India as an Innovator

The Q from Bala Pillai:

Why has India *not* produced a single quantum invention in the last 1000 years when before that, it together with China was responsible for nearly *every* quantum invention?

He goes on to add that though it might seem like we haven't created products, there is probably more scope for innovation in services...

This is an extremely lengthy thread. Not reproducing the whole thread for your own good ;).

My rather elaborate thoughts on the topic:

Extremely interesting conversation and thoughts here! I shall bounce the ball into both sides of the ground. I agree with you when you say that innovation need not necessarily be only in the product industry but can also be in the services industry. For that matter, innovation can be purely managerial and/or strategically oriented. I guess it is very easy for the world to see product innovations while the rest are invisible to the non-discerning eye. Also, innovation in the services industry does not necessarily mean that we have to invest money, while product innovation calls for a huge investment. In the same breath, it certainly is because of strategical innovation that India is at the hub of the outsourcing industry and earning all the dollars that it does today.

Just the other day, I was having a related conversation with a colleague of mine. He came across an article by a top manager in Wipro about India’s knowledge creating abilities. In the author’s words "While feeling good about our abilities, potential and dreams is fine, we must have our feet on the ground by knowing the reality. Despite our current position in IT, the reality is that we merely work on platforms, operating systems and languages developed outside India. Compared to our potential and huge population, we have hardly created innovations and intellectual properties. The issue is that for more than a century we have lived with a mindset of being “receivers of knowledge” and not “creators of knowledge”.

On reading which, I certainly felt that were we knowledge creators, we’d simply be creating more products! I think we have to face the fact that we are not the complete knowledge creators. Perhaps because of the fact that we don’t have a) Risk-taking attitude b) Tons of disposable financial resources. We are undoubtedly cost-focused. We want to earn money in the short-term rather than invest it in a long-term assignment. Even the stock-market pundits take calculated risks but with a short-term focus.

Yes, after the VC boom, there have been so many companies (that is definitely knowledge creation), but then, there again, we don’t want to go overboard and develop products. Services are of course knowledge based, but then abstract and more or less transaction/project based. Maybe there’s a third category called knowledge modifiers? India, today, may belong to this category. Between knowledge creation or innovation and plain low-end services.

Food for thought: The IT services in India today, per se, is a result of innovation in services. Isn’t that considered a quantum leap?