The under-belly of growth and innovation - kill corruption first

Every country has a genesis and an attitude. We cannot do much about history, except to be either critical or supportive of it. But we can definitely carve out a future without being over-burdened by history. A Tianmen Square happens in China and yet the country gets an increased FDI. A Hyderabad or Kolkata happens in India and we self determine the collapse of the entire system and how FDI will turn its back upon these two places. We are over critical of ourselves, not that I hate self introspection.

If there is a direction, irrespective of change of course to be adopted to reach the target, as a nation we should be united to achieve success. If we flounder in between, we do that as a nation and it is upon ourselves to chart the path again.

We have everything any nation would aspire to seek - all forms of wealth. We need to exploit this wealth to generate more to be prosperous. And wealth is not money alone. And it should not definitely lead to hegemony of any kind. That is definitely a genesis we Indians do not believe in.

So, let us rise as a nation. Our aspirations and belief are a significant element of the wealth we are seeking. If, for example, we as a nation can just take a concerted decision to completely shy away from corruption, and I mean completely shy away, we can possibly lay the foundation for a strong reputation. Wealth will automatically follow such a nation.

Seizing the opportunity at Copenhagen

There are very few times world leaders get the opportunity to impact the entire human kind. Copenhagen provides this opportunity to leaders of both the developed and developing world.
Everyone realizes the damaging impact human race is making on earth. We should not end up being the dinosaurs, who once upon a time existed. The way we hate bad periods of history, our future generations should not curse us for an opportunity lost. To achieve something, we will have to loose something. If the developed nations believe they can still continue to be a consumer society and be guided with principles which dictate greed and needs only, then we are not far from extinction.

If the developing world believes their past has been good and they will never turn into consumer driven economies, then we are turning our backs to truth. The BRIC countries are already demonstrating some of the vulgarities of high consumerism.

I can only wish for the world leaders to have large hearts in Copenhagen. A large heart to consider the need for the existence of human race.

How many years for LEDs to gain mass market acceptance?

It took CFLs 18 years for mass market adoption. With current focus on green energy, how many years will it take for LEDs?

You may post your response here:

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/69352/bugjm

BK - The Man who created Enterprises out of People

A few days back, on 21st September, Mr. B.K.Singh (BK to many) who headed Tata Motors Service, Dharwad Plant and Telcon at one point of time, breathed his last at Jamshedpur. There was a multitude of people from all levels of various Tata and other organizations who came to pay their last respect to this great man.

As a young GET, who joined Tata Motors(Telco at that time) in 1988, the leadership at Jamshedpur had many creative and hard working people. Each one of them stood perfected to treat the newcomers with an open mind. That provided a platform to experiment and learn. My best professional learning definitely happened at Tata's and it is a gratitude I know that can't be repaid back in any form, whatever I try. I considered BK as the most apt mentor, guide and guru amongst these great stalwarts. BK was an avid reader - he would get up early in the morning to have his 90 minutes of reading and be punctually there at the plant gates just before 7:00 am. He carried expertise in multiple fields but would be keen to learn things which came to him new. He provided wide-ranging opportunities to people and believed in taking risks to become an ultimate winner.

While he didn't know how to operate a computer himself during his Telco days (later, post retirement, he became an internet buff and would query me on stuff which I found difficult to respond), he mentored one of the first CAD implementations happen in India, the first Product Data Management implementation, the first ISO:9001 across the Tata group and one of the earliest(maybe the first) across the entire Indian manufacturing industry. The first castings and forgings export to Japan from an Indian company(Niigata, etc.) happened during his days at Forge and Foundry. The High Pressure Moulding Line really became successful due to his patience and perseverance. When the Tata Cummins project looked doubtful, he spearheaded successfully the project for Tata Motors trucks to carry Tata Cummins engine. The Dharwad plant was setup in motion by BK. Tata Motors Service got a rejuvenated look after BK took over. While I was associated on most of these programs, including the first indigenous product of Tata Motors (it wasn't a truck or a car, it was the Tata Wheel Loader - you can see the picture above), there must definitely be a million more things which can be mentioned by others who came across BK.

But the most important aspect of BK was his people management skills. Everyone looked at him as a solution provider to the toughest of the problems. Anyone in a situation would land up in front of him - and knew BK would help. BK on his part believed in enabling people to be successful. He would let people explore beyond the normal realms and provide constant encouragement during every phase. I believe BK created enterprises out of people. As I look around the world and see many successful ex-colleagues from Tata Motors and talk to them about their personal success, each one of them contributes it to a large extent due to their association with BK. For me, BK was a mentor, guide and guru par excellence. I knew if I faced a situation, whether a professional one or related to family, BK would always be there to provide a sound advice. I am surely going to miss him.

