Parsons' Transdesign blog interviewed Tim Brown at Davos to discuss design and innovation, especially as it relates to India.
Interview - Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO - WEF 2011 - Davos, Switzerland from aabhira aditya on Vimeo.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wrap-up Reports
INDIA Future of Change has wrap-up reports on its website for:
"How will India grow faster than China? What can government and business do to make it happen?"
"Design, Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Change Drivers for India's Inclusive Growth"
"How will India grow faster than China? What can government and business do to make it happen?"
"Design, Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Change Drivers for India's Inclusive Growth"
Davos 2011 and India and the Future of Change
For those of us Indians living outside the country, the 'India story' seems to have come of age over the last decade. Helped along by the famous 'BRIC' acronym, it is no longer a question of 'potential'. Across academia, corporate boardrooms and in the corridors of power the thinking has now moved on to execution, policy, profit and innovation. India, it is being said, has arrived.
And so it has. When I was growing up as a child in India during the eighties, in a country starved of heroes, we had to make do with Kapil Dev and his team for the most part. But an open economy has spawned a more dynamic society today with lots of good things to look up to. India's progress, I will say, has mirrored the rise of its very own cricket team - that is today - strong, respected, confident and no longer just dependent on its Kapil Devs to save the day!
While the technology community first realized 'the potential', it is the investments people that are driving the momentum. It is imperative for most global investors and businesses to have an India strategy or at least a view today - Global forums are replete with discussions of the immense opportunities in the country - investments that are also touted as being for greater good as they help raise the living standards of millions of people.
Thus when Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Raghuram Rajan chose instead to speak of the structural challenges facing the Indian economy at Davos, more so at a forum which was intended to discuss India's growth when compared to that of China's, it was a refreshing change in the tone. As an MBA student in London, I had gotten used to all the optimism that more often than not, tends to come from Indians themselves - Indians who pride their ability to 'jugaad' as a one stop approach to all our problems.
Not only was this Martin Wolf-led discussion panel vocal about some of the critical challenges facing the country, it was emphatic that there was not much time to get act our act together. Global investments would not wait while 'democracy' was used as an, again, one-stop excuse to justify the slow pace of important reforms.
The critical discussion continued the next day in the second conference; a Tim Brown-led discussion on design and innovation in India. On the panel, M.P Rajan gave some critical insights into the immense design talent on the ground in India, and lamented that, due to the lack of a coherent innovation ecosystem this talent and design capacity is not channelled optimally into innovation production
The two conferences were organised by the INDIA Future of Change consortium that is spearheading a multi-year campaign to raise awareness of India across the globe, especially in places where it can influence the general thinking of the international community. Interest in both the conferences was immense with Kirchner Museum, the venue, being filled to capacity. And it was not just critical thinking from the panel. The audience was involved too. J.N Godrej, who was in the audience for the innovation conference, was at one point asked to speak about Godrej's new refrigerator being designed for rural India.
On the lines of the upcoming Godrej refrigerator, both panels were emphatic that India's growth would eventually chart its own story much different from other emerging economies. As a nation, we have a unique society that will demand its own systems and products. In fact the panel pointed out that while initial momentum in areas such as design and manufacturing have been through replication of proven western offerings, a new trend of India innovating for its masses and then channelling 'frugal innovation' products to the rest of the world is now underway. And global brand leaders, no less than the likes of GE are already changing their organisations to be a part of this phenomenon.
During the week of the World Economic Forum, Davos is an immense concentration of the people who can influence decision making. It was not uncommon to walk down the main street in the evening and pass by CEO's of multi-billion dollar corporations. On my way to Davos from Zurich airport, I shared a car with a retired professor of urban planning from Beijing University in China. He was seventy years old, and this was the first time he had been invited to the forum. It struck me that while it was a great platform for leaders and academicians to network and share views, you had to bring something to the table yourself to be noticed and heard.
And Indian efforts such as those of the ‘India Future of Change’ and CII realized this. The main street in Davos was filled with advertisements for investing in India – a high profile campaign designed to impress and influence. The impact of course, is hard to measure, but I came away with a quiet sense of satisfaction that we were trying, hard.
