Innovation at warp speed

Book review of The Ventilator Project

Around mid-March 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put out a call seeking indigenous solutions to counter the Covid-19 crisis. A small Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur-incubated startup called Nocca Robotics responded with an interest in making ventilators. Things moved swiftly after that. A task force comprising mentors and members from the IIT Kanpur incubator quickly coalesced around the young founders of Nocca Robotics and the IIT-K ventilator project was formed. 

But at every subsequent stage, the team was swimming upstream. In a world constrained by lockdowns, the team had to constantly devise new game plans to navigate a maze of regulatory, sourcing, logistics and manufacturing hurdles.  Beating all odds though, the IIT-K task force achieved its mission.  Now consider this: the team managed to deliver an affordable high-quality ICU-grade ventilator within a record time of three months. Normal product development takes 18 to 24 months. 

This intense journey from ideation to installation of the indigenous ventilator in the midst of the pandemic has been vividly documented by the project leads of the task force, Srikant Sastri and Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, in the first part of their book The Ventilator Project.  It reads like a nail-biting thriller and involves all the typical dramatic elements: A ticking clock, challenges, climax and a final resolution. 

The Ventilator Project 

Author: Srikant Sastri & Amitabha Bandyopadhyay

Publisher:  Macmillan

Pages: 248; Price: Rs 498

While this first part is gripping, it is the second part of the book that is really motivating. It lays out the expectation of a better future for the country.  Keen to build on the experience of the Ventilator project, the authors Messrs Sastri and Bandyopadhyay have created programmes at IIM Calcutta and IIT-K, respectively, and intend to use them as vehicles to develop a world-class formula for venture success in India.  In this part of the book, the authors also recognise and celebrate the efforts of other enterprises, incubators, R&D departments, and government agencies who cast aside the standard red-tape and went beyond the call of duty to participate in the fight against Covid-19.  The book is optimistic that this momentum will extend into normal times as well.  Further, the authors point out that a great promise for the country lies in the remote collaborative approach that has come to the fore during this pandemic.  It has the potential to connect small town talent in the country with incubators, mentors and investors located anywhere in the world and there is a real possibility that the entrepreneurs from non-metro cities in India will access these newly available resources to create a raft of local jobs and livelihood. 

While reading this text, it is tempting to draw parallels with another brilliant book —Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle —by Dan Senor and Saul Singer — which attempts to de-mystify the transformation of Israel from an isolated, provincial state into a world-class hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.  In that book, published in 2011, the authors explain that “adversity, like necessity, breeds inventiveness”, but they also caution that ideas are just the starting point for innovation. The real success of innovation relies on other vectors such as effective clustering, execution prowess, a risk-taking mindset and an ability to absorb failure and setbacks.  The authors also mention a term “Bitzu’ism”, which loosely translates as getting things done, as being key to Israel’s entrepreneurial success.  The insights and lessons shared in The Ventilator Project resonate very well with the concepts and views laid out in Start-up Nation .

Thus, The Ventilator Project is the innovation story of the moment with towering odds, a dark horse, and a moonshot mission. Packed with takeaways and actionable steps, the book is at once inspiring and instructive.  It is written in an easy-to-read manner and is very accessible — it includes a primer on ventilators upfront.  It presents itself as an essential read for entrepreneurs and the wider startup community. And most importantly, it leaves the reader with the hope that if this model can be replicated at scale, then the country can not only aim for pole position in innovation but can also become truly Atmanirbhar.