Do fiscal incentives drive investment in R&D

One of the important proposal made in the budget is enhancing Weighted deduction of expenditure incurred on in-house R&D from 150 percept to 200 percent. But do fiscal incentives matter in deciding on R&D and if they matter for whom and for what type of R&D? what do experts say on this?......

comment at Indian R&D Managers Forum, LinkedIn

Asian Innovation Awards 2010

The Wall Street Journal Asia is now accepting entries for the prestigious Asian Innovation Awards 2010. The Asian Innovation Awards are committed to finding the next big ideas in Asia, from entirely new inventions to the advancement of a classic. Entries to The Asian Innovation Awards may come from individuals, small businesses, large corporations or academia in Asia Pacific.
The deadline for entries is Friday, March 26, 2010, at 11:59pm Hong Kong time.

URL: http://www.wsj-asia.com/aia/

Toy of the year awards 2010

More than 400 executives from across the toy industry gathered to honor their peers at the tenth annual Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards program and Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Well-recognized as the “Oscars®” of the toy industry, the annual gala paid tribute to the best in toys and children’s entertainment; outstanding achievements by individuals, teams, and companies; and the creativity and playful spirit upon which the toy industry is based.

Read: http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=TOTY_Awards

India as destination for affordable health care

India has become favoured destination for affordable health care not just because of cost difference but also due to innovations in medical practices mastered with wide base of patients. Read this post on Endoscopic Retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). There are also linkages to:

1. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in India: Get it done in low cost
2. Diverticulosis & Obscure Bleeding Treatment In India at Low Cost-India
3. Child Surgery In India At Affordable Low Cost–Child Surgery India Cost
4. Pediatric Surgery In India At Affordable Low Cost – Pediatric India
5. Ulcers Treatment In India at Affordable Cost-Ulcers Surgery India Cost

Tank Simulator from Zen Technologies

Business Standard carried this interesting article on competition for Tank Simulator. Indian firm Zen Technologies and Canadian firm CAE are in the race to supply 80 simulators for T-72 & T90 tank regiments. Russians who suplied those Tanks complained of IPR infringement.

Zen Technologies is a great Indian technology venture. They had put all their money on developing new products and I remember they operated from rented premises while developing their first major project `Small Arm Training Simulator' with partcial financial support from DSIR under PATSER. That product was a great success, hundreds of para military forces/ police improved their responses by training on the simulator. Their next project supported by DSIR is Simulator with 6 DOF - a technologically complex system and they did come with a successful model backed by patents.

The realistic environment they created for their simulator training is India specific , can be integrated with confidential terrain maps and must be a critical factor for users.

My vote is for Zen -the Indian Innovator

Innovation led Development- special issue from MIT

A special edition of Innovations, a quarterly journal published by MIT Press, has been written specifically for Tech4Society event held at Hyderabad and is full of in-depth insights on social entrepreneurship and technology from leaders in the field. Contents include lead essays by President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda, Julia Novy-Hildelsy, Executive Director of The Lemelson Foundation, Matthew Bishop and Michael Green, and case studies, discussions and analytic essays by Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows and other experts in the field of innovation and social entrepreneurship.

Download from: http://tech.ashoka.org/innovations_hyderabad_2010

From Jugaad to Systematic Innovation: The Challenge for India

This book by Prof Rishikesha Krishnan, Professor of Strategy & Jamuna Raghavan Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore was launched by Mr. Subroto Bagchi, Vice Chairman, MindTree Ltd., at IIM Bangalore, on Friday, February, 5, 2010.

