Innovate not for giving comfort, but to change lives: Sam Pitroda

Innovations in India are solving the problems of rich, who really don't have problems.

Today, Mr. Sam Pitroda, advisor to Prime Minister On Infrastructure Innovation & Information appealed to India Inc. in treating innovation as the driver for its growth and prosperity.  He laid stress on the need to drive towards national competitive advantage.

Mr. Pitroda was speaking on the theme of, “preparing for the next wave: innovation as a key differentiator” organized by AIMA (All India Management Association) at the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, Mumbai.

The conference attended by 250 industry professionals also witnessed the release of AIMA-Accenture Research report by the chief guest, Mr. Sam Pitroda. During his inaugural address, he presented innovation as a way to resolve the issues existing in India. He said, “The best brains are busy solving problems of the rich, who really don’t have a problem. Innovation should not be understood as a tool to achieve cutting edge in technology, but a tool to change the life of people below poverty line, and people who exist at the bottom of the pyramid”.

Setting a context to the conference, Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, President – AIMA and Vice Chairman RPG Enterprises defined innovation as not something that is limited to developing products, but a process in itself that can be applied for business model innovation, cost efficiency, increased collaboration and as a method to achieve sustainability. Stressing on the importance of Innovation, Mr. Goenka said “innovation in India is mostly accidental; the need is to built a culture that selects innovation as the first option”.

In the theme presentation, Mr. Harsh Manglik, Chairman-India Geography & Country Managing Director- Accenture presented the problems and issues in the country that put forth a path for innovative thinking. “There is a business case in serving the lot at the bottom of the pyramid. The rural consumer market of India will amount to $ 58 billion by 2015, enabling huge opportunity for expansion and growth for companies coming up with innovative solutions to address these markets”. Similarly he said “in the space of green manufacturing, India is the 3rd market for low carbon with 6% market share, a huge gap still remaining to be addressed”.

The conference also helped the participants with the agenda and action plan to go ahead in resolving the issues in the country. As per the suggestions from the speakers the policy bodies and India Inc. should work on creating councils to spread the message and give impetus on increase in collaboration, out reach efforts, improvement and training, use of radical insights from various business models. The speakers also urged the organizations to have a mix of people to add structure and processes, encourage fearless and comfort zones free from threats of failure and create multiple roadmaps for innovation.

Discussing Gandhian Engineering: The emerging practice in innovation, Dr. R A Mashelkar, Chairman, National Innovation Foundation, India & Conference Chairman, said, “Gandhian Engineering implies developing extremely affordable, low cost products, using disruptive and inclusive innovation. India needs to innovate for aspirational products that will derive Value for Many propositions. However we also need to ponder upon how these innovative ideas from Indian minds find place in Indian markets.” He cited examples of Tata Nano, Reliance Mobile, Jaipur Foot as fine examples of indigenous innovations offering more for less to the masses.

Among others, the conference was also addressed by eminent industry professionals like Mr. Santosh Desai, Managing Director & CEO Future Brands Ltd., Mr. Harsh C Mariwala, Chairman & Managing Director, Marico Ltd., and Mr. D Shivkumar, Managing Director, Nokia Mobile Phones, Vice President – Nokia.