Announcement of Hon'ble former Chief Minister

The Hon'ble former Chief Minister made an announcement under Rule 110 in the Legislative Assembly on 08.08.2014 that "to promote innovation culture in Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives (TANII) will be established in the State Planning Commission to promote Innovation in Government and Government agencies”.

Establishment of Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives (TANII)

Accordingly, based on the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s announcement and as a follow-up on one of the themes of the "Vision Tamil Nadu 2023" of making Tamil Nadu the "Innovation Hub" of the country the "Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives (TANII)" was established in the State Planning Commission vide in the G.O.(Ms) No.93, Planning, Development & Special Initiatives (SP.1) Department, dated 26.09.2014. Initially, Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives (TANII) would work within Government and Government agencies to foster innovation. This idea could be eventually extended further to the non-Government sector as well. An award in the name of "Chief Minister's Award for Innovation" has been instituted and will be awarded for the best innovative practices.

State Innovation Fund constitution

The Government has also setup a State Innovation Fund by restructuring the existing Part II schemes from the financial year 2015-16 with an initial corpus of Rs.150.00 crore to encourage innovation and ensure that only quality schemes are financed adequately. The Government in G.O. (MS) No.124, Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Department, dated: 24.10.2014 has issued the detailed guidelines for identification and implementation of innovative schemes.  Further accounting procedures for this fund have been ordered in the G.O.(Ms) No.153, Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Department, dated: 23.12.2014.

Non-Lapsable Fund

The State Innovation Fund will operate as a separate non-Lapsable Fund within the Public Debt Account. Any unutilized balance in the Fund would be carried over into the next financial year and would be available for sanctioning innovative schemes in the subsequent year.

Awards, Capacity Building and Evaluation

In the State Innovation Fund, 5 per cent funds set apart for awards, capacity building, evaluation, documentation and awareness building and this would be transferred to a separate head of account under the control of the State Planning Commission. Any unutilized balance at the end of the year would be transferred back to the Fund account for accumulation and carry over into the subsequent year. Upto February 2017-18, Rs.342.46 lakhs has been spent under this Head.