Technology led Innovations

It's amazing to see anything coming in from the stables of MIT. The TR50 from Technology Review is one of them. It's so sobering to see that amid this cacophony of opportunism and loud echoes someone is still maintaining an authority on technology and educating the world on what's in store. Thanks TR.

The latest addition being the TR50, a ranking of the most innovative companies in the world which have put technology into use around a business model. It's not technology for the sake of it, it's making money and changing lives... at the same time it's a technology advancement too not just a new wrapper.

The list spans five emerging industries, viz: Energy, Web, Material, Bio medicine and Computing. Together the concoction is what puts data into intelligence making human life better and environment sustainable. It's a healthy mix of private as well publically listed firms, as innovation happens in either way.

Here're the companies:

• Energy: A123 Systems (safer lithium- ion batteries); American Superconductor (superconductivity with 10x throughput); Amyris (yeast to form diesel from sugars); Coskata (ethanol from garbage using fermentation + high pressure); eSolar (reflecting solar energy to generate steam); First Solar (replacing silicon with cadmium telluride); GE (two way traffic on electric grid); Joule Biotechnologies (sun + CO2 + water = fuel); Nissan (full- electric car, 100 miles/ charge); Suntech (world's most economical crystalline- silicon cell); Synthetic Genomics (oil from strains of algae); Tesla Motors (electric sedan- 0-60 in 3.6 secs); 1366 Technologies (increasing light absorption on by solar cells).
• Web: Adobe (streaming flash on small devices); Akamai (internet content routing over cloud); Google (secure Chrome OS); Hulu (free streaming video on net with commercial spots); IBM (analytics on cloud); Obopay (secure mobile commerce); StreamBase (real tiem info collection from net); Twitter (setting the standards for real-time communication); Ushahidi (sharing crisis related data from anywhere); Yelp (review aggregator on local businesses); Zynga (online social games).
• Materials: Applied Materials (solar cells on 5.7 sq mt. glass sheets); DuPont (butanol from agriculture feedstocks); Novomer (biodegradable plastic); Prime View International (cheap and green displays); Serious Materials (energy effecient drywalls and construction material); Solyndra (cylindrical solar panels).
• Biomedicine: Alnylam (drugs that target RNA); AthenaHealth (healthcare records on cloud); BIND Biosciences (nanoparticles for cancer drug targetting); Complete Genomics (genome sequence for $5,000); Fate Therapeutics (re-programming for stem cells generation); Fluidigm (microfluid chips to study gene expression); GlaxoSmithKline (drugs expanding the life span); Illumina (sequence m/c for reading entire genome for $10 K); Medtronic (deep brain simulation); Nanosphere (more acute clinical diagnostics); Pacific Biosciences (genome sequencing in 15 min for $1000).
• Computing: Amazon.com (easy download and experience of e-books); Apple (strides in user- interface); HTC (work on Andriod OS and Nexus One); Infinera (photonic IC for 400 Gbps traffic); Intel (thermoelectric systems for cooling chips); iRobot (robots for messy households and warfields); Luxtera (cheap and fast silicon photonics); Plastic Logic (organic transistor based e-reader); Tilera (world's first 100-core chip).

All this gives us a sense of things to come. Genomes, solar energy, high-speed connectivity, biofuels, cheap computing and better health.

My favorite picks- eSolar and Ushahidi. Let me know yours?

The corridor talks indicate your org culture

I just over-heard a conversation where one manager inquired to his buddy, "hay, how's it going?" to which the other guy casually replied "surviving". In fact both of them just stepped out of a review session with the super boss. It happened in the corridor.

I have realized it time and again that what gets discussed during meetings is very much different from what people discuss over the water cooler or in corridors.

Where the culture is getting formed and more importantly where does it get reaffirmed? I doubt that it's in meetings.

Why then so much of impression on formal ways of communication while there's so much being said and heard informally. Organizations have largely failed to witness this, especially the large ones.

Making innovation a cultural phenomenon is an audacious task for most. Even great firms such as 3M and IBM have this happening in pockets. What's been intriguing me more these days is does senior management really influence culture or does is come laterally through peers? Because what's getting discussed in meetings never percolates down to the people at grassroots and what's brewing there is never tapped up to the ivory tower. This is a more serious issue in services industry as people can't work for long in firms which do not respect their individual creativity. And I believe creativity is latent in all of us, just need to be nurtured.

