Patna, March 22: The state government, entering its 100th year of statehood, has decided to set up a state innovation council to promote innovations in every field of life.

To be chaired by the chief minister, the council would chart out a 10-year roadmap for promoting innovations.

“Innovation is key for the development of any society. The state government stands for providing a platform to the people of the state, using which they can showcase their innovative ideas and works so that others could also benefit from them,” a senior state government official told The Telegraph.

The council would function under the planning and development department and over six senior government officials of departments concerned will be its members. The government has also decided to include eight non-official members in the council, who would be selected on the basis of their excellence in different vocations.

The proposal for the formal constitution of the state innovation council is likely to be put up for cabinet approval soon, said the official.

He said the council would suggest ways to set up a channel, which could tap into the innovations in the different fields. It would also come up with suggestions for promoting innovations. The official, citing examples, said: “In the education sector, emphasis will be put on creative learning so that education can be more meaningful for students. The same will apply in case of teaching methodologies.”

He said similar innovations will be encouraged in different vocations and fields, including agriculture, administration, traditional handicraft, so that people are encouraged to suggest new ideas which could benefit all.

Apart from providing a platform and giving suggestions, the council would also take up the documentation work of new things being done in the different walks of life which benefit the society. The council would also facilitate people in getting their innovative ideas and works patented. The official said: “The council would be in touch with the agencies which work towards getting patents for innovations.”

The official added the need for promoting innovations has been felt at the national and international levels. A national innovation council has already been set up by the central government. “Even at the international level, the need of promoting innovations has been underlined. An article, published in an international magazine a few months back, has underlined this fact in a very comprehensive manner,” the official added.

Quoting from the article, which is based on the findings of an extensive research work carried out over a period of 50 years in the US, the official said: “In the US, creativity scores just like IQ scores had been steadily rising until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have witnessed a downward trend and now there are talks of finding out ways to promote creative thinking which in turn would allow innovations.”

The official added in 2008, the British secondary school curriculum was revamped to emphasise on generation of ideas. The European Union designated 2009 as the European Year of creativity. “By doing something similar, Bihar wants to follow the trend so that people engaged in various work could contribute to the state’s development through innovations,” the official said.