****
Nilav Bose is an MBA student of London Business School. An Indian national, he has lived and worked abroad for many years. He is passionate about Indian issues and was a part of the ‘India Future of Change' consortium at Davos. The views expressed here are his own.
And so it has. When I was growing up as a child in India during the eighties, in a country starved of heroes, we had to make do with Kapil Dev and his team for the most part. But an open economy has spawned a more dynamic society today with lots of good things to look up to. India's progress, I will say, has mirrored the rise of its very own cricket team - that is today - strong, respected, confident and no longer just dependent on its Kapil Devs to save the day!
While the technology community first realized 'the potential', it is the investments people that are driving the momentum. It is imperative for most global investors and businesses to have an India strategy or at least a view today - Global forums are replete with discussions of the immense opportunities in the country - investments that are also touted as being for greater good as they help raise the living standards of millions of people.
Thus when Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Raghuram Rajan chose instead to speak of the structural challenges facing the Indian economy at Davos, more so at a forum which was intended to discuss India's growth when compared to that of China's, it was a refreshing change in the tone. As an MBA student in London, I had gotten used to all the optimism that more often than not, tends to come from Indians themselves - Indians who pride their ability to 'jugaad' as a one stop approach to all our problems.
Not only was this Martin Wolf-led discussion panel vocal about some of the critical challenges facing the country, it was emphatic that there was not much time to get act our act together. Global investments would not wait while 'democracy' was used as an, again, one-stop excuse to justify the slow pace of important reforms.
The critical discussion continued the next day in the second conference; a Tim Brown-led discussion on design and innovation in India. On the panel, M.P Rajan gave some critical insights into the immense design talent on the ground in India, and lamented that, due to the lack of a coherent innovation ecosystem this talent and design capacity is not channelled optimally into innovation production
The two conferences were organised by the INDIA Future of Change consortium that is spearheading a multi-year campaign to raise awareness of India across the globe, especially in places where it can influence the general thinking of the international community. Interest in both the conferences was immense with Kirchner Museum, the venue, being filled to capacity. And it was not just critical thinking from the panel. The audience was involved too. J.N Godrej, who was in the audience for the innovation conference, was at one point asked to speak about Godrej's new refrigerator being designed for rural India.
On the lines of the upcoming Godrej refrigerator, both panels were emphatic that India's growth would eventually chart its own story much different from other emerging economies. As a nation, we have a unique society that will demand its own systems and products. In fact the panel pointed out that while initial momentum in areas such as design and manufacturing have been through replication of proven western offerings, a new trend of India innovating for its masses and then channelling 'frugal innovation' products to the rest of the world is now underway. And global brand leaders, no less than the likes of GE are already changing their organisations to be a part of this phenomenon.
During the week of the World Economic Forum, Davos is an immense concentration of the people who can influence decision making. It was not uncommon to walk down the main street in the evening and pass by CEO's of multi-billion dollar corporations. On my way to Davos from Zurich airport, I shared a car with a retired professor of urban planning from Beijing University in China. He was seventy years old, and this was the first time he had been invited to the forum. It struck me that while it was a great platform for leaders and academicians to network and share views, you had to bring something to the table yourself to be noticed and heard.
And Indian efforts such as those of the ‘India Future of Change’ and CII realized this. The main street in Davos was filled with advertisements for investing in India – a high profile campaign designed to impress and influence. The impact of course, is hard to measure, but I came away with a quiet sense of satisfaction that we were trying, hard.
****
Nilav Bose is an MBA student of London Business School. An Indian national, he has lived and worked abroad for many years. He is passionate about Indian issues and was a part of the ‘India Future of Change' consortium at Davos. The views expressed here are his own.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Indian Public Diplomacy at Davos: Credibility as PD
INDIA Future of Change's PD Guru Paul Rockower has a blog on the USC Center on Public Diplomacy's blog on Indian Public Diplomacy at Davos:
As India begins to assert itself within the global power dynamic, India is having a vibrant discussion about public diplomacy and how to engage in channels of public diplomacy as a means to project its emergence. Recently, as the world’s powerful gathered in Davos, INDIA Future of Change held two unique public diplomacy events that focused on corporate diplomacy and nation-branding on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2011.
