India top exporter of information, communication technology: UN

The Dollar Business Bureau 

A UN agency report has ranked India as the world’s top exporter of information and communication technology, while recommending that the country should leverage its position to innovate in areas where materials sciences and biology intersect with computing.

India jumped 14 places to acquire 61st position this year from the 85th rank in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII).

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Monday released the report in Geneva.

India ranked 8th in producing graduates in engineering and science. But it witnessed a maximum improvement in human capital and research as it moved up 40 places to rank 63.

The United Nation’s (UN) specialised agency WIPO, along with Cornell University and INSEAD Business School prepared the ninth edition of the index.

Referring to India’s “jugaad” tradition, the report indicated that the country’s frugal and sustainable culture could help in capturing major global markets.

“For this to happen, however, India’s industries need to have the hunger to be at the top of the value chain, its customers have to be more demanding, its policies have to be more transparent, and its talent pool has to get more hands-on experience while simultaneously growing to leverage the global talent pool,” the report said.

“The commitment of India to innovation and improved innovation metrics is strong and growing, helping to improve the innovation environment. This trend will help gradually lift India closer to other top-ranked innovation economies,” WIPO said quoting CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee.

Switzerland ranked first as the most innovative country across the world. Other counties such as Sweden, Britain, the USA, Finland and Singapore followed Switzerland in the ranking.