Goal is to transform India into a start-up nation: Dharmendra Pradhan

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan wants India’s booming start-up ecosystem to play a key role in India’s transition towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. The Central government aims to transform India into a start-up nation that drives the innovation and entrepreneurship to make India a manufacturing hub, he said.

Addressing the inaugural session of IInvenTiv, the largest annual R&D fair that exhibits the innovations of the country’s premium research and academic institutions, at IIT Madras on February 28, Pradhan said India, with over 1.59 lakh start-ups recognised by the DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade), has emerged as the world’s third largest start-up ecosystem. “This dynamic landscape continues to redefine global innovation and entrepreneurship. As of 2024, India has seen 118 unicorns collectively raising $100 billion in funding with a combined valuation exceeding $354 billion. Among the 73,151 of these recognised start-ups, there is at least one woman director indicating the growing impact of women entrepreneurs in India,” Pradhan said in his virtual address.

The minister called for stronger synergies between academia, industry and research institutions. “This vision is guiding the third edition of IInvenTiv. With 86 institutions participating, including top private universities in the latest National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking, with nearly 200 exhibits, the IInvenTiv 2025 is witnessing groundbreaking innovations across eight core technologies,” Pradhan said.

IInvenTiv 2025 showcases innovations from IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, and other top 50 NIRF-ranked premier institutes. The technologies that are being exhibited belong to eight emerging thematic areas like aviation, defence and space, marine technologies, medical / healthcare engineering, energy and e-mobility, AI/ML technologies, smart cities, advanced manufacturing and rural technologies. The inaugural session also saw 14 industry-academia MoUs being signed for technology transfer, skill development, etc.

In his address, Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education, Government of India, said that IInvenTiv 3.0, with significant participation of representatives from higher education institutes and the industry will emerge as an iconic brand in the innovation sector. “I am sure that the industry leaders attending the event will find many of the technologies on display useful, leading to further technology transfers in the near future,” he said.

Started as an event to feature R&D achievements of IITs, the first edition of IInvenTiv was hosted by Delhi IIT. The second edition which took place in IIT Hyderabad, saw more participating institutions getting added to the list.