Bengaluru 4th most popular destination for innovation centres globally

Asia claimed 29% of innovation centres opened in 2017, compared to Europe's 25%: Capgemini Report

India’s Silicon City was ranked the fourth most-popular innovation centre destination following Silicon Valley, Singapore and London said a report by Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute.

Organisations are increasingly establishing innovation centres across the globe to boost research within their ranks. India now accounts for 25 per cent of innovation centres in Asia while Asian cities comprise of 29 per cent of the innovation centre count globally.

The report also noted that while firms are heavily investing in innovation centres in an attempt to keep up with market changes, they are failing to become more innovative. 80 per cent of the new innovation centres are exploring artificial intelligence and big data analytics.

The top destination in the US, Silicon Valley’s share has gone down 20 per cent in the past 2 years.

The report also said that companies are struggling with a lack of innovation-focused culture, absence of robust internal processes and leaders who promote this kind of success internally.

The research also found innovative firms are 13 per cent more likely to take part in internal and external collaborations with start-ups, academia and other industry partners. While the US remains the market leader, innovation centres are rapidly opening in India and Singapore.

“To achieve and sustain real change, firms need to create a culture in which all employees are encouraged, through financial and non-financial incentives, to experiment and push ideas to market. However, a sense of innovation and creativity needs to be instilled company-wide if it is to be truly successful,” said Lanny Cohen, Global Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Capgemini.

The total number of innovation centres across the globe has increased to 580 from 456 last year.

Among the newly established innovation centres over the last year, 26 per cent cater to electronics and IT, 21 per cent dedicated to the automotive sector and 20 per cent of financial technology centres. Shell and Paypal are among the more recent companies that have launched innovation centres in Indian cities like Bengaluru and Chennai.

Even Indian technology giants have also been expanding their network of innovation centres over the past few years. TCS has nine innovation labs globally two of which are based outside India while Wipro has 19 innovation centres, globally.