Why India lags behind in Innovation

“India ranks 41st in the Global Innovation Index” was the news item in an obscure corner of the financial paper last week and that possibly sums up why.

As citizens of this nation we are being fed daily on the great strides the country is achieving in global economy. Of how we have become a key player in the knowledge economy. Of how we, together with Brazil, Russia and China are the future economic super powers of the world.

And yet the same news item reveals of how we have slipped down by 18 places with many of the smaller and younger countries ahead of us! WHY? This article leaves some food-for-thought.

The first among the hit-list is education. The foundations of our education system was laid by the British. As an important colony to their imperialistic plan British needed the support of locals to strengthen their administrative hold on this vast territory. The credit of India being the largest english-speaking nation (amongst those nations not having it as its national language) goes to the British government even if their motives were selfish. But did they deliberately suppress lateral thinking – an important ingredient to innovation? I think not. The early torch-bearers of our nation, rightfully, thought education-for-all to be the primary education objective that will bring us out of the dark economic depths we were left when we attained freedom. Unfortunately the policies of the country – in the field of education, however, did not change over time (or change rapid enough) in tune with global trends. Our obsession with Maths and Science muffled the pursuits of other disciplines like art, craft and social sciences. Was this our undoing ... despite maths and science contributing so much to innovation?

To what extend did our social milieu contribute to our lack of innovativeness? As per Maslow's theory of needs roti-kapada-aur-makaan is our first milestone. The battle to gain this takes most of our energies and attention, and often a life-time. The great gap between available jobs and unengaged people made us focus on the essentials. Right or wrong innovation took a back seat.

How far did (the lack of) government policies contribute to this deplorable state? Take a page from the countries that excelled in innovation – the top three: US, Germany and Sweden – and you will find the common thread is governmental participation and push. The role of National Science Foundation (NSF) of US is legendary. Their US 1 billion+ funds per year are doled out to young budding enthusiasts from colleges. It is not surprising that the two kids of Google were receipients of such a grant which gave them the kick-start to conquer the world.

All said and done innovation is still an individual act. Across India the interest in pursuing research in any field has reduced. The number of students opting to pursue a PhD is deplorable from a country that boasts of over a billion people. How, then, can innovation take place? Have we lost self-belief in our abilities to think out-of-the-box to solve important problems? Or are we plain lazy and find comfort in picking solutions thought of by others?

There is a whole theory which claims that the climate is not conducive to innovating! Serious. It is not for nothing that we have the phrase, Necessity is the mother of invention. As a country we are blessed with abundant land, a copious supply of water, more people than are required. The weather is not very extreme and our nature is one of great tolerance. We get by. What is the need to innovate? This is unlike certain countries like the Nordic states where due to extreme conditions, small areas, low population, and lack of natural resources innovative thinking is a vital need to survive. Think about it.

But Industry, in my opinion, needs to take the blame for our lamentable state. We have some very successful global companies who are even part of the Fortune 500 list. Could they not have instituted a culture of innovation – at least – in their own companies. It is sad to say that there is not one Apple amongst them. Even in the field of IT where it is said we are particularly suited – given our gift for maths and logic there is not one Indian company that has made a successful global product. Why? Do they not have the resources to promote innovation. As the CEO of one of the few software product company of India said, 'the management of these successful IT companies think that product development is moving up the value-chain. What they do not realise is that it is a different pillar!' How true? The DNA of an innovative company is grossly different from that of a service company. And if these industry pundits think that they can set aside some budget and begin innovation it will never happen. A case in point has been the Indian Pharmaceutical product research companies that successfully have been creating value for global MNCs. These are not the R&D departments of the successful Pharma marketing companies but small companies built on the energy of young technocrats.

It may be a good beginning to put on our thinking caps on this issue.