Let me talk about the IT industry. For most large players they have reached to a level of automation that resources have become commodities. They very famously call this models as- Factory Model. Factory does offer productivity benefits but surely kills employee morals and moreover leaves little room for innovation beyond trivial improvements. The whole purpose is to abstract the work to a level where it can be done by almost anybody. Similar to Henry Ford's assembly line. One person leaves and other resumes the work. The Factory keeps humming. May be the only innovation required here is of incremental, process improvement types. But even is it happening? Most people work in this class.

On the other extreme are R&D units and Centres of Excellence (I couldn't ever understand the term well) where assumingly there's something hi-tech going on. Here again the investment is in making things- cheaper and faster, not necessarily better. The key success factors are- how quickly can projects be delivered, in how cheap investment and in how many repeatable ways. That's the game. Very little people here.

And the third set include people on bench who are incessantly looking for projects or looking outside, least interested in innovation. Another 10% belong to this category.

Now comes the question of the culture of innovation. Each of the three broad categories of people have different performance metrics which rarely connect up. When they meet they don't talk of innovation (I bet). As for the managers, they're busy about resource management and bagging the next deal.

Who's really thinking about innovation, outside that one slide presented in that one meeting once a quarter? Let me know if you find aberrations.

Want to know more? .. join people in corridor talks.... culture starts there.

A Kodak Moment

Remember our school days or even in colleges when for every picnic and outing we used to have.. there was a kodak role. In fact there we had rolls costing about 100 bucks for 34 snaps. Quite a costly affair!

Today the scenario has changed, significantly. We still take snaps, a plenty of them, but now there's no kodak role (or kodak's role).

What has happened?

Cheap digital cameras have taken over and then an on slaughter of mobile phones having reasonably good quality camera. Eastman Kodak from being a household name has gone bankrupt. Did anyone of use blink an eye? Not really. Imagine a 130 year old organization going into oblivion, one which created the whole industry, and no one's to witness its obituary.

That's innovation or as Schumperer said - Creative Destruction.

Frankly, why should a customer really be bothered when all her needs are being met- cheaper, faster, better. Further- greener! (if she ever bothered)

But Kodak is now reinvigorating itself. The new focus is on: Customer Digital Imaging, Film Production and Graphic Communications. Further to match to the pace, this laggard is now making its presence felt on the social media.

I was at the Printo station in Bangalore last weekend getting some digital prints done, and stumbled upon this neat device from Kodak. Here one could take direct prints from mobile phones via bluetooth, WiFi, wired, etc; USB pen drives (plug and play), digital cameras (again plug and play) and from a suite of other modes. What was amazing were the price points - a 4x6 for 7 bucks and passport size for 2. That's nano and fast.

Imagine the potential this device could have once installed at big malls, even airports, railway stations and almost all hot spots- just like our pervasive ATMs.

That's how Kodak which had a brand recall (if nothing else) can create its own moment (and momentum).

Do let me know if you come across something revitalizing a dying business.

How HBR shapes the way we think!

Any B School student or those dotting the corporate ladders will (mostly) swear by what the great HBR depicts. Even more than the technologists do about the MIT Technology Review or the likes. Although business of management is mostly intangible than the fact based technology one.

Self being both an engineer as well a management graduate (won't call myself a manager yet!), was puzzled by the impact HBR and its ideas have on our community. As a case in point, I have listed down the ideas published in last half a decade at The HBR List. Read at leisure and then identify pattern here (if you will).