The overall INDIA Future of Change initiative is an exercise in nation branding and public diplomacy, promoting India through its culture, diversity and democracy, as well as through its innovation and entrepreneurship (Full Disclosure: I am currently working with INDIA Future of Change as their PD Guru). The events were part of the initiative’s work to create awareness amongst audiences worldwide about the emergent reality of India to move past the existing stereotypes of India.
On Thursday, January 27th, INDIA Future of Change hosted an all-star ensemble of business leaders, policy makers and academicians to discuss how India can surpass China in economic growth. Also central to this discussion were how Indian government and business can partner to make this outcome a reality. Joining moderator Martin Wolf of the Financial Times on the panel were a high-level cast of Indian government officials and international business leaders.
While the panel centered on how India can surpass China in economic growth, part in parcel to this discussion was a focus on corporate diplomacy and how the private sector can work with the Indian government to project the business realities of a new India and where it fits into the global marketplace. Elements of corporate diplomacy were also tied in to the discussions. However, this theme was somewhat different than traditional notions of corporate diplomacy as diplomatic corporate social responsibility; rather, the corporate diplomacy taking place was more analogous to Indian corporations engaging in nation-branding of India to project a new Indian business and social reality.
Meanwhile, the following day, INDIA Future of Change convened a second panel featuring experts from the fields of innovation and design, as well as business entrepreneurs. The design, innovation and entrepreneurship panel sought to create a dialogue among the global creative classes about India, and how the field of design can lead both to innovation and entrepreneurship, and how each field can communicate a new Indian brand. While delving into the intersection of design, innovation and entrepreneurship as a catalyst for India’s inclusive growth, this panel focused on how India’s culture, its culture of innovative creation and cultural diplomacy could lend itself to such synergies.
In the realm of public diplomacy, these events served as a platform for discussion about India, and created a multilevel dialogue between Indian government officials, international business leaders and members of the global creative class. The panels were globally telecast on Bloomberg TV; furthermore, for both panels, INDIA Future of Change reached out across social networks, soliciting questions for the panelists via Twitter and Facebook.
During a different conference, the “Public Diplomacy in the Information Age” Conference held in December 2010, Shahi Tharoor made the point that what was time to turn an “Incredible India” into a “Credible India.” Events such as the INDIA Future of Change panels in Davos are just such an endeavor to shape the dialogue about India and introduce a maturing India onto the world’s stage.
The two panel INDIA Future of Change discussions were an exercise in credibility. Akin to the Voice of America credo, “the news may be good or bad but we will bring you the truth” as a means to create credibility, the panels held frank and honest discussion about India’s strengths as well as its shortcomings. Such openness is ultimately a form of public diplomacy, as Indian government and business officials spoke of the deficiencies as well as strengths of an emerging India, and by doing so, created more credibility for the Brand India story.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Brand India at Davos
Bloomberg UTV's program "Logo," on PR and branding, recently did a segment on Brand India. India Future of Change's Project Director Amit Shahi is interviewed in the segment, and IFOC's work is featured. Segment begins at 4:15 in
Perspectives on INDIA Future of Change @ Davos
It was an unforgettable experience to be part of the INDIA Future of Change team during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. As the winner of the campus interaction contest in the University of Hamburg, I had the opportunity to attend two panel discussions at the Kirchner Museum Davos. During these events, I had the unique opportunity to connect with high profile business leaders, politicians and academia who all share a common interest: the future of India’s growth.
The first meeting was moderated by Martin Wolf, associate editor of Financial Times, and discussed which steps the Indian government and business should take to grow faster than China. The group of panelists consisted of a well-composed mix of renowned academia, business leaders and politicians from India and the United States. The panelists agreed on the fact that China should not be used as benchmark for economic growth, since the countries face a different phase of growth and deal with different natural constraints. It was remarkable to see that the majority was very positive about the growth possibilities of India, in particular when urban infrastructure and governance will be improved. However, Professor Rajan of the University of Chicago warned for the risks of growing too fast, by pointing on the rising macro economic issues in India such as inflation and an increasing current account deficit.
