Innovation By India for India (The Need and The Challenge)

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About the Book Some Excerpts

"Without significant Indian owned innovation in India, Indians are asking to be subjected increasingly to a new type of economic colonialism. They shall continue to remain at the lower ends of the food chain, their hard work enriching other nations even more while bringing but a semblance of relative improvement in their own plight. If this book would kindle even a modest discussion towards the evolution of some sound policies to accelerate the engine of innovation by Indians in India for India, then I would feel that a small fraction of my debt to my homeland has been repaid."

"A society may be strong scientifically, but if it does not complete the cycle of the knowledge quest by bringing science to the development of products and services, it stands to lose in the long run. No one can champion a theory or concept into a product better than those who created it, for their passions are not easily transferable even if their knowledge is."

"It may also be argued that much of India's investment in higher science and technical education has contributed more to certain developed countries than to India. Changing this sordid narrative should assume a high priority for the nation."

"The deficiencies, however, do not make me despondent. I can assert without any reservation that despite some (correctible) lapses in the area of hands on practice, there is no dearth of highly knowledgeable or inspired and inspiring academics in India. Finally, as a researcher who has straddled both theory and practice, I aver that without the backing of a good theoretical foundation - the forte of Indian higher education - it is hard for one to pick anything but low hanging fruits."

About the Author Dr. Vaidyanathan Ram swami is an Indian citizen residing in the USA who had his initial education in India (M.Sc. Stat/Economy-metrics) and later a Ph.D. (Operations Research) from Purdue University which has named him a Distinguished Science Alumnus. He has many publications in applied probability. His work at the industrial laboratories - Bell Labs, Bell Communications Research, and Art & Track Research - has impacted several real world systems and international standards. One of them on congestion control for Emergency 911 service assurance was hailed life saving. Though a mathematician by training, Ram swami holds many patents related to congestion control, voice call recording, and efficient multimedia distribution over the Internet. He has co-authored a book, Introduction to Matrix Analytic Methods in Stochastic Modeling, published jointly by ASA (American Statistical Association) and SIAM (Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics). That book is considered the definitive source for his area of research, matrix analytic methods in probability. In Bell core, he rose to the highest technical position as Chief Scientist. Ram swami’s experience is rich by having straddled both academia and industry, and embellished even more through major involvement in several technology start-up companies. He has a keen interest in all things Indian and has written on a variety of topics such as Carnatic music and Hinduism, as well as on current issues of politics and economy. He is a veritable example of the 'Argumentative Indian.'

Preface The number of Indians and persons of Indian origin who have enriched many nations and humanity as a whole, through applied research and innovation in a multitude of fields has increased dramatically. This should be reassuring for India particularly because a significant fraction of these have had their initial graduate education and training in India. There can be no doubt that the capacity of the Indian mind and the will of the Indian can match any other. India's indigenous scientific advances in the nuclear, space, and super-computer technologies are remarkable and attest further to the scientific and engineering talent in the country. Indeed, India's scientific and technical establishments have many feats to boast about, including the recent successful launch of an orbiter to Mars at a per kilometer cost less than that of a one kilometer auto-rickshaw ride in Ahmadabad.

Despite all of its above accomplishments, India is yet to harness commercially its research and innovation capabilities for its own benefit. Despite being a significant contributor to the information sector, not a single Indian enterprise has come close to any of the new age technology giants in terms of capitalization and profits. What are those impediments that hold back the Indian in India in the sphere of applied research and its commercialization? Why it is that new product generation is low even at the low end where little technology is needed? Can those issues be redressed and if so how? These concerns form the main focus of this book. Some key factors are identified and examined in detail in the Indian context to find some possible actions for improvement.

The literature on developmental issues as they relate to India is already extensive. Not enough focus, however, has been given to applied research and its commercialization, and it is in this respect that this India and we Indians are indeed an enigma in most contexts, and scientific and industrial innovation is no exception to that. I recall the famous probability professor Eugene Dinkins of Cornell University asking me once in 1980 to name some top Indian probability researchers. I proudly rolled out many names, but with the sole exception of the internationally acclaimed leader in quantum probability, Professor K.R. Parthasarathy of the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, and Dynkin kept knocking each one as being outside India and not fitting his definition. I am sure my fate would have been the same had I tried some other field.

In any field of science or technology, and especially in their com-serialization, it is easy to name many Indians at the very top. But it is likely that a vast majority of them are outside India and are probably also citizens of another land. Flattering as their Indian origin may be to India, for India to solve its own unique challenges and to become fully developed, it is necessary to foster the emergence in India of a cadre of great innovators in science and technology endowed also with entrepreneurial capabilities.

Considerable positive change is happening in India today in the formation of science and technology based enterprises, but it is sporadic and not due to the evolution of any nationwide systematized ecology. But even there, most companies formed are mere copycats and not based on really new homegrown science or technology inventions. There is certainly a need to assess honestly the inhibitors of Indian innovation and their possible cures, and the need is urgent.

Although it is die desire and redacting legacy, nothing book bane Maims& scum as a weird leader in to at the teda solar With accessibility for non-technical audiences in mind, I have consciously striven to eschew my natural academic tone and provided the discussion at a reasonably popular level. But as someone apply noted, one can make many things clearer, but nothing clear. This is particularly true for the complexities associated with development and innovation. Specifically, this book is not aimed at academic Development Economists or other specialists and does not expound any theory. Yet, I have little doubt that an open minded academic in these areas will find in it some worthwhile hypotheses to pursue for research.

No author can claim to have the last word on the topics discussed, nor can one expect universal acceptance of one's assertions. If this book would kindle even a modest discussion towards the evolution of some sound policies to accelerate the engine of innovation by Indians in India for India, then I would feel that a small fraction of my debt to my homeland has been repaid. My goal is to reach as many young and aspiring Indians as well as Indian policy makers as possible and goad them into prioritizing commercializable innovation both at the individual and at the macro levels for the betterment of the nation.

I offer this book humbly and with deep-felt respect for all the scientists and engineers who have made and are making significant contributions in India despite everything. I salute them.

Although it is the desire of every scientist to make his or her writing an everlasting legacy, nothing would please me more than to see this book become irrelevant someday by India asserting itself in a large way as a world leader in the creation and commercialization of science and technology.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages