Innovation and India’s Role in the Knowledge Economy

"India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all".

- Will Durant (American historian)

I read the article written by Dr. A.P.J. Kalam and liked it, so thought of putting it here.  Following are the few recent achievements speak volumes about our great India. 

Innovation in IT: We all know about the recent rise of India’s IT sector. Today the IT sector employs more than 2 million persons and contributes roughly 25% of India’s exports. The IT sector also contributes around 4% to India’s GDP. When you consider that the IT sector employs just 0.2% of the population, you can see that the IT sector is contributing many times its share to the Indian economy. Indeed it is not wrong to say that the IT sector, perhaps single-handedly, changed the world’s perception about India. IT is not the only area where India is innovative. 

Innovation in Consumer items: The sachet of shampoo that costs just Rs. 2, or about five cents! Imagine producing something for five cents that includes not just the aluminum for the sachet, but also its contents, not to mention the cost of distribution. Yet these sachets can be found everywhere in India. 

Innovation in Cell phone Business model: Today villagers are all speaking on cell phone. India has the cheapest telephone rates in the world, for both land lines as well as cell phones. India also has the fastest growing telecom market in the world, adding roughly eight million cell phones every month! This amazing growth has been made possible because the Indian cell phone service providers have a number of innovative business models, such as free incoming calls, prepaid calling cards, etc. We should remember that innovation in business models is also innovation! 

Innovation in Election system: India’s democratic society also benefits from Indian innovation. We see here an Electronic Voting Machine used in our elections. Foreigners are often surprised to find out that in Indian elections, 100% of the voting is through EVMs. In recent times doubts have been raised about the reliability of the software used in electronic voting machines in some other countries. Our EVMs are based on push button technology (rather than touch screen technology) which makes them absolutely tamper-proof. Moreover, it is also possible to have a “recount” in the case of close contests, without any difficulty. In some regions, Election Commission carrying EVMs on elephant back particularly in Northeastern area is by itself an innovation in transportation. 

Innovation in Nuclear Science: On 11 May 2008, I was with the members of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) on the occasion of the National Technology Day celebrations-2008 and distributed the DAE Awards-2006. I have seen 400 scientists who have shown excellent performance in Science, Engineering and Technology in Department of Atomic Energy. Their innovations in the nuclear science and technology will have tremendous potential; I would like to particularly mention a few, such as

v   Carbide fuel processing in the nuclear Fast reactors at IGCAR, DAE;

v   Reduced use of uranium to attain the same level of performance in power generation DAE;

v  Indigenous design and development of an unique variable low energy positron beam system to enable depth-resolved defect studies at surfaces and interfaces of materials;

v BHABHA-TRON – the first indigenous tele-cobalt machine;

v Design and development of optically pumped infrared molecular gas lasers producing output at 16 micron for molecular uranium isotope separation are some the innovative research which I have witnessed.

Innovation in other Science and Technology departments: Dear friends, our scientists in multiple scientific departments have worked for self-reliance and have succeeded. Some of the innovative examples such as

v  Making the cryogenic engine; Successful launch of 10 satellites in one go and Successful Satellite Recovery Experiment by ISRO;

v  Anti Ballistic Missile System and Indigenous Ring Laser Gyro based INS with high impact accuracy in Agni-III by DRDO

v  Flight control system for LCA by AD

  Are some of the innovative achievements which stand today as witness to Indian innovations in science and technology.

So can we ask: What drives innovation in India? India has a unique blend of ingredients. We have a shortage of capital, so we have to be very innovative to stretch our limited capital. By and large, the general perception is that the government agencies are not able to deliver citizen services effectively, at any level, be it national, state, or regional. But fortunately, we have had democracy, so that individual citizens have been free to evolve local solutions for local problems. Until now our local innovations have not been able to spread outside India excepting in certain sectors such as pharmaceutical, Banking, IT Enabled Services, Software and Automobiles and recently the nano car. Now is the time, for all of us to work together to make Indian innovation to become globalized and have a world wide impact.  

The info on following topics can be found in Dr. Kalam's website.

Innovation in Rural transformation through Jatropha, Innovation in Genetic Mapping of Indian Population and Innovation in healthcare.