The Government is planning to set up 14 innovation universities aiming at world class standards to set benchmarks for excellence in higher educational universities. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said this while delivering the inaugural address of the India-UK Round Table on Innovation in New Delhi today.

Mr Sibal said that the proposed universities would be embedded in ecosystems developed for promoting synergies among education, research and incubation centres and industry. He said the universities will be autonomous in designing their own knowledge diciplines, admission criteria, academic programmes and credit systems. Besides this, cluster innovation centres in higher educational institutions for promoting linkages for innovations have been planned.

Realising that innovation is the engine of national and global growth, Mr Sibal said the Government has declared the decade between 2010-2020 as the 'Decade of Innovation'.

The minister said that the core idea of innovations is to go beyond research and development parameters and produce affordable and quality solutions to address the needs of people.