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© 2002 IBM Corporation

Can India be an Innovation Superpower

C. Mohan, Ph.D.

IBM Fellow & Former IBM India Chief Scientist

mohan@almaden.ibm.comhttp://www.almaden.ibm.com/u/mohan/

UC Santa Cruz Mapping the Future of India Lecture SeriesIndia Community Center, Milpitas, CA, USA

24 March 2010http://bit.ly/9lGNBd

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Caveats

Personal opinions, NOT to be interpreted as IBM’s

Basis: extensive experiences, not systematic study

Highly subjective and debatable impressions/conclusions: exceptions to everything

Passionate about India while being a realist and not wishful thinker

Never been a people/money manager but exposed to and/or party to strategic/global decision making in a $100B MNC – 28 years!

Bias: high tech, given my background

No claims to being an expert on innovation but

well traveled outside India/US also

exposed extensively to industrial/academic work

Candid, not trying to be politically correct

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Innovation Ecosystem Government: Infrastructure, Incubation/Research Funding,

Intellectual Property protection, R&D Labs

Universities: Faculty including adjunct, Students, Teaching Vs Research, Consulting, Incubation

Public/Private firms: R&D labs, Visionary leaders, Univ linkages

Funding Entities: Banks, VC firms, Govt agencies – debt Vs equity

Networking/Trade Bodies: Mentoring, Standards

Customers, especially domestic

Society at Large: Cultural attitudes on questioning authority, Relatives, Money focus, Press, Relevant role models

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Example: Innovation Ecosystem at IBM Well-defined and highly appreciated technical career path

Technical Execs: Fellows, Distinguished Engineers (DEs) Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM), Architects, …

Invention disclosures, patent plateaus, Master Inventors: money and peer recognition, factors in technical promotions; Extra incentives for “new” areas

Rewards: Corporate Innovation / Patent Portfolio awards, Outstanding Innovation / Technical Achievement Awards (OIAs/ OTAAs)

Internal and external conferences IBM Academy of Technology (AoT), Architecture Boards Measurement criteria, even in Research division

Patents CEO milestones Internal and external awards Product impact Publications

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Avenues for Technical Participation & Leadership

Computing Infrastructure

Services Deployment Models

Standards & Policies

SocialAccessible,

Open Computing

based

BusinessFlexible, Scalable,

Innovative Business Models

Global Market

Leadership through Innovation

Asset based services model

Governments & Industries Standards and policy

formation e-Governance &

opportunities in Public Sector

Local Market

Thought Leadership

Integrated Solutions & Services

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Types of Innovation Product Service Business model Business process Policy and society

Innovation Metrics Patents Products with deep technologies – not “me too” businesses PhDs Publications in journals/conf which win awards Revenue from technology cross licensing …

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Backdrop

Satellites, moon mission, atomic energy, defense

Fairly successful Indian pharma companies

$2500 Nano Car

Indian companies’ foreign forays

Great emphasis at highest levels of government PM to past president on down

DST’s major funding of nano tech, solar; bilateral agreements

MHRD on education funding/reforms

Indian Nobel Laureates and numerous other highly accomplished scientists/technologists outside India

Highly successful India IT services business

Numerous MNC research/product labs in India for a long time

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Essential Attributes for Innovation

Sheer intellect, analytical thinking, synthesis, inquisitiveness

Sustained work in an area

Maniacal focus and attention to detail

Appreciation for long term technical careers and role models

Soft skills and belief in collaborating with other people

Risk taking and handling failures gracefully

Dedicated follow through to turn invention to innovation

Scale: pockets of brilliance insufficient for meaningful impact

Paths/desire for faculty to turn research into commercial impact

Truly serious collaboration between academia and industry

Startups versus established companies

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Good Signs IITs made to concentrate more on graduate education/research; more

IISc-like places; …

Tech festivals (in even 3rd tier colleges) with S&T leaders as speakers

Science conclaves, Inspire programs for school & college students

Mobile: free incoming calls/SMSs was an Indian revolution which opened up a whole host of possibilities, dual SIM phone, …

