Fostering an era of Innovation

In the midst of the Qutub complex in New Delhi, stands an iron pillar from a bygone era. The 7-metre tall pillar, weighing some 6000 kgs, has been supposedly fashioned in the 5th Century CE by the Gupta kings in central India. The pillar has been standing in the present location since the 12th Century CE, that’s nearly 800 years, and the amazing part is that the pillar does not display any sign of rust or corrosion. Considering that the pillar has been fashioned out of iron, surely in the 1000+ years, it would have surely suffered from the vagaries of time, of the Delhi summers, and the monsoons. But apparently it has not. The pillar stands tall, baffling many scientists for ages. It has now become a symbol of ingenuity and inventiveness of the ancient Indians.

In fact, historically speaking, India had always been a leader when it came to invention and innovation. We get numerous instances from the ancient times, right from theoretical concepts like the concept of zero to full-fledged cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. From the very many treatises from the bygone past, we can be sure that there was much emphasis laid on the education and analysis. Somehow over the years, the technological and innovative prowess was lost, and India moved down from the pedestal, it had been placed on earlier.

Nonetheless, as India sallies forth in the 21st century, can we revisit that ethos, those values and invoke it to solve the many myriad problems that afflict our nation? Here are some of the basics that are much required to boost an ecosystem of innovation:

One of the primary ways to boost research is to engage the existing institutes and to push forth research and development in different spheres of nation building. Considering that we already have a world-class academic infrastructure in place in the form of IITs (Indian Institute of Technology). These 18 functional IITs to a great extent are already acting as centres of academic R&D in India. They can be ramped up to be the anchor points for the 700+ Degree-granting institutes, and the 35,500 affiliated colleges in India. We really need to work hard to foster an ecosystem of innovation right down the funnel to the very remotest college in India. Once these colleges and institutions are engaged, there can be an immense push to the innovative zeal in India.

A few decades back, owning a telephone used to be a big luxury in India. The landline penetration was abysmal, and only the affluent or the connected folks in India could really afford a phone. And then in 1995 came mobile telephony in India. Over the next decade and two, mobile telephony has really off in India. Today with over a Billion mobile phones in India, the country ranks at number two in terms of number of mobile phones in the whole world. The reason India was able to achieve that was because, it used the power of technology (in terms of mobile technology) and mixed it up with sound economics. Technology can be an enabler in that regards. For instance, India's ambition to be a manufacturing powerhouse can be well-supported by adoption of Industrial Internet.

Two of the biggest drawbacks, holding back entrepreneurship in India are the lack of funding and the fear of failure. Entrepreneurs in India are vary or unable to bring out their solutions to the market, because of lack of institutional support. Innovators find it tough to find funds for initial investment and have the sword of failure hanging on their head, namely, what if I fail. To that end, we need to bring in institutional support. Successful companies can provide an initial ground in terms of mentoring these entrepreneurs, so that they are better able to pitch their solutions and not bogged down by initial failures.

In the end, boosting the innovation in India needs a systematic approach. In addition to the push from the government and state agencies, we also need programmes like the GE Edison Challenge, where scores of students from various universities of India are inspired to create solutions for the bigger problems that face India. Nation building is an on-going process, and every brick counts to that end. Edison Challenge is one of the bricks that help in that process.