Ahmedabad

President Pranab Mukharjee today handed over Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE awards 2015 to a total of 41 school students from 18 states for 31 innovations in a function at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A) here and said that innovation was the key to economic development of the country.

He also said that by nurturing the spirit of innovation the ‘Start up India, Stand up India’ vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also get a boost.

Mr. Mukherjee also praised the IIM-A and National Innovation Foundation (NIF) for their efforts to promote innovation.
The president said that with the proper mix of innovation, entrepreneurship and a collaboration between the academia and the industry a lot of problems of the society as well as of nation could be solved. The academia-Industry tie up can pave way for more and more commercially viable and useful innovations.

He stressed on the need for creating a conducive ecosystem for innovation with the involvement of institutes of higher education like the IIM, Ahmedabad.

The president also invited the winners of the IGNITE award 2015 with which the name of former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has been associated from this year, to come to Rashtrapati bhavan to participate in the second festival of innovation slated to be held in March next year. He said that when he sees these young innovators he feels very assured and optimistic about the future of the country.

India was a country of 1.2 billion constructive minds and it was duty of each one of us to make efforts to solve the problems of the society and the nation to take it forward on the path of progress through their entrepreneurship and innovation.

On the occasion Governor O P Kohli, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, NIF chairman Dr R A Mashelkar, Union secretary for science and technology Anurag Sharma and IIM-A Director Ashish Nanda were also present and shared their views.

Mr. Nanda put forth a three pronged strategy for the future expansion of his institute and sought financial and other support from the government.

– DeshGujarat