HBR List- 2010

• What really motivates workers (understanding the power of progress)
• The technology that can revolutionize health care (remote monitoring using kiosks)
• What the financial sector should borrow (a military approach to keeping the economy safe)
• Getting the drugs we need (simple standards would spur innovation)
• A market solution for achieving green (financing that encourages building retrofits)
• A faster path from lab to market (removing the technology licensing obstacle)
• Hacking work (learning to love the rule breakers)
• Spotting bubbles on the rise (we have the tools to sound the alarm early)
• Creating more Hong Kongs (charter cities changing the rules of struggling economies)
• Independent diplomacy (not all nation-states shape international affairs)

HBR List- 2009

• Consumer safety for consumer credit
• Now's the time to invest in Africa
• Just because I am nice, don't assume I am dumb
• Forget Citibank- borrow from Bob
• Harnessing social pressures
• The rise of forensic economics
• A looming American diaspora
• Institutional memory goes digital
• The business of bio mimicry
• Expanding the solar cell market
• The IKEA effect: when labor leads to love
• Beware global cooling
• The dynamics of personal influence
• Western union world
• State capitalism makes a comeback
• Launching a better brain
• Stumbling to a longer life
• What you need to know about the semantic web
• How social networks network best
• Should you outsource your brain?
• A central nervous system for the earth

HBR List- 2008

• Here comes the P2P economy
• Task, not time: profile of the Gen Y job
• A doctor's Rx for CEO decision makers
• Understanding opposition
• The board meeting of the future
• How honest people cheat?
• Lies, damn lies, and lie detectors
• The cybercrime service economy
• Sick transit gloria
• The gamer disposition
• Making alternate reality the new business reality
• The metaverse: TV of the future?
• Giving avatars the emote control
• Happy metadate trails
• My blackbarry ate my accountability
• On the back of turtle, I see a city
• Socially responsible lobbying
• China's untapped second cities
• Islamic finance: the new global player
• What good are experts?

HBR Ideas- 2007

• The accidental influentials
• Entrepreneurial Japan
• Brand magic: Harry Potter marketing
• Algorithms in the attic
• The leaders from hope
• An emerging hotbed of user- centric innovations
• Living with continuous partial attention
• Borrowing from the PE playbook
• When to sleep on it
• Here comes XBLR
• Innovation and Growth: size matters
• Conflicted consumer
• What sells when father knows best
• Business in the nanocosm
• Act globally think locally
• Seeing is treating
• The best networks are really worknets
• Why US health care costs aren't too high
• In defence of 'ready- fire- aim'
• The folly of accountabilism

HBR Ideas- 2006

• The synthesizing leader (acting like information aggregator and synthesizers)
• Can I head me now? (self aware systems using body-area networks)
• China is a green lab (the hyper-growth offer newer green opportunities)
• Risk, uncertainty and doubt (there's a increasing loss of sense of clarity)
• Battle of the networks (the era of network to network competition)
• Science in the wild (data driven foray into uncharted markets)
• A homestead act of 21 century (early investment into people replacing welfare state)
• Customers demand their slice of IP (rewarding outsiders for their great ideas)
• A cartel of oil customers (organization of petroleum importing countries)
• Seeing the 'health' in health care costs (increase in health care investment)
• Peer-too-peer leadership development (rise of informal training methods)
• Unstick your customers (retail stores making info easily available like on sites)
• Follow the leader (leader's identity becomes org's identity, so be careful)
• Wake up and smell the performance gap (wide gap b/w national and firm's performance)
• The avatar as customer (profile and sell in both virtual and real world)
• Befriending the private label (rise of private labels, beyond lower price)
• A critical mass for the long term (companies attempting to change the market status)
• The costly secret of China sourcing (China's is not all that attractive after all, so be open)
• The brain as boondoggle (reading people will still be behavioral not neural)
• Why they call it work? (make work meaningful)

Just observe as to how many instances the words- Customer and China appear. To me this looks like the two end of economics- Demand and Supply.

I leave you with this list to figure out how much of these ideas really impact your life. As for me, they did (but not profoundly).

Finding the Next Right Answer

Few days back one of the my students smsed me a very interesting question- Sir, can you define Innovation in the shortest possible way?

Hence came the answer- Innovation is the spirit of finding the next right answer.

With this improvised answer, an epiphany struck me. That if it's about finding the next right answer, humans are already creative beings. Look at our history and you would find a series of brilliant innovations dotting the time line. Especially, what has happened in the last 400 years has been amazing.

For instance look at the most sighted innovation- the wheel. From the stone carver wheel to the latest tweel from Michelin, we have come a long long way. We humans never got satisfied with that one right answer. We kept our inquisitive and experimentative self up to the task and bingo--- we have the next right answer.

Remember, the next answer might not necessarily be the right answer. That's the necessary failure that one needs to absorb while attempting something new.

