Biocon ties up with ISB to set up innovation cell

Biocon, Bangalore-based biotechnology firm, and the Indian School of Business (ISB) have launched the Biocon Cell for Innovation Management (BCIM), aimed at promoting innovation in business. The cell, to be established under the aegis of the Centre for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC) at the ISB will help organisations find answers to questions such as the gaps in a company’s ability to innovate, assessing the required understanding to manage and mitigate risks associated with innovation, and how to produce high value, strategic innovation at a low cost.

Biocon will provide an initial investment of Rs 1 crore to set up BCIM. Over a period of 10 years, Rs 20 crore is expected to be invested in the cell by Biocon.

On the initiative, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman & MD of Biocon Ltd., and executive board member, ISB, said, “We have to find new solutions for the challenges we face in India and innovation is the key to achieve this. The Biocon Cell for Innovation will try to understand the process of innovation, create and develop champions who will make innovation a part of the company culture.”

The partnership between Biocon and ISB is a trend started by ISB when its founders attracted industry to establish an international quality business school in India. “The ISB ushered in innovative practices in Indian management education. The cell will study innovation and spread the knowledge of the process that underlies innovation. The cell within the CLIC at ISB will produce high quality research and educational output in business innovation,” said Ajit Rangnekar, dean, ISB.

The primary objective of the BCIM is to foster innovation and link it to operational excellence. “India and other emerging markets have developed breakthrough ideas in trying to face challenges unique to their countries. BCIM will focus on understanding and streamlining these knowledge processes through research. We will discover best practices, success stories and processes that have worked for organisations and prepare a framework that can be implemented by any company across the world,” said Prasad Kaipa, executive director of CLIC at the ISB, who will drive BCIM.

The BCIM board will play an advisory and enabling role by providing research ideas that will assist the activities of BCIM to create maximum impact. “But,” said an ISB source, “The cell may end up being more skewed towards the biotechnology sector.”