Building an Innovation Factory

What does it take to make an innovation factory? The Indian word "jugaad" is actually a poignant reminder of an innovation factory existing at every nook and corner of the country. But does the juggad action lead a nation up the value chain? It might impact an individual and a few people around, but does it create a significant value for a large segment of the global economy?

I tried looking at some of the jugaads around me and sought answers to my questions. The first one is called JUGAAD! Can I have a better start? You can see the picture above. What makes this 'Jugaad' click so well. It is the economics and economics alone. Even after encountering numerous problems associated with home-made low technology product such as these, the end-user is happy to pay only a fractional cost compared to a commercially available product and yet achieve the end objective. Does it make the automotive industry in India or globally learn from such innovation? A few years back this question would not have gained any attention. Today, after the runaway success of Tata's Nano car, individuals, corporates and governments would realize the basic essence and importance of such innovation. After all, the most important and impactful innovation of human history, the wheel, was but just a wheel. Centuries later it gave birth to engines, cars, trains and enumerous other forms which assist us in our daily life.

The big question is, how do we spur such innovation at the bottom of the pyramid? Yours and my lifetime may not see such wheels doing anything impactful, but we will leave behind valuable discoveries for our grand-children and their grand-children to savour.

Trained experts to take technology from labs to factories

A new set of entrepreneur creators is on the way. Not one, but two hundred of them. It's like motivational experts who help pull-in innovation on one side and then create success on the other side. The creation of this bridge is definitely a welcome development.

Most of the public sector entities involved in basic research or even application research areas didn't know where to go with their innovations. Just clinging onto the IP didn't help anyone. It also didn't motivate the IP creators to continue to generate more. And obviously, successful entrepreneurs’ who do not have their own R&D setups aren't clued in to innovative ideas or products. With the unleashing of the labs into the public domain, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has taken the first baby steps into the open world.

I am sure this will delight the research community and even more so, we will be able to see some interesting technologies, products and services getting built for the benefit of everyone.

Innovation in eAgriculture

I guess everyone will say yes. But still, nothing much happens for this sector if you look at the prosperity index of marginal farmers over the last few decades.

It was a delight to see some action at SINE Lab in Mumbai... http://www.polymericsensors.com/home

These kind of solutions will definitely help farmers who cannot reach the soil and water testing labs and can jointly own the testing kit to further reduce the cost of ownership.

Monetizing Innovation

My big question to innovators in India...

There are two lovely sets of people in the innovation cycle - the ones who love innovating continously and the other who love productionizing their innovation. The latter get termed as entrepreneurs. A good number of these entrepreneurs evolve out of large organizations which have a sound infrastructure to instill innovation. Yet, there remain some of them who are their own masters through the entire cycle. Who makes a more successful entrepreneur?

About 80 percent of entrepreneurs say the inability to find employment was "not at all a factor" in their decision to launch a company, according to the Kauffman Foundation. Was unemployment a reason you started your business? Did you launch your business after losing your job?

I would love to hear from you...

Does innovation require a roadmap?

I am a firm believer of the old management adage of 'what gets measured gets delivered'. To approach a gigantic problem in a country like India requires multiple stakeholders to jointly approach the problem. Such a collaborative approach works best with a plan, a roadmap.

During the April of 2008 it was my pleasure to host Mr. Larry W. Sumney, President & CEO of Semiconductor Research Corporation and Dr. Steven J Hillenius, Executive Vice President, SRC & Executive Director, GRC, in India. We went to three cities across the country - Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi. There was growing realization amongst all the students, researchers, professors, industry leaders, bureaucrats and government leaders of a need to build roadmaps for research, particularly in the areas of education, healthcare, energy and security. Mr. Sumney and his small but extremely effective team have been delivering one of the most critical yeoman services to the semiconductor industry - a collaborative approach towards semiconductor research. There is a dire need for Indian researchers to be part of this global collaboration.

While on this topic, it is also important for me to share my very personal perspectives on 'India's own chip'. Every nation aspires to grow up the value chain as a result of the collective action of how an individual or an industry loves to grow. The resultant action, if managed well through the growth process, can deliver beautiful results for the government, industry and citizens at large. A simple agriculture economy, too dependent on the monsoons still, has grown over the last sixty odd years from a poor country to being a developed nation.

It isn't incidental for the French government to invite Indian Prime Minister for their national day and becoming the first foreigner to do so. The Indian contingent marching in Paris yesterday signalled the coming of a very different India. An India which doesn't have a fascist attitude, nor any dictatorial aspirations, nor to create a bonhomie of a sort which signals India's desire to be a super-power. The attitude of the nation has always been pretty simple and down-to-earth - and it gets amply demonstrated and represented by leaders such as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In this context, India's aspirations to grow naturally up the value chain by signalling the coming of the time for an Indian chip is a significant step forward. It has been waiting in the wings for long and can now be delivered with the strong support of the political leadership in the country. But, it has to be managed very effectively, for semiconductor R&D and manufacturing requires extremely good technology expertise along with an excellent infrastructure. We can’t be stuck up with a Mark-I Ambassador design for twenty years in this industry. Even twenty months will pose an issue. A constant innovation with a strong roadmap will be the basis for success.

