Ahmedabad

On his maiden visit to Gujarat, the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, today, visited IIM Ahmedabad, and addressed the students and faculty on how to improve Higher Education in India, and on nurturing the innovation ecosystem in the country. The President presented the ‘Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE competition awards 2015’ constituted by the National Innovation Foundation – India (NIF) to 41 students from 18 states across India for their 31 creative ideas.

The Governor of Gujarat, Shri OP Kohli; the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel; Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India; Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, IIMA; Dr. RA Mashelkar, Chairperson, NIF; and Prof. Anil Gupta, Ex-ecutive Vice Chairperson, NIF graced the occasion.

In his address, President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, said, “IIMA has had an illustrious history. It has excelled in academics and given the best of management talent to India and to the whole world.” He urged the faculty, students, and alumni of IIMA to continue to engage with creative minds from industry, business, entrepreneurs, society leaders, and those who work at the grassroots. “It must strive to be a beacon of knowledge, nurture other institutions with generous mentorship, and maintain a culture that blends the drive for excellence, and performance with the spirit of collaboration and compassion…NIF and IIMA has given a global identity to the Indian model of social innovation,” he added.

Dr. RA Mashelkar talked about reinventing and reimagining India through inclusive innovations. Prof Ashutosh Sharma talked about various initiatives that the Department of Science and technol-gy has undertaken to promote the culture of inclusive innovations in the country. He informed the audience about two new initiatives, where NIF would play an important role— the INSPIRE scheme for school children and a competition to harness the creativity of ITI students.

Smt. Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister, Gujarat said:“This year’s IGNITE is a befitting tribute to Dr. Kalam’s legacy. There is no dearth of talent among the youth of this country. When I saw the list of award winners, I observed that a majority are from the rural areas.” The Chief Minister particularly mentioned two innovative ideas viz. solar farming machine and foldable hand cart, which have the potential to help a lot of farmers in Gujarat.

The President in his address also talked about linking higher education, innovation and industry and briefed some of the innovation promotion activities being carried out by his office such as the ‘Innovation-in-Scholar Residence programme, where select innovators are provided residency for a couple of weeks at the President House. He also mentioned about the Festival of Innovation organized at the President House with support of NIF to link grassroots innovators with the innovative minds at different levels in diverse fields.

Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, IIMA, while addressing the gathering, said:“I believe President Mukherjee’s name will go down in history as the “Education President” for the unprecedented and gratifying encouragement and attention he and his staff have been providing consistently to leaders of academic institutions.”

Prof. Nanda mentioned three projects.

1. Restoration and expansion of IIMA’s iconic campus.

2. Expansion of IIMA’s doctoral program to nurture research at the institution and provide much-needed high-quality faculty for management institutions in the country.

3. Focused research that crosscuts traditional management disciplines on topics of deep im-port to the nation such as – data analytics, social enterprise, and grassroots.

He urged for govt. support on all three projects as they require significant financial outlays and their benefits redound not only to the institute but to the nation.

Earlier, the President visited the IGNITE Award Exhibition showcasing award winning ideas and prototypes by students organised by NIF at the venue. In his address, he said, “The children have proved that innovative spirits can dispel any amount of inertia and replace it with exciting new possibilities…Innovations from creative youngsters are the best examples of “Samvedna se srijansheelta” (innovation form compassion or empathy)”. The President was also briefed about the activities being undertaken by the students clubs at IIMA. A display of various publications of IIMA was also put up at the venue.

In his vote of thanks, Prof Anil Gupta thanked the President and other dignitaries, and congratulated all the young award winners. He complimented Smt Anandiben Patel, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat for immediately considering implementation of two students’ ideas she saw at the exhibition.

– DeshGujarat

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