Innovation best long term response

It's time the Indian IT-BPO industry asked itself -- has it given the world its Nano yet -- or are we at least planning something on those lines which can put our industry firmly in the spotlight?

 

With innovation becoming the watchword of the Indian IT and BPO industry, the recognition by Nasscom of a series of sustaining innovations in companies ranging from Media Labs to Mango Technologies to multinational TI has left the industry asking for more -- and some disruptive breakthrough innovations too. (A disruptive technology or disruptive innovation is a technological innovation, product, or service that uses a "disruptive" strategy, rather than a "sustaining" strategy, to overturn the existing dominant technologies or status quo products in a market.)

 

Disruptive innovations have the potential to add over $50 billion of revenue to the industry by 2012 and it would be wonderful if all the partners in the innovation ecosystem took on a mission to make this transformation a reality.

 

Unlike in Cuba and Singapore, where innovation is almost entirely government-led and funded, there is a truly participative approach in our country, where large firms, entrepreneurs, academic institutions and of course the government have equal roles to play in the National Innovation Mission.

 

The formation of innovation clusters -- IT for automotive innovation in Pune and for telecom innovation in Chennai have already been initiated -- and the evolution of collaborative programmes with educational institutions needs to be intensified this year.

 

The outstanding work done by Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School has amply demonstrated that the cluster approach