The NEP 2020 aims to establish an educational landscape that caters to the overall development of students to create industry ready work force to meet global industry requirements and emphasis on entrepreneurship and start-ups ecosystem. NEP 2020 also promotes entrepreneurship amongst students with the exposure to vocational education in partnership with industry and in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal 4.4 (SDG).

One of the principles driving the NEP 2020 is creativity and critical thinking to encourage logical decision making and innovation. Teaching innovations is necessary for:

• Adapting to the changing needs of the evolving job market
• Fostering creativity and critical thinking skills
• Encouraging collaboration and problem-solving abilities
• Addressing the unique learning needs of each student

Some of the initiatives by the Government to nurture innovation in students are as follows:

• Establishment of Institution’s Innovation Councils (IICs) to systematically foster the culture of innovation and start-up ecosystem. Applied research, innovation and entrepreneurship are integral to IICs. HEIs to ensure a multidisciplinary interaction and partnership approach for boosting IP generation, enhancing innovation and start-up outputs from academic institutions.
• AICTE- IDEA (Idea Development, Evaluation & Application) Labs with prototyping facilities being set-up in institutions with a view to encourage students for application of STEM fundamentals towards enhanced hands-on experience and learning by doing. Also, to impart training on 21st century skills, like critical thinking, problem solving and design thinking, collaboration and communication that can enhance their employability. AICTE approved engineering colleges with at least 10 years of existence and active accreditation to one course/programme course are eligible to apply under this scheme.
• Through related provisions of NEP 2020, integration of vocational education with educational offerings in institutions and mapping of local opportunities has been helpful in developing entrepreneurial competencies besides capacities and has helped make vocational education a part of the larger vision of holistic education.
• Some of the key achievements over the past 3 years that indicate the scale of implementation are setting up of 7265 Institution Innovation Councils (IICs) in 28 States & 8 UTs, and the funding of 106 IDEA labs since its inception in 2022. Overall, India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) has leapfrogged to 40th position in 2022 from 52nd position prior to NEP release.

To actualise the vision of India as global education hub, it is intended to promote innovations in the HEIs through partnership with industry players. Similarly, to actualise the vision of ‘Well rounded leaders for the 21st Century” it is intended that by 2030 to establish Institutions as hubs of innovation,create pathways for strengthened industry and academia linkages through ‘Professor of Practice’ model , allowing industry experts to teach and mentor students, and promote on-campus incubation of the start-ups. By 2047, aim is to create a culture of innovation across institutions by launching co-created /joint programmes with the industry across HEIs.

The vision is to make HEIs centres of innovations which can propel India GII ranking from current 40th (2022) to 35 by 2030 and within 20 by 2047.

5.1 Expected Outcomes of the Session

The session would provide a platform for engaging with stakeholders on the various aspects of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and its implementation, such as:

• Improvements in key indicators and indices for measuring Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including better parity with global benchmarks and top performers
• An understanding of scope of convergence of various schemes to foster innovation and entrepreneurship across school and higher education.
• Pathway to improving the scale, quality, and output of RDCs in supporting industries.
• Opportunities for collaboration of HEIs within the ecosystem of S&T Clusters and Start-up Hubs.

5.2 Roadmap for the Institutes

Innovation and entrepreneurship cannot be promoted within a small-time frame, but it requires a collective effort from all segments of the society. NEP 2020 has laid an important path towards this. Further, the recent success of Indian start-ups has also help kindle the entrepreneurial spirit not just in youth but also in the overall society wherein entrepreneurs are now being celebrated.

Institutes need to create an environment where out of the box and innovative thinking are encouraged and this can be done only when our instructors are trained accordingly. Training of Trainer programmes need to be accordingly organized and curriculum for the existing trainings should be revised. The training programmes for trainees should focus on development of problem-solving skills and should inculcate more case studies even in technical programmes.

Some of the other activities that should be undertaken are:

• Developing and introducing of curriculum on Entrepreneurship Development: Incorporating entrepreneurship training by Introduction of an entrepreneurship module covering all major facets of business. The module may cover aspects such as incorporation, legal frameworks, finance and accounting, Marketing, and promotion etc. The module may also create awareness about various government initiatives to undertaken to encourage entrepreneurship which shall help candidates understand opportunities and benefits of entrepreneurship.
• Creation of Incubation Centres: Formation of incubation cells for development of business ideas at a regional or state level to assist trainees in formulation and fruition of their plans may also be undertaken. Being embedded in an institution, an effective entrepreneurship and incubation support cell may provide assistance to cover plethora of activities for development and promotion of entrepreneurship. The cell may guide and assist prospective entrepreneurs on various aspects such as preparing project reports, obtaining project approvals, loans, and facilities from agencies of support systems and information on various technologies.
• Conducting state and national level competitions: Conducting innovation and idea-based competitions coupled by mentorship support may foster the spirit of entrepreneurship among students.
• Encouraging collaboration with the private sector: Institutes may focus towards partnering with corporates, foundations, and other research-intensive institutions. This will enable trainees and instructors to exchange ideas inside and outside the institutes, thereby help to prepare students to be citizens of a rapidly changing world. The institutes can provide a platform for interaction with entrepreneurs via guest lectures and industry visits.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion: A more diverse group of trainees shall lead to broadening the trainee exposure, peer to peer learning and provide different ideas.
• Mandatory NIEBUD trained instructor at each institute: Availability of NIESBUD trained instructor who can promote entrepreneurship by introducing it at an early stage.