It’s about time…

Two years ago, there was serious concern in the intellect community that we are only producing worker bees and not scientists that can do fundamental research.

There were news on how India’s top research institutions are losing their talent.

But, during the same period, we also saw super focus on “Innovation” by leaders, government, industry bodies and enterprises; here are few…

Dr. Abdul Kalam, Former president of India relentlessly messaged about the importance of innovation during and after his tenure. Innovation and his speech “India’s Role in the Knowledge Economy” is legendary

http://www.abdulkalam.com/kalam/jsp/display_content.jsp?menuid=25&menuname=Thoughts&linkid=125&linkname=Developed%20India&content=849

India's leading industry bodies CII and NASSCOM both have their Innovation Initiatives.

http://www.nasscom.in/Nasscom/templates/LandingPage.aspx?id=5721

http://cii.in/menu_content.php?menu_id=501

I would like anyone visiting this blog to read Anand Mahindra’s NASSCOM 2008 Leadership Summit speech, in which, he beautifully explains need and concept of Innovation for Indian IT industry in particular using Hindu mythology.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/IT_has_its_own_Hiranyakashyap_to_battle/rssarticleshow/2782893.cms

Indian IT vendors such as Microsoft, IBM and SAP have also upped their effort and investments on “Innovation”.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=28462

The in late 2007, Kapil Sibal, Union minister for science & technology declared “We want to bring in an ‘India Innovation Act’ to spur innovation in India, for which we would like Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry to draft legislation and present it to the government in three months”

http://www.ibef.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=60&art_id=16684&refer=n41

If the stories of “Innovation made in India” listed are precursors of what is to come… then

The tale of the creation and design of the world's cheapest car is one of innovation and ingenuity, both inside and outside Ratan Tata's organization

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id2008059_312111.htm

“Unilever to nurse Asia as R&D hub” with India leading with more than 250 researchers / scientists and 300 patents.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Unilever_to_nurse_Asia_as_RD_hub/articleshow/3292639.cms

There is no doubt, it’s about time…