India: Global Hub for Innovation?

If we ask "Why we dont see innovations like Google, iPod or Viagra coming from
India ?" - it may not be the right question, because new product innovation is only a small
fraction of the entire gamut of innovations.
Innovations that lead to new products and services for end users easily get noticed,
but this is only a small fraction - only the tip of the iceberg. There is a large population of
innovations that enable bigger innovations in turn but they remain invisible.
We need to have a broader definition of Innovation. Schumpeter said "Innovation is
Novelty in which Value is created and distributed"
The definition of innovation should not be restricted to the beneficiaries of the end
users. Innovations beyond New Products can involve Process innovations, Business Model
Innoavtions, Novel ways of organizing firms & industries.
Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing, London Business School, describes four
types of "invisible innovation" currently coming out of India:
Innovation for Business Customers - Made in India, branded elsewhere Over past two
decades 750 R&D centres was set up by MNCs in India employing 400 thousand workers,
working on innovations for global products. Companies like GE, Philips, etc offer global
products developed in India. Quality of innovation in India is the same as those in US, as
both patents get the same number of forward citations.
Outsourcing Innovation - Value added R&D services on demand - Major part of R&D and
product development work have been contracted to India for their global product which will
be sold worldwide. e.g HCL technologies developed two mission critical systems for Boeing
787 Dreamliner for collision avoidance system and landing in Zero Visibility.
Process innovation - injection of intelligence by Indian firms Product innovation is
different than the process innovation. Its about how to create or develop a new product
rather than the product itself. Only in India smart folks dream of joining BPO Call Centres.
They are innovating and developing analytical tools for predictive modelling, e.g. guess
what the phone call is about even before picking up the call.
Management Innovation - new ways to organize work Invented by Indian offshore
industry is the Global Delivery Model which take up a geographically co-located task, break
it into parts, distribute across different parts of the Globe where expertise exists & cost
structure is attractive and specify the means for re-integrate them.
So the conclusion is that India is well represented in the large invisible submerged
portion of the innovation iceberg and the innovation of new products for end users is only
the small visible portion of the innovation iceberg.