver” of growth and development.
“Open innovation takes the innovation to next level and creates a new eco-system of access and equal opportunities to all. I firmly believe that open innovation has a potential to transform the global social landscape and help achieve the goal of a more fair and just world,” he said. .
Prof Solomon Darwin, Executive Director of the Garwood Center, who led a team of academicians and faculty from the US to hand over the honor to the President, called Mukherjee a “champion of innovative thinking”.
The California-based University, renowned for having produced the maximum number of Nobel laureates across the globe, is also offering a first-of-its kind course on building Smart Cities, with a special focus on India.
“It is a privilege to be associated with the first public university of the world established in 1868, which has consistently ranked overall fourth,” the President said after receiving the award.
He said in order to sustain the growth rate of 8 per cent through the next two decades, India will need to increase its electricity supply by at least 5 to 7 times of its current consumption.
“This is a huge responsibility and challenge because we have to achieve this while preserving the environment,” Mukerjee said as he also sought the University’s academic help in this regard. -PTI
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