India ICT firms not taking advantage of innovations

NEW DELHI: A joint Europe-India study conducted on innovative research and development in information and communication technologies (ICT) has showed that companies based in India are not taking advantage of their innovations properly, along with their customers and clients, in order to place themselves higher in the value chain.

Besides, the joint study found that the collaborations that the India-based companies embark on are short-term-oriented and also that these companies, as a rule, team up only with their immediate customers.

The 2008-09 study sampled specific data on ICT innovation and R & D from over 200 Indian companies, representing nearly half of a sample of 382 ICT innovative companies from all over India, and identified through an array of public channels.

Mogens Kuehn Pedersen, coordinator of Euro-India ICT Cooperation Project, and professor in the Department of Informatics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, said in his speech at the Euro-India ICT Cooperation Conference-2009, held at the International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, India, that the collaboration, and their customers along with whom they innovate, is mainly found in India, the United States and in Europe. Hence, there is a strong potential for bringing ICT innovation into India from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The most crucial technologies for innovation, Pedersen added, are application and communication technologies, says EETimes in a report.

The Euro-India ICT Cooperation Conference-2009, supported by the European Commission, was aimed at inspiring “an effective dialogue between Europeans and Indians” to promote innovation in the field of ICT and also to broaden the current relationship between India and Europe.

At present, there are 10 successful projects coming as a part of the collaboration between India and the European Union (EU).