Prof. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS attended the Global Roundtable on Inclusive Innovations (GRII), held as a part of week-long ‘Festival of Innovation’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on March 5, 2017. The Roundtable was participated by top innovation leaders of the world, including Nobel Laureates.

“Education is the seed of a nation’s destiny. Without a strong foundation of education, ability of communities to benefit from other infrastructural resources for development remains limited”, said Shri Pranab Mukherjee, His Excellency the President of India at the The Rapporteurs Summarization, while calling for the establishment of a healthy ecosystem to harness the innovative potential of the population.

Speaking on ‘Social innovations for large-scale societal change’, theme of Session 6 of the meet, Prof. Samanta explained how Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) is transforming lives of the underprivileged tribal people through holistic education. Admitting poorest of the poor tribal children from remote tribal pockets, KISS has not just been producing high achievers in academics and sports at national and international levels, but also change agents who herald new hope for the tribal community as a whole.

The three-day Global Roundtable also discussed themes of Incubation and acceleration models for innovative start-ups; Innovation and skill development; Incentives for innovation in public policy and programmes; Macro-level initiatives for innovations in Public Service Delivery; and Grassroots action for inclusion. KISS was acclaimed by the delegates as a highly successful and effective model of empowerment through education.