Event ReportsPublished on Jan 22, 2015
As part of the worldwide launch of the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2014, an event was organised at ORF in Delhi on Thursday. According to the Report, ORF has been placed at 8th position amongst the Top 10 think tanks in Asia.
ORF in Top 10 Asian think tanks
Observer Research Foundation and IDSA have made it to the top 10 of think tanks in Asia (China, Japan, Korea and India), according to the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2014 (GGTTI) released worldwide on Thursday.

While ORF has been placed 8th among the think tanks in China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, the IDSA has been ranked 10th in the Index Report, prepared by the Think Tanks & Civil Societies Program, The Lauder Institute, and the University of Pennsylvania.

At the global launch of the report at ORF, the Report was released by Ms.Sujatha Mehta, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs. During the occasion, a panel discussion on the role of think tanks were also organised. The speakers were ORF Director Sunjoy Joshi, who presided the event, Mr Ashok Swarup of the Citibank and Ms Radha Kumar of the Delhi Policy Group.

Brookings Institution, US, has been again ranked as the No. 1 think tank in the world, followed by Chatham House, United Kingdom, and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, US.

Chatham House, however, was at the top slot in the Top Think Tanks Worldwide (Non-US). In this category, ORF has been ranked 82. The highest ranked Indian think tank in this category is the IDSA, ranked 31 while Centre for Civil Society is placed at 51 and TERI at 81.

In the category of think tanks (U.S. and non-US), ORF has been placed at 114; with only 6 Indian Think Tanks making it to the global top 150.

This annual Report is compiled with assistance from over 3000 peer institutions and experts from the print and electronic media, academia, public and private donor institutions, and governments around the world and ranks the top 150 global think tanks across four general categories:

        •  Top Think Tanks in the World

        •  Top Think Tanks by Region

        •  Top Think Tanks by Area of Research

        •  Top Think Tanks by Special Achievement

ORF is ranked 54th in Defence and National Security Think Tanks, 62nd for the Best Institutional Collaboration Involving Two or More Think Tanks, 16th amongst Think Tanks with the Most Innovative Policy Ideas/Proposals and 81st among Foreign Policy and International Affairs Think Tanks. ORF has also improved its position in the Think Tank to Watch category to 14th this year.

The Centre for Science and Environment is ranked 17th in the category of top environmental think thanks, followed by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, and by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). TERI is also ranked 7th in the Top Energy and Resource Policy Think Tank.

In the Top Domestic Health Policy Think Tanks, India’s Institute of Economic Growth is placed in the 20th spot while the No. 1 slot went to Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research, UK.

Centre for Development Alternatives is placed at 40th and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations at 45th in the Top International Development Think Tanks category.

Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations is ranked 38th and Institute of Economic Growth 47th amongst the Top International Economic Policy Think Tanks.

In the Top Social Policy Think Tanks, Centre for Policy Research is placed in the 38th position while Development Alternatives and Public Affairs Centre are at the 20th and 29th position in the category of Top Transparency and Good Governance Think Tanks.

The IDSA is ranked 23rd among Best Government Affiliated Think Tanks in India while the No 1 place was won by Development Research Group, World Bank, US.

The Report surveyed 6681 think tanks worldwide - 1106 in Asia, 1822 in Europe, 674 in Central and South America, 1989 in North America and 467 in Sub Saharan Africa. 192 Indian Thinks Tanks were considered in this exercise.

The top 10 thinks tanks in the world are: Brookings Institution, Chatham House, Carnegie Endowment, Center for International and Strategic Studies, US, Bruegel (Belgium), SIPRI, Sweden, Rand Corporation, US, Council on Foreign Relations, US, International Institute for Strategic Studies, UK and Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, US.

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