India has for long be a fast-growing economy that has and is still having difficulties with coping with this growth. The immense population however, holds plenty of opportunities for India to be one of the next leading countries in innovation and to be home to the next Silicon Valley. In this blogpost, I want to highlight in which areas India still should show improvement to become this next innovation leader it promises to be.
Firstly, India should re-examine its own way of doing business and try to let the different industries breath innovation. Businesses must more than ever be aware of the technological changes around them. Too many times Indian businesses hold on to what they know and are afraid of what is to come.
Secondly, India should make steps in overcoming risk-averseness. Risk-averseness is embedded in the Indian culture and this can withhold innovation from happening. Indians are so risk averse since until recently there was almost no private capital market. This means that Indians who are started a firm practically always used their savings and this over course makes them more risk averse. So, the second step is to embrace taking risk and this can be increasingly done since the private capital market in India is growing (Kathuria, 2017).
Thirdly, firms that want to innovate must accept that they often need to adapt on every business level, and this means on management level as well (Rick, 2017). Often Hierarchy is still very important in Indian Businesses. Managers and CEO’s are willing to be more innovative but they do not want to change their way of doing business or managing their firm. This is one of the key components that stops India from innovating. It is thus, vitally important to adapt on every level of the firm and not only on entry levels. This will help shift the thoughts of innovations as a firm and consequently will deliver you with better and more structured ideas.
India still has a long way to go to become one of the lead innovating countries in the world. However, when they adapt fast and change their mindset to innovation it is almost certain that the next Airbnb, Apple or Microsoft will find its place in India.
References:
Kathuria, P. (2017). What will it take for India to accelerate innovation?. [online] http://www.livemint.com/. Available at: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/L3zDW9CnCKygeZzmk5oCgI/What-will-it-take-for-India-to-accelerate-innovation.html [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Rick, T. (2017). Top 30 key obstacles to innovation – Barriers to innovation. [online] Torben Rick. Available at: https://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/strategy/30-key-obstacles-to-innovation/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].
Hi Timo,
I agree with your suggestions for a innovation-intensive environment in India. I would like to add that there are also transformations needed, and currently happening, in the governments’ policy of technology innovation. Luckily the government of India is aware of its role to develop succesful technology platforms internationally. For example, their new policy encourages investments in technology companies with tax benefits for private investments in R&D (Government of India, 2017). In addition to that, a few years ago the Indian government set up the National Innovation Council to bring together stakeholders for new innovation needs (BBC, 2013). I do think these initiatives are a good start, but next to the corporations, the government should continue to foster innovation as well. A good start would be focussing on the improvements you adressed.
References:
BBC. (2013). India looks to encourage innovation. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-21528660/india-looks-to-encourage-innovation
Government of India. (2017). Technology and Innovation. Retrieved from http://12thplan.gov.in/forum_description.php?f=13