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| India Eco Summit: 'Affordable innovation needed' | | India, with its R&D expertise, could become an innovation hub in the near future |
| Kirtika Suneja / New Delhi Nov 11, 2009, 00:35 IST |
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“The three pillars of social inclusion are telecom, knowledge and innovation. Scalable regional innovations and national and international innovations are required to create a sustainable model for India, as we have the human talent to address the problems of the poor across the world,” said Sam Pitroda, Adviser to Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, at a session on innovation on Tuesday.
Given India’s strengths in science and technology and research and development, the panelists discussed whether, and how, India could become an innovation hub in the near future.
Nasscom president Som Mittal gave the example of the Indian IT industry and said that besides technological expertise, domain expertise is also important and should be focused on.
“The next five years are very exciting because the aspirations of people who are part of this growth have increased. So, we need to scale up the pilots and execute them fast. Innovation should be acceptance of failures in our society, so that we look at both the past and present and execute,” reasoned Mittal.
However, Sachin Duggal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nivio, Switzerland, said that besides price arbitrage, companies should focus on problem solving by not treating innovation as a part of corporate social responsibility.
“Affordable innovation is the need of the hour,” pointed out Hari S Bhartia, Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Jubilant Organosys, adding that real entrepreneurs are those who see opportunities in hurdles and carry out incremental innovations.
Pitroda then explained that though start-ups face the problem of launching new businesses in India besides restricted labour laws and limited access to capital, hurdles will only help new firms in unleashing the ‘animal spirits’ of India.
Meanwhile, he also mentioned that some government sectors need to be deregulated and privatised and processes need to be streamlined, as “our government processes are of the 19th century, our mindset of the 20th century and our needs of the 21st century.”
He added, “However, one must know that innovations happen at the edge, not the core, while it is the opposite for the government.”
Production and adoption of innovation was seen as imperative for the country to grow and Ravi Pandit, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, said, “People will innovate with or without government support, because we are a young country.”
On training and education, Mittal noted that India has bright students who are trainable but industry should continue to re-skill people and set up finishing schools for vocational training or specialisation for the interregnum between a student’s graduation from college and his entry into a profession.
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