INNOVATION

India’s Invisible Innovation

by Alex Hutchins

Can India become a global hub for innovation? Nirmalya Kumar thinks it already has. He details four types of "invisible innovation" currently coming out of India and explains why companies that used to just outsource manufacturing jobs are starting to move top management positions overseas, too. (Filmed at DxLondonBusinessSchool.)

Professor Kuman

Nirmalya Kumar is a professor of Marketing at the London Business School and a passionate voice for new entrepreneurs in India. Full bio »

Click here to watch video

Click here, to sign up for Invisible Innovation on Facebook.

Invisible innovations are everywhere, whether you see them or not. Here are the top 90 most recent creations that defy the old adage.  Invisibility is at the top of the list for desired superhero powers, and it’s obvious why. There’s something so stealthy about see-through gadgets and gizmos. Check out the invisible innovations here, from invisible underwear to imaginary pets.

Implications - Invisibility is something that definitely interests a lot of people. Ever since Harry Potter came out, many people have been raving about magic and Potter's invisibility cloak. Any item that seems almost magical is going to be scooped up by people who want to feel like they have something powerful, cool and unique.

A new dimension of innovation has been given and termed as “invisible innovation”. Innovation is anything that adds value and is novel in its approach. So, when we see tangible products as a result of innovation, India may not have a direct role in it but it has a substantial share in process innovation which leads to the end product itself.

According to the statistics, about 750 Research & Development centers in India by MNCs that operate at a global level. This means that Indians working for these 750 centers have a full-time job which involves nothing but innovation.

This reinforces the fact that there is no dearth for innovation in India and it is just that we do not see it in a tangible form. When a product comes out in the market, it bears the name of the company but not where it was created and there is a difference between “creating” and “making”.

There are basically three types of innovation:

• Product innovation
• Process innovation
• Management innovation

Product innovation:

A new product is released in the Silicon Valley by Google. It could be an analytical tool or a virtual drive or anything. But, there is every chance that it was created (at a conceptual level or implementation level) in India.

CSR Drives Innovation

Process Innovation:

India being the hug of outsourcing, the innovative Indian brain has developed ‘predictive modeling’ which improves the speed of operation thereby increasing operational efficiency and productivity.

Management Innovation:

By injecting a dash of intelligence in the ways of managing itself, India is well represented in terms of innovation of this sort with 2 out of every 3 Fortune 500 companies around the World.

Here’s another country…       

Who do you think designed the technology that allows you to stream video on your smartphones? A bunch of Taiwanese R&D guys, that's who (and some other folks, too, but the R&D labs of Taiwan were involved). Who is behind the push to make ever smaller, more powerful semiconductor wafer technology? Taiwanese R&D guys. A lot of apps, branding and design come out of the USA, but a lot of graphics, games and innovation not meant for end users (or meant for end users but not branded as having come from Taiwan or, more generally, Asia) comes out of Asia, including Taiwan.  But so much creativity in Taiwan goes into products that don't get branded as being created in Taiwan.

Streaming Video Technology

So, is this an invisible by product of Outsourcing?  If it is,

WHAT HAS HAPPENED

TO THE US?