By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 9, 2015 :

Odisha government will shortly come out with an Innovation Policy with prime objectives of fostering innovation culture, harnessing creative potential in the state and promoting conducive conditions for innovation in various sectors.

The proposed policy will adopt innovative funding strategies to provide scientific and technological talent for undertaking research and development (R&D) activities on innovative projects, officials said.

The State Innovation Council headed by chief secretary, Gokul Chandra Pati has already formulated a draft Innovation Policy and for Odisha. The members of the Council have been asked to send their inputs to Planning and Coordination department by the end of this month to fine tune the draft before it is vetted by the cabinet to make it the state’s first Innovation Policy.

Presiding over a high level meeting on ‘Innovations in Public Systems’ on Thursday, Pati underscored the need for innovative practices in delivery of public services and running of public systems.

D.Chakrapani from Hyderabad based Center for Innovations in Public Systems along with director general Gopabandhu Academy of Administration; A K Tripathy presented various innovative practices from different states in the field of primary education, higher education, health services, urban waste management and bio-waste management.

Experts present in the meeting opined that Odisha is in forefront of information technology [IT] application in public services. Various government departments have adopted various good practices and IT innovations. The innovative practices regarding bio-digester (disposal of bio-waste), eco-san toilets (preparation of fertilizer from bio-waste), rural medical practices, eye care, urban governance, quality assurance in school education, IT schools, etc. were presented and discussed in the meeting. Experiences of Odisha in some of these areas were also shared with the experts.

Reviewing the progress Pati directed the departments to strengthen the technological drives, ensure maintenance of equipments and fix responsibility for non-maintenance. He also advised various Public Authorities to develop and hoist their own websites with citizens interface and crowd sourcing systems to catch good practices.

The chief secretary also directed principal secretary, general administration, Niten Chandra to constitute an Innovation Project Monitoring Unit (IPMU) under the Council to foster the environment of innovation, document the best practices, and facilitate their replication and up-scaling.

The Council has unveiled the schemes like Awards for successful Innovations, Financial assistance to Innovative Projects and Implementation of Innovative Projects. Five Incubation Centers have been proposed for innovative scheme at IIT, Bhubaneswar, VSSUT, Burla, CET, Bhubaneswar, Berhampur university and NIT, Rourkela. These institutes have been asked to formulate proposals for innovation and incubation centers.

Four sub-committees have been constituted for formulating innovative proposals in various sectors. These Committees include agriculture and food processing subcommittee under chairmanship of principal secretary, agriculture, health sub-committee under chairmanship of director aims, education sub-committee under chairmanship of principal secretary, higher education and secretary, school & mass education and a social sector sub-committee under chairmanship of secretary, housing & urban development.

The chief secretary asked these Sub-Committees to come up with specific innovative projects within a timeframe to facilitate improving good governance and delivery of services, an official release said here.