Innovation for an upturned pyramid

Luck usually traverses the shortest and the smartest route. It took me many a days to finally get going on this second article on my blog after realizing at least twice that technology can play truant when you don't want it to. The 'autosave' feature on this site helped save blanks after I had literally typed out my entire thought. The usual 'cut and paste' feature that every application loves providing was being used by me during this process. To ensure I am grammatically sound, I wanted to check my writing in the offline word application. Bizarre as it may sound, the effect was loss of entire data and of my thoughts which had poured into these pages.

Nevertheless, all is well that ends well. It was probably a blessing in disguise, as it allowed me to infer on my actions and retrofit these thought processes into the plausible reason why there is so much of less innovation for the bottom of the pyramid.

The highest percentage of innovation happens for activities or products which can usually impact the tip of the pyramid. That is for obvious reasons. Enterprises continue to build focus on technologies which can provide them the highest returns in the shortest possible time. Why would anyone 'waste' their 'luck' on economically unviable projects?

To capitalize on the idea of 'value of innovation' there are two approaches an enterprise follows - large volumes of low cost products providing large top lines which in turn drive large profits, or else low volumes of high margin products driving large profits. The resultant in both the cases is 'large profits'.
I meet some innovators, who term themselves as 'social entrepreneurs' and who intend doing well for the bottom of the pyramid. They are usually lost in the melee after a while and wind themselves up in larger organizations that look out for business drivers with a wide variety of social understanding. The zeal of social responsibility usually ends up in working for profitability for someone else. There are a few who do not loose patience. They are 'creatures of the outer world' - I hear this phrase meted out to them in unequivocal manner by the very protagonists who speak one language and subscribe to another to lead their lives. But these patient entrepreneurs, who struggle to keep their two ends meet on a perpetual basis, are the real heroes of this pyramidal world. These are the people who have the capability to turn the pyramid upside-down and drive innovation relative to the need of the new-found 'tip' of the pyramid. This 'tip' is such a huge market opportunity that every business entity then clamours to reach out to this new found Nero.

I would love to see the pyramid turned upside down many a times, repeated at regular intervals. The telecom revolution did create one such upside-down effect. The effect is seen in many a ways in countries like India. Though I haven't yet seen anyone pointing to the general election results this time and equating them to the rural telecom revolution, but I strongly believe of a new-found communication channel which created transparency of sorts in rural India this time. The citizens did make a conscious decision and didn't follow the usual path they always do. And I am sure the political parties will wake up to understand that they need to turn the pyramid upside-down and support the growth of innovation. Unless the bottom isn't seen at the top, there will be few who will work for them. Lest this momentum be lost, innovators should steadfastly work towards reaping benefits of impacting the lives of a multitude of human beings not just in India but across the globe.

Innovation Context

It has always been a big question on my mind if an innovators' desire is to create a solution for a problem they have encountered during the course of their life or they have potentially visualized a problem in someone else's life. It is pertinent and intrinsic to the nature of the innovation cycle that the curiosity generated in the mind of an innovator is usually contextual to the fundamentals and the environment he is exposed to.

There may also be a need to dissect the population in terms of education, economy and enlightenment. I call these the three fundamental "E's" which help build the desired motivation in an innovator. There were times, ages ago, when a 'real' innovation used to hibernate for an extended period and then the discoveries around the globe would happen in a highly dispersed manner relative to the time scale. There were very few innovators and most of them had challenges during their education, weren't from a strong economic background and because of lack of effective communication medium the enlightenment in the form of a market pull was missing. But yet, these innovations changed the world forever in a profoundly practical and profitable way.

The animal species learns to walk or fly by imitating their mothers or fathers. You can watch a baby duck following that process. Many species, including we humans, develop much of their behavioral repertoire by following role models. One distinctive characteristic of humans, however, is that as we become adults we can choose whom and what to imitate. If you believe that you would like to cultivate and exploit all the aspects of the human potential then there will not be a better person to emulate than Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was probably the most creative and well-rounded genius who has walked on this earth. But if you believe in honing your most important and ambitious goals then there is probably no better individual than Edison. He has been history's greatest achiever and by far the most practical innovator.

I studied a lot on Edison and his innovation methodology to break open the codes of his invention factory. Possibly, besides his patented 1,093 innovations, the one which stands out most and which he didn't patent was the systematic approach to innovation. Before Thomas Edison, invention was viewed as the random product of a solitary genius. Edison was, of course, an exceptional genius, but the greatest product of his genius was the establishment of an approach to creativity and innovation that he believed anyone could follow. As he proclaimed, "If we all did the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves."