Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Tuesday inaugurated Vigyan TECH 2026 at National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, highlighting India’s rapid rise as a global innovation and technology hub.
Addressing the event organised on National Technology Day, Singh said India’s startup ecosystem has expanded from around 350-400 startups in 2014 to more than two lakh today, making it the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. He also said India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index has improved from 80 to 38, while the country now ranks sixth globally in patent filings, with more than one lakh patents filed annually.
The event, themed “Building India’s Innovation Ecosystem for Viksit Bharat”, brought together 14 science and technology ministries and departments on a common platform to showcase indigenous technologies and collaborative innovation efforts. A special message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivered by Biotechnology Secretary Rajesh S. Gokhale, praised the multi-ministerial collaboration aimed at strengthening India’s innovation ecosystem.
During the event, a technology compendium titled “TECH-Sangrah” was released, featuring indigenous technologies developed by scientific institutions across the country. National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM-Kundli), under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, emerged as one of the key participants with 23 technologies included in the compendium out of a total of 293 technologies.
NIFTEM-K also transferred three technologies to industry partners and startups during the event. These included hybrid solar dryer technologies for sustainable food processing, protein and fibre-rich granola bar technology, and extruded food product technologies such as millet puffs, dal puffs and sweet potato puffs aimed at promoting value addition of indigenous crops.
Additionally, the institute also showcased technologies related to rapid detection of food adulterants and contaminants, gluten-free products, probiotic formulations and vitamin D-enriched mushroom flour. Officials said the rapid detection kits and probiotic products drew attention from scientists, policymakers and industry representatives attending the exhibition.
Principal Scientific Adviser Ajay Kumar Sood described Vigyan TECH 2026 as a landmark whole-of-government initiative and stressed the need for technological collaboration across ministries and institutions to address challenges related to health, climate change, agriculture and food systems.
Further, discussions focused on accelerating innovation-led growth and strengthening scientific collaboration as part of India’s long-term vision for Viksit Bharat 2047.