The second panel discussion was all about design, innovation and entrepreneurship as key drivers for India’s inclusive growth. Moderator Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, a leading design and innovation consultancy, managed to create a lively discussion between the multidisciplinary panelists and the audience. Although there exist several entrepreneurial success stories – such as Infosys Technologies that became a multi billion enterprise within a decade – most panelists agreed that Indian entrepreneurs do not get full return out of their capacities. The problem does not lie in the capacity of the entrepreneurs themselves, but in the entire ecosystem for new businesses to thrive. Mr. Shibulal, co-founder and COO of Infosys Technologies, mentioned that India has so far mainly focused on execution, and now is ready for the next step: innovation. Based on the reactions from the audience this process has been started already, as several remarkable innovative Indian consumer goods from the hightech engineering sector were discussed.
Besides these intriguing panel discussions we also had time to walk around Davos and enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery. During my stay, Davos turned out to be a happening city with various parallel involvements related to the World Economic Forum. At night, several themed private parties were organized – I was introduced to the Bollywood parties, which was a fantastic experience. In all, I am very grateful to the INDIA Future of Change team that they made it possible for me to experience all the above. The whole Davos experience was an exciting mix of inspiring talks, interesting encounters, lively discussions, and last but not least – a lot of fun!
Ernst Salet is an Erasmus Mundus scholar, currently studying in Bologna, Italy. He won the INDIA Future of Change Quiz Contest held at the University of Hamburg in Germany, the prize for which was attendance at the INDIA Future of Change panels in Davos.
The first meeting was moderated by Martin Wolf, associate editor of Financial Times, and discussed which steps the Indian government and business should take to grow faster than China. The group of panelists consisted of a well-composed mix of renowned academia, business leaders and politicians from India and the United States. The panelists agreed on the fact that China should not be used as benchmark for economic growth, since the countries face a different phase of growth and deal with different natural constraints. It was remarkable to see that the majority was very positive about the growth possibilities of India, in particular when urban infrastructure and governance will be improved. However, Professor Rajan of the University of Chicago warned for the risks of growing too fast, by pointing on the rising macro economic issues in India such as inflation and an increasing current account deficit.
The second panel discussion was all about design, innovation and entrepreneurship as key drivers for India’s inclusive growth. Moderator Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, a leading design and innovation consultancy, managed to create a lively discussion between the multidisciplinary panelists and the audience. Although there exist several entrepreneurial success stories – such as Infosys Technologies that became a multi billion enterprise within a decade – most panelists agreed that Indian entrepreneurs do not get full return out of their capacities. The problem does not lie in the capacity of the entrepreneurs themselves, but in the entire ecosystem for new businesses to thrive. Mr. Shibulal, co-founder and COO of Infosys Technologies, mentioned that India has so far mainly focused on execution, and now is ready for the next step: innovation. Based on the reactions from the audience this process has been started already, as several remarkable innovative Indian consumer goods from the hightech engineering sector were discussed.
Besides these intriguing panel discussions we also had time to walk around Davos and enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery. During my stay, Davos turned out to be a happening city with various parallel involvements related to the World Economic Forum. At night, several themed private parties were organized – I was introduced to the Bollywood parties, which was a fantastic experience. In all, I am very grateful to the INDIA Future of Change team that they made it possible for me to experience all the above. The whole Davos experience was an exciting mix of inspiring talks, interesting encounters, lively discussions, and last but not least – a lot of fun!
Ernst Salet is an Erasmus Mundus scholar, currently studying in Bologna, Italy. He won the INDIA Future of Change Quiz Contest held at the University of Hamburg in Germany, the prize for which was attendance at the INDIA Future of Change panels in Davos.
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Business-Standard on INDIA Future of Change's Davos panel 1
The Business-Standard has an article on INDIA Future of Change's Davos panel on "How will India grow faster than China." The event was part of the India Inclusive program at Davos:
Raghuram Rajan, honorary economic advisor to the Prime Minister, today said India should not follow the US “blindly” on environment.
“Environment protection is important, but the question is whether you can stretch it beyond a point. At this stage of its development, India needs factories as well,” he said at a session on ‘How will India grow faster than China?”
The comments of the Eric J Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business are important in the context of the controversy surrounding the environment ministry’s rigid stand on giving clearance to many industrial projects.
Referring to Rajan’s concerns on pushing the environment agenda too far, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said opinions like these are welcome as India is seeing the early stages of debate on sustainability issues. On one side are non-government organisations (NGOs) who think environment protection is a costless exercise, and on the other is the opinion whether India is being over-protective and pushing the environment agenda too far. “You can expect transparent policies after deliberations,” he said.
In this context, Ahluwalia talked about the use of technology and innovation which can go a long way in environment protection. Giving the example of Chotukool, a nano refrigerator developed by Godrej & Boyce for the rural markets, Ahluwalia said such frugal engineering is the way to go. Chotukool is compact, cheap and it does not use electric power. Responding to the constraints of reliable power in India’s villages, Godrej created an easy-to-use, energy-efficient, battery-operated refrigerator.
Essar Group Chief Executive Prashant Ruia did not refer to the environment ministry’s stand, but said while he sees a long runway for India’s manufacturing sector, India Inc’s accessibility to natural resources is a big concern. “You need domestic sources of raw material ad hence access to the country’s natural resources is a necessity,” Ruia said.
The discussions were moderated by Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times.
Responding to questions on the other key challenges that the Indian economy faces, Rajan said the fiscal deficit, mounting debt, quality of spending, archaic laws and inflation threatening to touch double digits were the danger signals. “We must take corrective action to ensure that the economic growth rate doesn’t slip back to the Hindu rate,” Rajan said at a session on “How will India grow faster than China?”
He agreed with Ahluwalia’s view that some corrective actions are required to avoid a situation where Brazil found itself in. “History is replete with examples of economies hitting a brick wall after sustained stupendous performance. Brazil’s economic growth, for example, touched 2 per cent after sustained double digit rates,” Ahluwalia had said.
Rajan said talent shortage — not necessarily at the very top — is another huge area of concern. “We’re running out of electricians and plumbers because our education system is not keeping pace,” he added.
On his part, Ahluwalia said these are important issues, but he was confident about India’s economic growth staying on course. While admitting that India has to get its act together on infrastructure, Ahluwalia said he expects half the investments in infrastructure projects to come from pubic-private partnerships in the next five years. The share last year was just 13 per cent.
On inflation, Ahluwalia said that is the “least of his worries” as he expects inflation to come down to 7 per cent by the year-end, a sharp decline from the double-digit levels last year due to unseasonal weather.
On his part, State Bank of India Chairman O P Bhatt said a comparison between India and China is not fair as the latter started its industrialisation drive at least 15 years before India’s. “China’s infrastructure is already 10 times bigger than us, and yet they are talking about investing at least two times our outlay,” he said.
Bhatt wondered whether India’s growth rate is sustainable at a time when the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer, and advocated quick action in areas such as agriculture as 40 per cent of the produce is still getting wasted.
He also talked about the need to increase the size of India’s banks so that they can take part in the growth story more meaningfully. “We need to be at least five times bigger than the existing size,” he said.
India's green obsession makes Rajan see red
Shyamal Majumdar / Davos January 28, 2011
Raghuram Rajan, honorary economic advisor to the Prime Minister, today said India should not follow the US “blindly” on environment.
“Environment protection is important, but the question is whether you can stretch it beyond a point. At this stage of its development, India needs factories as well,” he said at a session on ‘How will India grow faster than China?”
The comments of the Eric J Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business are important in the context of the controversy surrounding the environment ministry’s rigid stand on giving clearance to many industrial projects.
Referring to Rajan’s concerns on pushing the environment agenda too far, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said opinions like these are welcome as India is seeing the early stages of debate on sustainability issues. On one side are non-government organisations (NGOs) who think environment protection is a costless exercise, and on the other is the opinion whether India is being over-protective and pushing the environment agenda too far. “You can expect transparent policies after deliberations,” he said.
In this context, Ahluwalia talked about the use of technology and innovation which can go a long way in environment protection. Giving the example of Chotukool, a nano refrigerator developed by Godrej & Boyce for the rural markets, Ahluwalia said such frugal engineering is the way to go. Chotukool is compact, cheap and it does not use electric power. Responding to the constraints of reliable power in India’s villages, Godrej created an easy-to-use, energy-efficient, battery-operated refrigerator.
Essar Group Chief Executive Prashant Ruia did not refer to the environment ministry’s stand, but said while he sees a long runway for India’s manufacturing sector, India Inc’s accessibility to natural resources is a big concern. “You need domestic sources of raw material ad hence access to the country’s natural resources is a necessity,” Ruia said.
The discussions were moderated by Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times.
Responding to questions on the other key challenges that the Indian economy faces, Rajan said the fiscal deficit, mounting debt, quality of spending, archaic laws and inflation threatening to touch double digits were the danger signals. “We must take corrective action to ensure that the economic growth rate doesn’t slip back to the Hindu rate,” Rajan said at a session on “How will India grow faster than China?”
He agreed with Ahluwalia’s view that some corrective actions are required to avoid a situation where Brazil found itself in. “History is replete with examples of economies hitting a brick wall after sustained stupendous performance. Brazil’s economic growth, for example, touched 2 per cent after sustained double digit rates,” Ahluwalia had said.
Rajan said talent shortage — not necessarily at the very top — is another huge area of concern. “We’re running out of electricians and plumbers because our education system is not keeping pace,” he added.
On his part, Ahluwalia said these are important issues, but he was confident about India’s economic growth staying on course. While admitting that India has to get its act together on infrastructure, Ahluwalia said he expects half the investments in infrastructure projects to come from pubic-private partnerships in the next five years. The share last year was just 13 per cent.
On inflation, Ahluwalia said that is the “least of his worries” as he expects inflation to come down to 7 per cent by the year-end, a sharp decline from the double-digit levels last year due to unseasonal weather.
On his part, State Bank of India Chairman O P Bhatt said a comparison between India and China is not fair as the latter started its industrialisation drive at least 15 years before India’s. “China’s infrastructure is already 10 times bigger than us, and yet they are talking about investing at least two times our outlay,” he said.
Bhatt wondered whether India’s growth rate is sustainable at a time when the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer, and advocated quick action in areas such as agriculture as 40 per cent of the produce is still getting wasted.
He also talked about the need to increase the size of India’s banks so that they can take part in the growth story more meaningfully. “We need to be at least five times bigger than the existing size,” he said.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The short view from Davos - India and the future of change - Part 2 of 2.
After the resounding success of the “How will India pass China” panel, with attendance exceeding capacity, the organisers Amit Shahi and Sudhir JohnHoro from theIdeaworks were keeping their fingers crossed before the start of the next session the following day. There were several events going on that Friday afternoon in Davos.
However, the discussion on design, innovation and entrepreneurship in an emerging India, which featured panelists Paola Antonelli, Wilfried Aulbur, Bill Rusitzky, M P Ranjan, S D Shibulal and K R Shridhar, as moderated by Tim Brown, drew a very strong audience.
The topic on ‘Design, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Change Drivers for India’s Inclusive growth’ was a vibrant discussion on innovative design and ‘out of the box’ creativity to reduce the costs of India’s growth and frugal engineering making the benefits of this growth accessible to a wider swathe of its people.
Paola Antonelli started off by comparing India’s position as similar to that of Italy after World War II. India, she said, has a vibrant sense of life, living and a culinary culture and is well placed to utilize its talents to reduce the ecological costs of growth.
M P Ranjan spoke of the challenges faced by his design students in finding acceptance for their designs, a lacking ecosystem and among other things, creative initiatives from the Indian Institute of Craft and Design such as the use of bamboo in large scale fencing in Tripura.
Wilfried Aulbur cited Tata’s Nano car to make the point about India having the necessary innovation skills and capabilities. He believed however that an ecosystem encouraging constant and quality innovation was lacking.
K R Sridhar picked on this point as one of the reasons, along with the availability of capital, for him locating his company in Silicon Valley rather than in India. He also spoke later on about the need to develop rural connectivity and infrastructure to reduce migration to the cities, which he felt was, was unsustainable.
However, S D Shibulal countered with the view that the ecosystem was being built and of paramount importance at this stage was investment and access to relevant education.
Bill Rusitzky spoke of issues such as (lack of) intellectual property rights and piracy hampering innovation.
Towards the end of the session, J.N Godrej, who was in the audience was asked to speak about Godrej’s new refrigerator - Godrej is using innovative technology and materials to build a refrigerator tailored to meet the requirements of a rural population and run on limited infrastructure.
The discussions continued even after the session was over. Through two panels over two days at Davos, enlightened thoughts on India’s development had been aired and debated upon with Indians, expats and foreigners joining in with equal enthusiasm.