So the bigger question is- if humans by very nature are creative, why only a few of us attempt innovation while others remain bi standers?

In my view, the difference is- Being Fearless, Being Restless and Being Lucky! Let me explain.

Real innovators needs to stretch their neck out and take chances (remember Galileo); they need to rest less (remember Edison); and lucky (remember Bill Gates)! Luck comes from being at the right place at the right time with the requisite eye to spot the opportunity. Else it may elude you. Fearlessness is about taking those half-chances and restlessness is to keep walking in the wake of abject loss.

And hence though all of us possess the spirit, only a few exercise it.

Ladder versus Valley

Last week-end I escaped to Yelagiri Hills, a place about 150 kms away from Bangalore. While driving to this beautiful exile a thought just passed my mind. It was to do with living!

One could live life (most part of it) in two distinct ways- Ladder (or stair case) or Valley (ups and downs, twists and turns).

Life being a journey, we all know that and it's important to lead one nicely. Knowing that 90% of what happens to us can be controlled (the 90-10 rule), we can all choose to live a certain way. Let me clarify.

Ladder has definitive rungs one needs to climb. Anyone who had attempted climbing one, knows that the objective is to reach to the top, not really about enjoying the journey. You puff, climb systematically and eventually make it to the top. Many do the same with their education, career, one rung at a time.

The other approach is that of a valley. The one I was driving the other day. Full of its own thrill and dangers, twists and turns, overtakes and passes... and ups and downs. Frankly I enjoyed the valley more than the destination. It was not all that smooth and predictable drive, as I didn't know what's there beyond the immediate turn. But it was fun, diving at night!

One could choose to live life or lead a career either way. The ladder approach or the valley approach. The former is predictable with definitive steps, while the latter is hazy and risky. In any case you reach to the top, though the journey varies widely.

I do and would always want to do the latter- the valley approach. This brings in mind a very beautiful saying my uncle had- the joy of life is not at the end of the turn, but is along the way!

I hope that you were happy while reading this post than now towards the climax!!

If we only had some dustbins and discipline

This is a sight I had at Old Goa. A neatly kept set of dustbins meant for garbage segregation. Frankly I never expected it to be spotted in Goa, of all the places. Didn't see it in major cities I have been to or even inside the premises of large corporate in India.

What does it take?

Investment?

Discipline?

In fact a little bit of former and a lot of latter.

Here the four compartments are- Plastic Bottles, Tetra Pack, Plastic Bags and Paper & Cardboard.

As you see here, of the four, three are the most popular and worst impacting Innovations of mankind from the last century. Worst of them being- Tetra pack. Made of paper, plastic and metal, it's nearly impossible to segregate it and hence recycle. And even recycling doesn't really solve the problem as it consumes a huge power.

So what's the solution?

In short term- we (public and private) need to install dustbins across cities and communities. (I often walk miles before I find a dustbin in main city Bangalore if I am at all lucky, else end up dumping over a pile). And I am sure your experience might not to too different either. Actually adding on to a pile lowers our guilt!

In the long term- there has to be a enormous tax on plastic material. Here's an instance. I saw this sign board at Total Mall where they were charging Rs. 1 for each plastic carry bag that you consume. Interesting knowing that mostly people carry enormous, multiple bags from shopping!

Also at almost all Nandini Milk Parlors across Bangalore, the vendor charges 50 paisa for the polythene that you ask for.

That's a positive nudge to not to consume plastic.

The way we have stance against using nuclear material and resorting to CFC and other harmful chemicals, we just need determination to curb the menace of plastic and other disastrous materials.

Often people argue that if we didn't have plastic, we would have finished consuming all the trees. To this I tend to disagree. Because if not plastic, I am sure that the amount of scientific prowess that we possess we would have invented something more nature friendly and sustainable. And further our temptation of use and throw has really emerged from plastic.

So the next time you see such nice cases on curbing the desire of using plastic and the likes, do write back.

The Journey of an Idea

was the title of the talk I gave at the TEDx BITS Goa. It was at the TEDx University which are small talks meant for the purpose of inspiring ideas. Here the ideas was to share the learnings I have had/ didn't have while enabling and teaching innovation.

Also here to see the snap of all the speakers and the organizing team for the TEDx. The auditormium was grand and so were the arrangement. The BITS Goa campus has pull through a great feat here.

Notes from TEDx BITS Goa

Last week I was at the TEDx hosted at BITS Pilani Campus Goa. I was the speaker for the TEDx University which are brief talks meant to inspire new thoughts. My talk was on the topic- Journey of an Idea. It’s an amateurish footage, as the official videos will be out sometime this week.

To access the list of all speakers, click here. Here're a pick of some of the most impressive talks. Read at leisure.

Prof. Arvind Gupta
Prof. Gupta demonstrated his collection of simple toys made from commonly available stuff and even garbage. He offered that how elementary education all the way to college studies can be made much more understandable with these toys and stories which he has dedicated his life for over last three decades. He opines that Science is not about Hardware, it’s about having a critical point of view and with it examining the world around us.

Himanshu Parikh
Having won the United Nations World Habitat Award for Urban Development, his Slum Networking has touched over half a million rural Indians. In a candid talk, Himanshu impressed upon proper Water and Sanitation to be the greatest panacea for transforming slums. He urged to move beyond the poverty and aid syndrome and innovating for affordability utilizing community wealth. He’s happy doing what an Engineer must do!

Chris Csikszentmihalyi
Director of the Computing Culture Group at the MIT Media Lab, Chris opined that All Technology is Politics. He dedicates his research to making what should be made but isn’t made. He presented videos on stuff made at the labs which inverts the role, thereby addressing a ignored group. He also works on rebinding the personal with political and bringing the two dimensions to the forefront for every tech innovation.

Dr. Vijay Chandru
With his talk titled- Explore More Experiment Less, Dr. Chandru impressed upon adoption of Computed Simulation to performing drug discovering and trials. Hinting on the Moore’s Law of Human Genome Research, he advocated the need of powerful algorithms for pattern identification and modeling. This would results into such science available to common people as well save animals while performing the trials.

Prahlad Kakkar
Regarded by many as the most influencing person in the Indian advertisement industry, Prahlad spoke about the pursuit of perfection and how achieving perfection is a sure death. Thought his art of storytelling (he’s a Dream Merchant after all), he brought home the point that perfection is always relative, and one must incessantly try achieving it, not to be complicacy at any stage of life or career.

Bernett Orlando
Beating every one else in age and sheer skills, this 17 time National Champ- Bernett give live demonstration of solving Rubik’s Puzzle in a record time. He did it in a robot-like speed. He even had two solved blind-folded. Having asked about his belief- he was quick to arrive at Passion and Discipline being more important than Talent. Being inspired by his father, he affirmed that hard-work has little substitute. He surely had a gala standing ovation.

Yin and Yang of Creativity Management

Often there had been a debate on can Creativity and Management co-exist in an office space. Could somebody have a Factory Environment focused on strong-headed delivery yet explore creative ways of doing it. Here I am not talking of Incremental Improvements. Am referring to some radical changes.

I wrote sometime back that for such to happen one needs to hone a Studio.
Here again one needs to bring about some sanity. So allow me:

As I understand, Management is about the Art and Science of Decision Making. Decisions are made allowing order to emerge out of chaos. One calls the shots to contain ambiguity and bring about a sense of certainty. Hence good manager are those who can take a decision early in the game. This is good for others in the team as uncertainty does create a lot of discomfort.

Now talking about Creativity. It's again an Art and Science to Deffer Decision Making. Here the intent is not to contain ambiguity or bring an order, but is to allow chaos, deliberately.

For instance most of management is about connecting a question to an answer, quickly. This comes from conventional wisdom, best practices and looking at the rear-view mirror.

While this is good, but it seldom allows discoveries to happen and hence newness is lost.

On the other hand, Creativity is about allowing a million flowers to blossom to start with and then very carefully pruning the bouquet.

Aren't they conflicting? Doesn't one limits another?

To me the answer we NO.

They do co-exist.

During the fuzzy front-end of an innovation process, one needs to allow ambiguity because it's an imperative to find out the next right answer. While during the later phase one needs strong headed execution. This is give the possible answers a definitive shape.

Remember ~ In innovation, improvement follows improvisation. You need to Act first and then Correct.

That's why I call this as Yin and Yang of Creativity Management. Question is: are schools of today, especially B Schools enabling managers to cope with this uncertainty? Do we teach them the best ways of deferring judgement?

I do.

Freedom begins with Free!

Last week I was at Chennai visiting one of the Conferences hosted by FICCI on Industry- Academia Collaboration. Through the day I was surrounded by some really smart people in the business of business and business of academia (if I may say so). There were a series of Panel Discussions and talks on the perennial topic of how the two can collaborate towards economic and social development (more format than latter)!

It was not that what people spoke was earth shattering or some real insight came through the day long session, it was more to get related minds to think on something serious. I too had my two cents to add. But this post is not about what happened during the event. It's to do with what happened after it. So here the bliss:

I along with one of my students- Karthik went to the famous Marina Beach. Beaches have always intrigued me. I have seen some of the most dirty sea sides of Mumbai and the other extremes at Langkawi. Like all other beaches I have been to, this too was full of people relaxed and enjoying what's umpteen and free.

We sat there for an hour reflecting on the days I used to be a teacher at his institute. His and my ambitions and life in general. There were carefree people all around us, few playing with the mighty elements- air and water; and yet other giving the other element (earth) shape of their dreams.

In all it was a day of extreme contrast. There was this serious discussion on Education, et al and then a evening that made is looks so simple and often humble.

Three Turing Award Winners Talking at ACM India

It was one of the finest days in the Indian Computer Industry when three of the most celebrated Turing Award winners spoke at the ACM India Event this Thursday.

Being considered as Nobel Prize in the domain of Computer Technology, Turing Award is awarded to individuals making significant and lasting contribution to the field.

The three distinguished, invited speakers at the conference were- Prof. Barbara Liskov (MIT), Prof. Raj Reddy (CMU), and Sir Tony Hoare (Microsoft Research) who won their Turing Awards in the years- 2008, 1994 and 1980, respectively. Without making the post too technical, I would want to share the human side of each of the talks and see some inspiration through.

It started with Prof. Barbara Liskov who is known for her work in Data Abstraction making software easy to construct, modify and maintain. She spoke about one morning when she was driving to her office that she was stuck with the idea of abstraction. She finds the greatest complement to her research activities when somebody wrote- why is she getting this (Turing)award for such a simple (and old) concept! So fundamental was her contribution to the discipline.

The second talk came from Prof. Raj Reddy, the only India to have awarded with the Turing Award. He pioneers work in Human Computer Interface and Artificial Intelligence. He spoke about the deficiencies human beings possess around- making Errors, Forgetting, being Impatient, and always Lazy. His vision is of computers which are Self Improving, have Intelligent Help, Forgiving Interface, and Intelligent Agents. As he says, the new system will have SILKy Interface based on Speech, Image, Language and Knowledge.

Arguable the most humble and eldest member in the conference, Sir Tony Hoare got his award for the work on Program Correctness. Being a student of both philosophy and mathematics he encouraged the youngsters (every one falls under this category here) to be driven by Scientific Curiosity. Like any other science, he suggested that the evolution of Computer domain is an interplay between Theory, Tools and Practice.

Totally mesmerized by the humility of thee speakers than the sheer knowledge. Hats off!

Research Based Growth

Not many would rate Microsoft to be the most inventive companies across the world today. Much to the new comers such as Google and Twitter capturing youngster's imagination as well much to the revival of old timers like Apple. But right from the way a common person computes to pretty much the power centres of large firms, Microsoft has itched a place.

Am glad to have heard Dr. Rick Rashid the head of Microsoft Research at the ongoing ACM India Event in Bangalore. Before I begin talking about what he spoke and what influenced my about MSR, let me take you through a very interesting study published recently by the BusinessWeek.

This is one of a kind of study conducted on the quality of patents lifled as against the norm that looks at quantity. As the list here reflects, IBM which has been ruling the roost for over 16 years now has been humbled by Microsoft when it comes to realizing the worth of all this investment.

Ocean Tomo, the analyst firm did this study and rated the patents based on filing trends, litigation rates, and how many times each was cited by other applicants or in scientific and technical journals.

This is a clear win for Microsoft Research which is based on exploring the real frontier of innovation, even beyond Microsoft.

Coming back to Rick's presentation. His talk was titled as- The Role of Basic Research in Industry and Society. Something apt witnessing the endemic research activities happening in India. He started with depicting the Mission of Microsoft Research- Expanding the State of Art in research areas; Rapidly Transferring Innovative Technologies to Products; and Ensure that Microsoft Products has a Future!

Simple yet profound. Has a balance of present and future- exploration and exploitation- research which is Fundamental as well Applied.

He stated that since inception MS Research has been modeled around any large University System characterized by a Flat Structure as well Critical Mass Groups. Open Research remains the tone which is depicted by aggressive publication (4000 peer reviewed) activities as well a large number of collaborative projects undertaken with academia.

Observing Basic Research as a 'Bet on the Future', Rick states that its value to an organization comes from it's ability to Solve Problems; Generate new IP and New Product Technologies; as well in giving Early Warning Systems. A few areas where MS Research has largely contributed to MS' product lines include- Windows Media, XBox, E Commerce, SQL & Windows Server and in Windows Development Process.

He impressed upon investment in Basic Research being the single biggest strength a country, a society and a company has in wake of drastic change.

Are Indian MNCs listening to his call for investment? I believe so.

Minds on the Margin are not Marginal Minds!

...were the words written on the introduction slide of Prof. Anil Gupta's presentation.

If you have heard this name now for the first time, it warrants a quick introduction. Padma Shri Prof. Anil Gupta is a faculty at the prestigious IIM Ahmadabad. But he is more known as the man behind the grassroots level innovation drive in India and the founder of National Innovation Foundation, the Honey Bee Network and SRISTI. His way of identifying and nurturing innovations at the grassroots level is as unique as simple. He just walks for days together and has been doing so for the past 12 years!

With a repository over 124,ooo ideas, inventions and examples, Honey Bee Network is one of the largest such repository in the world.

Another such useful network is Techpedia, an active directory and repository of Final Year Engg Projects. There are over 104,000 projects submitted by over 300,00 students across 500 colleges.

Prof. Gupta recently spoke at the WiCamp hosted at IIT Kharagpur campus. Here's an excerpt of his talk.

He opined that for students in general and entrepreneurs in particular, it's very important to engage with society in a meaningful way. Just looking around and you will see a suite of problems waiting to be solved. For instance have you ever wondered that in a mixer-grinder the power delivered remains the same even though the requirement reduces as the material becomes finer. So here are a few kids from the IIT campus proposing a solution which will sense the sound produced and accordingly throttle the power delivered.. That's elegant!

He also challenged the commonly held assumption that big ideas come from big institutions. To substantiate- he hinted at a Women's Polytechnic in Latur where a few students developed a Black Box for Vehicles. An idea waiting to be conceived, but did at an unlikely place. The issue remains to identify such bright inventions and people; protect their IP and finally commercializing those.

He had zillions of such ideas, inventions and knowledge assets developed/ identified right at the grassroots level using raw ingenuity.

Prof. encouraged students to have an irreverent mindset and striking a healthy skepticism to established theories and what's written in the books. Remembers ~ books often tell you one right answer, but there are many awaiting discovery!

The teacher argued that these ideas need to be scouted and here we need a network of inventors, entrepreneurs and enterprise to realise the real worth. This calls for a Distributed Model which is more sustainable and results in inclusive growth. The Supply Chains have to be transformed and inventors need to work closely with entrepreneurs.

It was a cerebral treat to have met and heard Prof. Gupta. Do look forward to be a part of his mission. Amen!

WiCamp- IIT Kharagpur

With over 185 campers and some brilliant topics, the first WiCamp of the year 2010 and the first ever at IIT Kharagpur campus was an intellectual feast. Just to give you a sense of topics, how about- Rural Innovations; Remote Sensing; eWaste Management; Green Buildings; Green Products; Solid Oxide Fuel Cells; Managing Intellectual Property in India; Innovation at Apeejay Group; Agriculture Innovations; Physics, Information and Innovation; Green Buildings; and Visual Engineering; to name a few.
Apart from the students and faculty members coming in from various departments of IIT Kharagpur, there were a host of fans from corporate, start ups, nearby colleges, government bodies and pretty much from all runs of life.
Further, through a JAM session, the team mustered over 110 ideas in a matter of 20 minutes. Now that’s called the wisdom of crowd.
Here’s the event highlight. So read, learn and see if you could implement a few of these ideas and good practices.

• Prof.Anil Gupta on Rural Innovation and Collaboration: The WiCamp got its true spirit from the brilliant talk by Padma Shri Prof. Anil Gupta, the Executive Vice Chair of National Innovation Foundation and Coordinator of Honey Bee Network and SRISTI. He started his talk describing the Techpedia network where over 104,000 projects by 300,000 students have been shared for the purpose of connecting common problems to possible solutions. Further with a host of examples of rural innovations from India, he impressed upon the point of students engaging in small scale industries and applying their knowledge to bridge social divide. With a notion of inclusive innovation. Prof. Gupta opined that we need a network of inventors and entrepreneurs, those who can conceive great ideas and other who commercialize those. He urged campers to have an irreverent mindset and have a healthy debate on established theories.
• Deepanjan De on Green Energy: One of the several start ups from the campus of IIT Kharagpur, Ecozen Solutions is an impressive attempt in addressing the sustainability issue leveraging technology. One of the members, Deepanjan drew inferences from related domains and argued that how critical is to give students and faculty time off to have their hobby projects. One of the inventions he was involved was in formation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell where while addressing a mechanical problem, they ended up mixing cathode and electrolyte. An ingenuous solution for a waxing problem. This start up was a beneficiary of the Deferred Placement Program (DPP) at IIT Kharagpur where students are allowed to opt-out of placements to pursue their entrepreneurial flair and they can come back for regular placements post 2 years of graduation. A brilliant stoke.
• Managing Intellectual Properly in India: The only IIT having a Law School at the campus- The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law focuses on Intellectual Property and Technology Law. Here Dr. Raju from the department spoke about IP as a legal tool when firms set up to innovate. Depicting the history of Patenting and IPR Management, he highlighted the rather lack of awareness of the same in India. He also opined that rural innovations aren’t easily patentable owing to poor awareness levels and inadequate support. That’s where government and quasi- government bodies such as NIF plays a significant role in protecting and monetizing IP developed at the grassroots.
• Remote Sensing and Green Innovations: One of the other distinctive features of the IIT Kharagpur campus is the Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL). Dr. Behera depicted the evolution of Remote Sensing Technology in India and elsewhere and the high resolution images that one could obtain these days. This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs in areas such as Tele Education, Tele Medicine and Agriculture. With considerable amount of information available at a significantly lower carbon footprint, the Remote Sensing technologies have a huge Green advantage and India has an advantageous position owing to our highly advanced space program.
• Agri Innovations in India: With an important share of India GDP coming in from the agriculture sector and it being responsible for generating over half of India employment, innovation in agriculture remain dormant. Dr. Padma’s research entail creating and maintaining a repository of agri-innovations in India and exploiting the same for commercial means. Might sound simple, but the task involves a tremendous effort in cataloguing the innovations, studying the IP evolution and portfolio building. She opined that similar to medical students, the engineering students too must be compulsorily having two years of service at rural India at the beginning of their career.
• Innovation at Apeejay Group: Subhasish Saha, the CTO of Apeejay Group gave a very insightful talk on Innovation in Corporate Context. He observed that innovation is creativity along with a risk taking ability. It always starts with an individual and can take many shapes. Needn’t always be breakthrough of some kind, but mostly is incremental and people driven. He sighted the turn around story at Oxford Book Store, one of the several businesses of the firm where by leveraging the lowest common denominator- People Power, the unit achieved a 20% top-line growth and huge brand value.
• On Visual Engineering and Physics of Information: Two of most interesting presentations of the day came from Dr. Naresh Chandra from the Department of Physics and Meteorology and Kanav Hasija from the institute. Dr. Chandra drew a fantastic parallel between Classical and Quantum Physics and Information stating the deep linkage. Drawing on the principles of information propagation and notation, he took audience to a different plane altogether. And the final talk was by Kanav who spoke about Visual Engineering as a way of managing machines in our lives and hearts by leveraging Convertible Technologies.

The upcoming WiCamp is at BITS Goa Campus, visit WiCampBITSGoa.