Collaborate to innovate

PANJIM (GOA), INDIA: Dr. Sandhya Shekhar, CEO, IIT Madras Research Park, today took the CIOs at C-Change 2010 on a roller-coaster ride around innovation.

A ride that included as many answers as questions, as many drops and lows pointed out as the suggested solutions to fix them. Among the falls and dips of this were some stark figures and facts that indicated India’s inadequacy levels on innovation.

Results of 2008 Innovation Index tell that while the US and Germany top the list, China ranks 37th and India is ranked 41st. As she cited this rank, Sandhya connected it to the irony of India being an IT powerhouse for the world.

Another fact that is a cause for concern is India appearing quite low on the R&D stack. And a major chunk of patents filed are from MNCs and very few globally come from India. India’s top 20 organizations together in a period of five years, compared with MIT’s output on patents, again show how much India lags.

Among the top ten IT firms too, the degree of R&D action is conspicuously low. India’s inherent capabilities are not reflected in innovation output, be it in form of patents or products. Something that is against India’s conducive ecosystem of Universities and talent pool.

“Why are we not leveraging what we have? There’s a mismatch between what we are capable of doing and what we actually do.” IT is subsumed in many business processes and is integral to business thus reducing cycle times for delivering. Likewise, innovation is becoming integral and slowly turning a mass innovation, she said.

“The way IT has grown as a business facilitator for innovation and as a catalyst for innovation is remarkable. Cross-pollination and open networks can be one of the answers to solve this issue.  How to deliver more results and how to redefine R&D. Looking as much inwards as outwards, cross-university collaboration and re-looking at idea-to-commercialization distances could help too. Companies have to look outside for apt resources.” She explained as she emphasized collaborative innovation and cited how various minds and heterogeneous environments are being connected and tapped at IITs.

Sandhya then touched upon how inhibition to innovation harms the cause. Here she illustrated how students top in risk-appetite and uninhibited innovation energy till they join KRA-boxed jobs. Leverage the power of an ecosystem and tap the power of ‘together.’ Think differently and make a difference, she says.