The ARIIA is a national ranking system initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2018 to rank higher education institutions (HEIs) on different indicators of innovation. As per the Ministry, ‘The idea behind ARIIA ranking is to inspire Indian institutions to reorient their mind-set and build ecosystems to encourage high-quality research, innovation and entrepreneurship.’ The innovation in HEIs is one of the ways to help India emerge as a global innovation hub. Hence, ARIIA ranking brings forth the institutions that align themselves with the responsibilities to build a sustainable innovation ecosystem.

The buzzword across the globe for the 21st century is ‘Innovation’. In the simplest term, Innovation could be defined as converting ideas into new or improved products, processes and services. Undoubtedly, Innovation is about taking inventions to marketplace by translating scientific knowledge into products, services and offerings for economic growth and social development. Even, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India has declared decade 2010-20 as the ‘Decade of Innovation’, to unleash the creative potential of every Indian. India has already been improving on global stage in terms of Innovation ranking from 86th place, 5 years ago, to 57th place this year.

For India to emerge as a global innovation hub, the youth of our country, especially in higher education institutions (HEIs) need to play a crucial role to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem. Hence, ideally all HEIs should have a comprehensive and functional mechanism to convert research into innovations. This ecosystem will encourage, inspire and nurture young students by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years. Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) is an initiative of Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt. of India to systematically rank all major higher educational institutions and universities in India on indicators related to “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development” amongst students and faculties.