Zinnov helps in setting up India R&D operations

NEA Indo-US Ventures, Helion, Intellectual Ventures, Murthy’s Catamaran, …

DST: India Innovation Pioneers Challenge, Inspire, Certification & Training of Technology Commercialization Specialists, Women Scientists Scheme, India-Israel Initiative for Industrial R&D, India-Taiwan Cooperation in S&T

IISc’s SID, Nasscom awards/conclave, CII Innovation focus, NRDC Innovation Awards, Infosys innovation prizes

Foreign universities being allowed to operate in India

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Issues Way too much focus on compensation – all know/discuss it!

Work quality, leaving a legacy, … become secondary goals, if at all

Sense of entitlement, instant gratification pervade youth from day one at work

Lots of MoU signings between industry & academia, and Indian & foreign univs – more photo ops, not enough serious follow ups

Not enough accountability of outcomes with R&D investments When good does happen, not enough publicity/documentation Not enough interest in postgraduate education/research Tempting to blame convenient scapegoats: infrastructure,

government, politicians, bureaucracy, corruption, reservations, …

Those don’t explain why ROI hasn’t been significant for the past investments – society at large is also equally, if not more, guilty!

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Issues Only lip service provided on striving for excellence

In spite of becoming modern in many ways, hierarchy still matters and questioning authority is frowned on

Too often looking westward for requirements/problems when local customers do have non-trivial problems to innovate on

Acute shortage of soft skills; true desire for collaboration lacking even in faculty (within/outside the univ)

Not all entrepreneurship equals being innovative!

Quantum leap in level of professionalism needed

Doing subcontract/QA work may bring in money but cost arbitrage won’t be sustainable – have to move up the food chain

Too much of narrow grunt work and not enough indulgence in exploration on the side as skunk works by individuals

Managing technologists/products requires special mgmt skills

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Patents as a Measure

December 9, 2009  

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R & D Expenditures

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NRIs and Their Transformational Role

Indian diaspora can play a significant role and it SHOULD – we owe it to our mother country – change from complainers to doers!

Even if India move/assignments not taken up, can still help

This role goes beyond sending money to India or investing money in India or sitting on boards/committees and such

Even regular visitors to India don’t spend enough time really understanding what is going on and what needs to go on

Engage more at the grassroots level

Become role models and instigators of a different way of thinking in techies as well as management

Shape kids at an early age, act as change agents for society at large

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Can India be an Innovation Superpower?

It has the potential, especially in knowledge-based areas, but to realize it some major changes are needed

Some people say: it is not a question of Can but When!

I disagree!! There is no guarantee that the potential will be realized at the current course and pace.

Russia has(d) very large pool of scientists/engineers and did develop significant technologies/products but those didn’t guarantee Russia innovation superpower status

France, Germany, UK have been in IT forever but never attained a significant/sustained level of innovation

Big difference: national missions (BARC, ISRO, DRDO) Vs private ones

The whole innovation ecosystem needs to improve and I really hope it does so SOON!

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References

“India: The Uneven Innovator”, Kirsten Bound, 2007, ISBN 1 84180 171 2, http://www.demos.co.uk

Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, http://dst.gov.in/

“In India, Anxiety Over the Slow Pace of Innovation”, Vikas Bajaj, New York Times, 8 December 2009

CII Raunaq Singh Innovation Grid, http://demo.netcommlabs.com/innovationgrid/

“Emerging Market Companies Ascending the Value Curve: Rationale, Motivation & Strategies”, R.T. Krishnan, K. Kumar, Strategic Management Society Mini-Conference, Hong Kong, 12/2003

Can India become an Innovation Powerhouse? R.T. Krishnan

“China Versus India” – Reality Check for Pharma R&D, L. Li, L. Kang, S. Gentela, Korn/Ferry International, 2008

Reports by Zinnov, htt://www.zinnov.com