The other day, while interacting with students of a particular institution,the topic for Group Discussion (GD) was,”Is India an Innovating hub?” A majority of the discussion was about how we don’t recognize talent and hence innovation doesn’t happen. Some about the rote system of education, while a minuscule agreed but were unable to support their arguments.
It would be worthwhile to hear Prof Nirmalya Kumar of LSE talk on ‘India’s Invisible Innovation’ at London Business School. He talks of the kind of innovation happening across India, which the world (and we as Indians) are unaware of. I understand the NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) that companies sign and hence this cloak of secrecy. But we need to be aware and then we shall be Proud! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBX95Qb-Xoo)
The world stared in awe when we launched the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and numerous stories were doing rounds. Mr Basavaraj Handigund made a small video highlighting the wonderful facts of the mission succinctly. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unN4DzCGYsY OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INz6PgxRP70)
The number of Indians winning prizes/ competitions globally for innovation is outstanding. Google awarded Team Indus $1 mn in Landing category in Google Lunar Xprize to land a robot in Moon. A £10mn Competition by BAE was organised “How to Stay Longer in air without refueling”. Under team leader Satiskumar Anusuya, cracked the Euro jackpot by generating energy from the vibrations of ac wings and store electricity. Two groups of students from a Mumbai-based engineering college won the global aero design competition in US. 15 year Saurabh Singh wins NASA Whiz Kid competition. Students from Ghaziabad won the NASA Space Settlement Design Competition, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. NASA received over 994 entries from 3,007 students belonging to over 21 different countries for this competition.
India is Innovating. Each time your mom puts up a dish on the table there is some sort of innovation happening. Jugaad is a good word. It’s in our DNA and hence with minimal resource we maximize output and think of various options. India is Innovating . Proud to be an Indian .
Col Sengupta 
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