Observer Research Foundation 'highest ranked' Indian think tank in 2018: Report

Observer Research Foundation (ORF) has been named the "highest ranked" Indian think tank in the "2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report", the Foundation said in a statement on Friday. Globally, ORF has been ranked as the top think tank in the "Best New Idea or Paradigm Developed by a Think Tank" category, said the report by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

The US-based Brookings Institution is the highest ranked think tank globally, followed by the French Institute of International Relations and the Carnegie Endowment. ORF is ranked 118th in the "Top Think Tanks Worldwide" (US and non-US) category.

Other notable think tanks from India include the IDSA, featured as the highest-ranking Indian think tank in the defence and national security category; the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which is rated 16th globally in environmental policy; and ICRIER which is ranked 15th globally in the international economics category. In the top think tanks in China, India, Japan and South Korea category, ORF climbed one spot from 2017 to finish fourth last year.

ORF has also been ranked eighth in the 'Think Tanks with the Most Innovative Policy Ideas/Proposals' category. The Foundation was acknowledged for its external relations engagement, institutional collaborations and its international conferences, and it has been ranked the highest in all three categories among all featured Indian think tanks.

ORF, with has three centres in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. is also the highest-ranked Indian think tank for its social media outreach and the use of other such digital mediums, said the statement.

(With inputs from agencies.)