Rolls-Royce seeks to tap 'jugaad' innovations

Rolls-Royce, the Pound 12.2 billion ($19 billion) British global major that's into developing turbine technologies of all kinds including aircraft engines, nuclear energy among others, today announced the launch of its India Open Innovation programme (IOiN-RR).

With India being home to some of the world's most innovative small and medium-sized companies, Rolls-Royce is looking to tap into their expertise and knowledge to discover solutions that can help the company advance its own products, processes and services. Designed to help identify to buy or licence technologies or techniques outside Rolls-Royce's traditional areas of operations that are new and potentially beneficial to Rolls-Royce, the IOiN-RR provides Indian organisations the opportunity to leverage their solutions globally.

It hopes to establish partnerships with mutual benefits through this initiative.

This follows a similar programme that it launched in Japan earlier, where it focussed on manufacturing. Here, it will focus on IT and knowledge-based solutions. "It will be more about 'creative problem solving'," said Paul Stein, Chief Scientific Officer, Rolls-Royce. Why launch the programme in India? It's the 'jugaad' innovation that's synonymous with India that has fascinated Rolls-Royce which it hopes to use to find solutions. The challenges will focus on three critical areas, including,: test and measurement; repair, inspection and servicing technologies; and novel designs and manufacture of large components and tools. Stein explained: "Through this programme, we are seeking to identify technologies or techniques in industries outside of which Rolls-Royce usually operates, and in small and medium-sized companies Rolls-Royce does not currently work with."

Rolls-Royce's ongoing joint programmes include developing technologies with IISc, Bangalore, and IIT-Bombay.

Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce's programme which supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centres (UTCs) connects the company's engineers with the forefront of scientific research which may be expanded into India too. But, that is something which would take a long time and it is a long-drawn process.

Rolls-Royce has an 80-year history of partnerships and collaborations in India.