Three vital ingredients for path-breaking innovation – The Financial Express

Nisha Holla & Taslimarif Saiyed

Deep science innovation is the art of drawing fundamental scientific breakthroughs up the value chain into useful products and processes. The most successful innovations are the ones that quietly integrate into the very fabric of our daily lives. Prime examples are cell phones, cars, antibiotics, pacemakers and electricity; all of which have irreversibly transformed lives. So much so that one day, a generation wakes up and cannot imagine life was any other way.

Countries around the world have built extensive institutional machinery to harness the power of innovation in building and retaining socio-economic and political power. A leading example is the US, which soared after its scientists discovered how to weaponise nuclear energy and pioneer mass manufacturing. It remains a top economy today, fuelled by the world-class innovation of its universities and research laboratories. On the other hand, economies impoverished at the end of the Second World War, such as Japan and Germany, also bounced back quickly by focusing on innovation-driven growth in high-velocity domains like automobile manufacturing and energy. China’s growth accelerated when it converged on capturing the semiconductor fabrication market in the 1980s, and it now dominates quantum computing, among other deep innovation verticals.

India’s strengths in science and technology are renowned, as is our tenacity in scientific development, exemplified by the bold progress of our space and nuclear energy programmes. However, as a nation, we are progressing beyond distinction in individual programmes and towards collective excellence in innovation that reflects our bold economic vision. We need a nationwide mandate and structure to fuel sustained innovation efforts.

Several departments under the ministry of science and technology – biotechnology, for instance – have forged strong foundations to foster early-stage innovation. The NITI Aayog is laying out comprehensive policy initiatives in exponential technologies like artificial intelligence. There is the concept of a National Research Foundation to consolidate research efforts. A picture is starting to emerge from the jigsaw puzzle.

The next step is to establish a seamless value chain for idea-to-market technology development, much like the US and China have. Three ingredients are paramount – a framework that facilitates generation and curation of ideas, deep-tech investment strategies, and a bold vision with a clear view of how to realise growth in every focus sector.

Continuous generation and curation of ideas

A free and continuous flow of ideas is the cornerstone of any innovative society. A holistic sector-agnostic framework to support idea-generation entails the following:

Deep-tech investment strategies

Deep science innovation often constitutes a substantial amount of initial research, protracted testing and validation cycles, and an extensive generation of intellectual property (IP) that contributes to the embedded value of the technology. They have long-drawn runways, often requiring 10-15 years to actualise real returns. For this, we need patient capital from both private and government stakeholders.

Essential points here are:

Long-term vision

India has already set an ambitious goal of $5-trillion GDP by 2025, and $10 trillion by 2030. Every growing nation needs an ambitious goal, so the interests of all the stakeholders are aligned. We then break this goal down backwards to understand what it means for timelines, implementation and achievability.

Specifically, we need to:

Since economic liberalisation, India has slowly but steadily metamorphosed into an ambitious tribe on track to becoming a superpower. There is an infectious spirit of innovation in the air. To harness every bit of this spirit, we must recognise that it takes a long time to see the results of the investment of time and money in innovation; we cannot afford to waste any of it. By establishing frameworks around these three vital ingredients and implementing them systematically, we have a shot at assembling an innovation powerhouse that can drive India’s growth for decades. We must get this right.

Holla is technology fellow, and Saiyed is CEO & director, C-CAMP (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms)

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