The Andhra Pradesh Government has joined hands with Indian School of Business (ISB) to achieve economic recovery and growth post Covid-19, with special focus on job creation in Andhra Pradesh.The memorandum of understanding (MoU) will nurture a think tank by setting up a policy lab called “GoAP-ISB Policy Lab , ” to drive evidence-based policy decisions. The policy lab will be used for strategic planning, policy analysis, data analytics and action-based research for sustaining high rates of growth. The lab is modelled after the policy lab in UK cabinet.
GoAP-ISB policy lab
JVN Subramanyam, IAS, CEO Economic Development Board and ISB Dean Rajendra Srivastava exchanged an MoU in the presence of Mekapati Goutham Reddy, Minister for Industries, Commerce, IT, and SDT in a virtual event. Speaking of making ISB the knowledge partner of the state, Reddy said, “We are working with ISB for the past few months, identifying various areas of collaboration. We are onboarding ISB as our knowledge partner to work on various initiatives, such as, skill development, e-governance, turning Vishakhapatnam into a growth engine, improving value addition in food processing, and so on.”
Elaborating on the function of GoAP-ISB policy lab, he said, “We intend to generate data using randomized control trials (RCTs) and gather evidence to measure the impact of our policies and drive our policy decisions based on strong research based evidence. This is truly cutting edge in the field of economics and public policy and the last year’s Nobel Prize winners were recognised for pioneering this experimental (RCT) approach to development economics.”
Government-academia partnership
ISB Dean Prof Srivastava said, “It is inspiring to witness how the State of Andhra Pradesh through its multi-pronged approach is in the forefront of paving new socio-economic developmental models, which is auguring well for a promising tomorrow. ISB is honoured to partner with the State in its growth initiatives and will continue to offer all its support and guidance in taking forward the developmental agenda of the State. I compliment Goutham Reddy for his leadership in creating a new template for government-academia partnership.”
The areas of collaboration include, monitoring economic recovery, Visakhapatnam project, development of food processing sector, improving e-governance and data analytics, unshackling informal sector’s growth, and programs on upskilling. Rayalaseema,The data analytics is designed to move from hindsight to foresight and outsight i.e. from mere descriptive analytics to predictive and prescriptive policy analytics which is going to be a game-changer in the days to come.