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A total of 33 awards were presented to companies and academic and research institutions for their industrial innovations at the 27th DST CII Technology Summit 2021 on Friday.

The 8th CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2021, conferred by Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Dr. S Chandrasekhar and past president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Chairman, CII National Startup Council, Kris Gopalakrishnan, included top 25 Innovative Company Awards, seven awards to academic and research institutions, and a grand award.

The company awards were given for processes, products, services, technologies, and other types of innovations which have the ability to fuel growth in the industry, and the awards to academic and research institutions were given for their contribution in assisting various private and public enterprises in their endeavours.

The grand award was given to the most innovative company of the year.

A special category of award was also introduced this year for the industry fostering innovation through industry-academia collaboration.

"We, as a nation, stand today as one of the leading nations in the world in terms of scientific and technological prowess. India climbed to 46th rank in Global Innovation Index 2021, a leap of 35 places in just 6 years, and we look forward to reaching among the top 5 innovative countries in the world," Dr Chandrasekhar said in his keynote address.

He stressed on the need for agricultural innovations to reorient agricultural practices to match up to global benchmark and increase per hectare production to match up to Brazil or China.

"We need to further focus on creating the right environment for innovation-led enterprise (by catering to internal market needs such as energy, water, transport, healthcare, food security) to reap the benefits. Both Indian government and industry are closely working together for convergence of technology and enterprise, but need to work more closely for handholding and embracing. This will be a game-changer for the economy and society," he added.

Dr Chandrasekhar urged innovators to bring in innovations to make the healthcare sector affordable and sustainable and continue nurturing them to revolutionise the industries for an exciting future.

He emphasised that awards like these will help innovators to find investors which will turn the innovations into products of tomorrow.

The CII Industrial Innovation Awards were instituted in 2014 to identify and celebrate innovative Indian enterprises across industry segments and sectors.