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21st Century Innovation Hubs February 15, 2008
Thats the title of the paper we wrote to serve as a framework for discussion of Nasscom’s 2nd P2P breakway session. The group, moderated by DataQuest Chief Editor, Prasanto Roy, discussed whether the globalization of innovation was for real. He started off by giving the much talked example of innovation from India ( not from the IT sector though)- the Nano.
The premise of the discussion was that Israel, India and China were emerging innovation springs- Israel being a proven player while India and China are strong emerging contenders.
The nature of the topic being broad, and being one that almost everyone present had a point of view on, the discussions were lively and brought to the table both theoretical frameworks as well as anecdotal data.
There were some that felt that innovation should not be limited to IP creation- India had pioneered numerous process innovations on the way to becoming the most preferred IT outsourcing hub. There was another point of view that the tech innovation being seen today is mostly being seen in R&D labs of MNCs.
My view on this was as follows- for innovative products to be created, access to, and knowledge of the market is critical- with the markets exploding in both India and China, there are a lot of below the radar start ups that are focusing on developing IP led solutions for these markets. Ashwin from Nasscom added that it was also necessary for the market to have early adopters for innovative ideas to succeed.
We also discussed the need for the right social mind set for the creation of an innovation ecosytem- in the Silicon Valley for example, the value chain that supports a start up is willing to share the risk of th start up. In India on the other hand, the risk of failure and need for a secure job often result in good ideas not seeing the light of day. In this connection, the contrasting example of Israel was cited- the country has leveraged adversity to create some of the most innovative products.
Another interesting point brought up by the CTO of KPIT Cummins is that the education system, starting from primary school, must focus on kindling curiosity and encourage enquiry rather than over emphasize “rote learning”.
There were others who argued that just as much as India needs innovation, Innovation needs India - to underscore the point that with the combined purchasing power of India and China in the foreseeable future, innovations tailored for these markets are inevitable.
Prasanto summed up the session with time running out- but not before sufficient threads had been created for further debate and discussions to continue….
