The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee attended Round-table on Financing of Innovations with leaders of Banking and Financial Sectors today Rashtrapati Bhavan. Speaking on the occasion, the President said the high growth that we have envisaged is possible only with productivity improvements across all sectors of the economy. Innovations in different segments, at different levels and for different sections will aid this process in no small measure. The course of development of innovation involves the conversion of a novel idea into a viable product. The role of the banking system is paramount in the entire innovation value-chain since financing of innovation is a critical step. The President said that the banking system, in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation, can help create a pool of mentors in every district to assess and meet the financial needs of innovators. Bankers have to take the initiative to reach out to innovators, mentor them, and wherever possible, connect them with their other clients who may help them in expanding their market. This role of creating linkages between creative people and successful clients could be a game-changing institutional innovation. A bank manager can open more doors for an innovator in an hour than what an innovator could possibly be able to do in a year.
The banks would do well to have in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure managerial facilitation for innovators. An increased awareness amongst the innovators - that help is round the corner - is required to be built up. The President said capacity building forms an important agenda of the inclusive innovation system. In this context, he urged banks to consider sending some of their managers to the Festival of Innovations next year. This will provide the banking personnel an opportunity to interact with the innovators and gain insights about how best to support them. The President said new inclusive institutional arrangements are needed to give innovators and innovation-based enterprises a fair chance of success. The banking network in our country should be fully geared to meet the challenge of supporting these new entrepreneurial ventures.