Institution's Innovation Council- An Initiative of Ministry of Education


IIC Introduction


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About IIC 



In the year 2018, the Ministry of Education (MoE) through MoE’s Innovation Cell (MIC) launched the Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) program in collaboration with AICTE for Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to systematically foster the culture of innovation and start-up ecosystem in education institutions. Primarily, IICs’ role is to engage large number of faculty, students and staff in various innovation and entrepreneurship related activities such as ideation, Problem solving, Proof of Concept development, Design Thinking, IPR, project handling and management at Pre-incubation/Incubation stage, etc., so that innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem gets established and stabilized in HEIs. The IIC model is designed to address the existing challenges/issues in HEIs such as less numbers, occasional and unplanned Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) activities organised in HEIs with low involvement of top leadership, lack of coherence and absence of synergy in resource mobilization, deployment and underutilization of creative potential of youths as major barrier for vibrant I&E ecosystem to emerge from HEIs.


IIC model is unique and distinct as it integrates the functionalities of flexibility calendar activities, scoring and reward system, decentralizing operation with division of work, progress monitoring and incentive mechanisms in coordinated manner through a robust digital platform. In last two years, undoubtedly, IIC has emerged as a very sustainable and scalable model for promoting innovation within HEIs and the efforts of these IIC Institutes can be seen as impactful contribution towards making country’s innovation and start-ups ecosystem more vibrant and dynamic. The recent achievement of India’s 48th positon in Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking is a reflection of the same.




Shri Ramesh Pokriyal 'Nishank' , Hon'ble Education Minister and Shri Sanjay Dhotre Minister of State for MoE, inaugurated IIC (2.0 version) on September 11, 2019. 
[In frame] Shri R. Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Department of Higher  Education ; Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE; Prof D. P. Singh, Chairman, UGC; Dr. Abhay Jere, CIO, MoE's Innovation Cell; Dr. M.P. Poonia, Vice Chairman, AICTE (From Right to left).



Major Focus


  • To create a vibrant local innovation ecosystem.
  • Start-up supporting mechanism in HEIs.
  • Prepare institute for Atal Ranking of institutions on innovation achievements framework.
  • Establish function ecosystem for scouting ideas and pre-incubation of ideas.
  • Develop better cognitive ability among students.



Function of IIC


  • To conduct various Innovation, IPR and entrepreneurship-related activities prescribed by  MIC in time bound fashion.
  • Identify and reward innovations and share success stories.
  • Organize periodic workshops/ seminars/ interactions with entrepreneurs, investors, professionals and create a mentor pool for student innovators.
  • Network with peers and national entrepreneurship development organizations.
  • Create an Institution’s Innovation portal to highlight innovative projects carried out by institution’s faculty and students.
  • Organize Hackathons, idea competition, mini-challenges etc. with the involvement of industries.



Who can apply for IIC


Any Institute (HEIs) willing to establish IIC and meet any one of following criteria can establish IIC at their Institute


  • Having pre-incubation centres/incubation centers, student idea clubs.
  • Participated in ARIIA Ranking.
  • Participated in NIRF Ranking.
  • NBA/NAAC Accreditation.
  • Recipient of TEQIP –III fund & establishment of Start-up Cell.
  • Government/ Government funded/Deemed University.
  • HEIs offering non-technical programs can also establish IIC.


To know how to register refer "New IIC registration".



Zonal Administrative Division of Institution's Innovation Council:


MIC team looks for overall program coordination, implementation and administration.


For ease of administration and monitoring IICs across country have been divided into Eight Zones. 


Region Category:


Southern Region (SRO) - Puducherry, Tamil Nadu

Northern Region (NRO) - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

North-Western Region (NWRO) - Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan

Central Region (CRO) - Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

South-Western Region (SWRO) - Karnataka, Kerala

Eastern Region (ERO) - Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha / Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal

South-Central Region(SCRO) - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Western Region (WRO) - Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Maharashtra


Zonal Co-ordinators Contact Details


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