The founding CEO of Startup Village and founder of Re-think Foundation, Sijo Kuruvilla George, has been selected as member of Central Government’s Expert Committee on Science and Technology Policy.

He is the lone person from Kerala to be the part of the eight-member panel, a press release said. It was the Department of Science and Technology and Principal Scientific Advisor of the Union government that formulated the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020). The expert committee team is tasked with updating the existing 2013 policy with a thrust to be given to scientific innovations. The Centre is also considering innovative policy changes in the area of entrepreneurship by including space, health, and atomic physics sectors.

Sijo Kuruvilla is part of an expert committee to formulate the first stage of policymaking. In the second phase, the recommendation made by the expert committee will be presented and implemented through States. In the third level, implementation will be carried out by various departments under the Union government. It is the fifth science and technology policy in the country.

The expert committee on Science and Technology Policy is led by Harkesh Mittal, who also heads the Department of Science and Technology. Startup India Director Shruti Singh is a member of the committee.