Addressing the inaugural session, Union minister for science and technology Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted that a significant portion of IISF activities are designed for schoolchildren, college students, and young researchers, emphasising the need to broaden perceptions regarding science careers. He also inaugurated the Science-Technology-Defence-Space exhibition and the “Science on a Sphere” installation. Dr Singh interacted, via live interface, with researchers at Bharati, India’s research station in Antarctica.

Later, at a round-table, the minister called on industry, investors, and researchers to play a more active role in shaping India’s research and innovation landscape as the government prepares to roll out the ₹1 lakh crore research, development, and innovation (RDI) fund. He stressed that private sector participation is now critical, stating that public institutions cannot shoulder the innovation load alone. Participants were briefed on how the RDI fund will complement the work of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), which supports basic and frontier research and promotes academia–industry collaboration.

During the four-day festival, Toynik (under Ideaforage Innovations) is showcasing its unique gamified learning approach that blends science, mathematics, and play. Toynik’s portfolio includes physical and AR-integrated puzzle games such as Trigonik, Coordinate, Operator, and Trigo Card. Their flagship innovation is the new educational card game “Nutruno,” developed in collaboration with Dr Kalyani Singh, an expert in nutrition science. They designed Nutruno as an activity-based, story-driven tool intended to significantly improve nutrition literacy and analytical thinking among children, thereby aiming to bridge the gap between education and engaging innovation.