Nilav Bose is an MBA student of the London Business School. This blog represents his own views.
Photos available at INDIA Future of Change's Facebook site.
However, the discussion on design, innovation and entrepreneurship in an emerging India, which featured panelists Paola Antonelli, Wilfried Aulbur, Bill Rusitzky, M P Ranjan, S D Shibulal and K R Shridhar, as moderated by Tim Brown, drew a very strong audience.
The topic on ‘Design, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Change Drivers for India’s Inclusive growth’ was a vibrant discussion on innovative design and ‘out of the box’ creativity to reduce the costs of India’s growth and frugal engineering making the benefits of this growth accessible to a wider swathe of its people.
M P Ranjan spoke of the challenges faced by his design students in finding acceptance for their designs, a lacking ecosystem and among other things, creative initiatives from the Indian Institute of Craft and Design such as the use of bamboo in large scale fencing in Tripura.
Wilfried Aulbur cited Tata’s Nano car to make the point about India having the necessary innovation skills and capabilities. He believed however that an ecosystem encouraging constant and quality innovation was lacking.
K R Sridhar picked on this point as one of the reasons, along with the availability of capital, for him locating his company in Silicon Valley rather than in India. He also spoke later on about the need to develop rural connectivity and infrastructure to reduce migration to the cities, which he felt was, was unsustainable.
Bill Rusitzky spoke of issues such as (lack of) intellectual property rights and piracy hampering innovation.
Towards the end of the session, J.N Godrej, who was in the audience was asked to speak about Godrej’s new refrigerator - Godrej is using innovative technology and materials to build a refrigerator tailored to meet the requirements of a rural population and run on limited infrastructure.
The discussions continued even after the session was over. Through two panels over two days at Davos, enlightened thoughts on India’s development had been aired and debated upon with Indians, expats and foreigners joining in with equal enthusiasm.
Nilav Bose is an MBA student of the London Business School. This blog represents his own views.
Photos available at INDIA Future of Change's Facebook site.
Friday, January 28, 2011
The short view from Davos - India and the future of change - Part 1 of 2.
This afternoon (1/27), India Future of Change organised a panel discussion in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. The panel, moderated by Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, featured heavyweights from the Indian and international business community including Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dr. Raghuram Rajan, O. P. Bhatt, Doug McMillon, Beth Comstock and Prashant Ruia. It was attended by more than 100 eminent business personalities and academia from India and abroad.
The discussion revolved around the theme of 'How will India grow faster than China? - What can government and business do to make that happen?' was quickly broadened by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia to what the Indian government is and will be doing irrespective of the path taken by China. He spoke about some of the issues that currently occupy the thinking space of the Indian government and policy responses. Taking a cue from this start, O. P. Bhatt spoke in detail about the sustainability and quality of current Indian growth rates. Challenges, he said, exist in areas such as the relevance and focus of the current education system, the waste generated by growth, inflation, and the size of the Indian banking system. It was interesting to hear the head of India's largest and most important bank declare that Indian banks do not have the size or the critical mass for the economy to sustain 7-8% growth in perpetuity.
Dr. Raghuram Rajan was very focused in his comments— stating, he believed, that there is no comparison with China, and that the current perception of the India’s 'Hindu growth rate’ risks falling back to the 3% levels of the 1980s if structural changes in the fiscal system are not implemented in time. India, he stated is 'running out of time'.
Prashant Ruia spoke about the vibrancy and positive outlook of the Indian manufacturing sector. His views were unique as being the only panelist to have a direct interest and background in Indian manufacturing.
Doug McMillon spoke of the importance of India to Walmart, the venture with Bharti, some of the current initiatives such as talent hiring and training, and some of the obstacles faced by foreign retail due to current policies barring FDI in the sector.
As a business school student invited to attend the conference, it was heartening to see seasoned executioners from the frontlines cut through the hype that frequently surrounds the Indian growth story and to provide critical insights into issues affecting policy, business, execution and sustainability. We now move on to Day 2 and our next theme on innovation, design and entrepreneurship.
Nilav Bose is an MBA student of the London Business School. This blog represents his own views.
Photos available at INDIA Future of Change's Facebook site.
Photos available at INDIA Future of Change's Facebook site.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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