Role of NEP-2020 in Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the 21st Century
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Abstract
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 represents a major transformation in India’s educational framework by shifting emphasis from rote learning and employment-oriented education towards multidisciplinary learning, creativity, critical thinking, skill development, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. This paper examines the role of NEP-2020 in developing an entrepreneurial and innovation-oriented educational ecosystem suitable for the demands of the 21st century. The study analyses policy provisions related to multidisciplinary education, vocational integration, experiential learning, research and development, incubation centres, industry–academia collaboration, intellectual property, digital education, and flexible academic pathways. It further examines how these provisions can strengthen entrepreneurial intention, innovation capability, employability, and start-up creation among students. A case study of IIT Madras is presented to illustrate how an institutional ecosystem integrating research, incubation, interdisciplinary education, and industry linkages can translate academic knowledge into entrepreneurial outcomes. The paper also identifies implementation challenges including funding constraints, institutional disparities, faculty preparedness, risk aversion, weak commercialization mechanisms, and unequal access to innovation infrastructure. The study concludes that NEP-2020 provides an enabling policy architecture, while its entrepreneurial impact depends substantially on effective institutional implementation and ecosystem-level coordination
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