The NITI S&T Scoreboard launched on 3 November 2026 is an interactive platform from NITI Aayog that tracks research and innovation across 36 States and Union Territories. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri released it in New Delhi, and its first data shows Tamil Nadu leading the country in both research publications and patent applications for 2024-25.
The launch at the Civil Services Officers’ Institute was attended by NITI Aayog Member (S&T) Prof. Abhay Karandikar and CEO Anurag Jain. The NITI S&T Scoreboard adds a state-level science dashboard to the Aayog’s earlier governance tools, and it is one of the first major data initiatives since Lahiri took over as Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
The platform brings together data on each state’s science and technology ecosystem, including higher education institutions, research and development institutions, deep-tech startups and incubators, along with outputs such as research publications and patents. The NITI S&T Scoreboard also shows trends over several years so that states can track their progress, and it is available at sts.niti.gov.in.
Which states lead the NITI S&T Scoreboard
According to the first figures released with the scoreboard, the top five states for research publications in 2024-25 are Tamil Nadu with 44,611 publications, Uttar Pradesh with 29,298, Maharashtra with 28,947, Karnataka with 27,970 and Delhi with 24,417. Tamil Nadu’s lead on publications is wide: its total sits more than 15,000 ahead of the second placed state.
On patent applications filed in 2024-25, Tamil Nadu again ranks first with 16,048, followed by Maharashtra with 8,567, Karnataka with 8,413, Uttar Pradesh with 5,375 and Telangana with 5,200. The NITI S&T Scoreboard ranking echoes earlier state comparisons, including NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index, where Karnataka, Manipur and Chandigarh led in their categories.
Beyond volume, the scoreboard reports indicators of research quality, impact, collaboration and open access across priority research areas. It splits the data across three sectors, namely academia, government research and development labs and industry, and offers side-by-side comparison of states along with detailed state profiles that list state policies and best practices.
Why NITI Aayog built the NITI S&T Scoreboard
Lahiri said the scoreboard is a platform to help states understand their strengths and gaps and align their development priorities with science, technology and innovation. Guided by cooperative and competitive federalism, he said, it should help states learn from one another and design better programmes. He urged every State and Union Territory to make full use of it and called for incentives for universities and institutes whose research reaches the factory floor.
Prof. Karandikar said research and innovation data has so far been fragmented across many sources, making it hard for states to see where they stand. The NITI S&T Scoreboard addresses this by putting ecosystem, publication and patent data on a single dashboard. Department of Science and Technology Secretary Umesh V. Waghmare said it adds a state-level picture to the national evidence base and highlighted the role of state science and technology councils and state universities.
The launch follows the Centre’s recent push on research and innovation, including the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) 2026. The NITI S&T Scoreboard is meant mainly for state governments, science and technology councils and universities, which can use it to benchmark themselves and plan research policy. The launch was followed by a demonstration of the platform and a technical session on its methodology and data sources.
The NITI S&T Scoreboard also carries year-wise trends, so a state can see whether its publication and patent counts are rising or falling over time rather than judging a single year in isolation. Detailed state profiles list state policies and best practices, giving officials working examples from other states to study. For universities, the scoreboard gives a public benchmark their research output will be measured against, which Lahiri linked to his call for incentives for research that reaches the factory floor.