Why is it that India is unable to be the source of major industrial innovations on a sustained basis even though it has highly skilled talent and a penchant for jugaad (creative improvisation)? This book draws on social, cultural, political, economic and managerial arguments to explain this paradox:Firms are the primary agents of industrial innovation. While the incentive for innovation by firms in India has increased after economic liberalisation began in 1991, the inputs (funding, trained people and basic research and development) for innovation by firms have not kept pace with firms’ needs. Nor has the capacity of firms to innovate. Government’s efforts to enhance the availability of inputs to the innovation process have been ineffective because of the lack of a strategic and integrative vision, inadequate resources, and poor implementation. Professor Krishnan explains the government’s shortcomings in this respect in terms of the political economy of India’s innovation policy. Firms have failed to build an innovation capacity because of issues of ownership and control, and a number of deeply embedded social and cultural barriers to innovation. These include poor teamwork, the enduring importance of upward hierarchical progression, and a weak systems and strategic orientation.To overcome these problems, India needs to move from a paradigm of Jugaad (or creative improvisation) to one of systematic innovation. Specifically, India needs to (1) create a critical mass of new, innovative, technology-driven firms, (2) enhance the technological capability of existing micro, small, and medium enterprises, (3) transform large enterprises, (4) create a new incentive system for universities and other institutions of higher education, (5) continue and enhance the process of dynamic reform of public R&D organisations, (6) change the structure of government involvement in supporting industrial R&D, and (7) create supportive societal conditions for industrial innovation. Replete with a strong conceptual framework, case studies, examples, and data relating to India’s innovation performance, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of Indian industry.

Place order online at IndiaPlaza

Notion Link ADAM

Nation Link's ADAM received rare reviews at CES and created ripples of excitement in India too. About the start up: http://www.notionink.com/Home/about-us

About the product and comments: http://www.technoholik.com/news/exclusive-a-sneak-peek-at-the-notion-ink-adam-tablet-specs-pics/

The place where it was developed:

http://www.bvrit.ac.in/index.php?fname=bvrit_ic

Innovative India badly needs atleast one major hit and this can be that.

Invention Capitalism

See presentation by Peter N Detkin. Intellectual Ventures started investing in India- is it in patentable academic research or in technology ventures?

Democratizing the future

Democratizing the future is a free to download ebook from Josephine Green of Philips.

This paper argues that we need different ways of thinking, being and doing if we are to live well, prosper and safeguard the future. Primarily we need to go beyond the straight jacket of consumer needs and a consumer approach, and also encompass social needs and a social approach. By doing so, we can drive a new era of creativity and growth.Working with this emerging social space therefore becomes both an opportunity and a necessity. However, we must not only re-invent our social industries, but also our lifestyles and even the very growth models upon which they are based. To achieve this, the new technologies enable more radical innovation through the delivery of more context-based customized services and systems. Such place embedded systems have the potential to deliver sustainable solutions for the 21st century. Shifting our emphasis from consumption to services and systems, and combining a consumer-led and socially-led approach, means that how we think about and interact with the future will change. This paper explores these changes and examines how we might open up and engage with the future differently, in terms of going beyond:

• a market-led approach, based on consumer research and innovation, to a socially-led approach based on social research and social innovation.
• the act of researching the future to directly engaging with the future through people who are already creating it today.
• closed research and innovation to open co-creation with stakeholders, especially users.
• a linear interpretation of time and the future towards new conceptual models that allow a more imaginative and creative interaction with the future.
In short, we need to shift the emphasis away from technology and the market and more towards people and responsibility through ownership. It is time to democratize the future.

Download :http://www.newscenter.philips.com/shared/assets/Downloadablefile/democratizing-the-future-16071.pdf

Household utensils from used tyres

Businessline has carried this interesting picture. Credit to Ritu Raj Konwar.

Can anyone share more information on this venture from Nagaland?

Solid Propellant plant at ISRO

An important technology was mastered by ISRO scientists by designing and setting up of a Solid Propellant plant at SHAR.The Solid Propellant Plant (SPP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, set up for manufacturing S200 solid boosters of GSLV Mk-III, was commissioned on December 18, 2008 with the successful casting of Head-End Segment (HES). Subsequently, in February 2009, the Nozzle-End-Segment (NES) and in April 2009 the Middle Segment (MS) were also processed. Thus, processing of all the three segments for the first static test of S200 booster has been completed. The S200 booster segments with 3.2 m dia. stand as the second largest of their kind in the world. SPP has 53 buildings spread over 6 Sq Km area, interconnected with roads of 18 Km length. The annual capacity of the plant is to produce 900 ton of solid propellant required for 12 segments (delivery of four S200 boosters). India becomes the third country after USA and France to develop this capability.

(source: ISRO)

Mitti cool or Chotukool

Godrej launching Chotukool brings to mind low penetration of Mitticool supported by NIF. Who would be more successful?

(source: NitiBhan),