Ajit Balakrishnan's article, "What does it take to produce world-dominating companies?" (September 6), is right in making a strong case for the government's proactive intervention in promoting world-class entrepreneurship.
In the post-World War II era it was due to generous federal support that the US produced epoch-making inventions such as the IBM-360 (the US government bankrolled half the research and development expenses) and ARPANET.
The Bayh-Dole Act enacted by the US in 1980 paved the way for researchers at public universities to commercialise and patent their innovations - which is how Stanford University in California (in addition to MIT and Harvard University in Boston) gave birth to the Silicon Valley, the world's pre-eminent entrepreneurial hot spot that is home to iconic companies of the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple and eBay.
Back in India, our track record in such matters leaves a lot to be desired. Vijay Chandru, a member of the expert committee on innovation and entrepreneurship at NITI Aayog, laments that although the original aim of our universities and public sector undertakings was to innovate for the material benefit of society, they later got reduced to publishing articles in top journals and recruiting postgraduates at centres of excellence with little or no social accountability.
Japan and China, too, were industrially backward like India in the mid-20th century. But by dint of vision and economic policies, their governments identified the technologies of the future and sought to help build industries around them, wisely acquiring technical know-how from the US originators and leapfrogging over them with value additions and practices such as kaizen.
That is how the Sony transistor and the fuel-efficient, compact cars made by Toyota emerged. The telecom (the graduates of Chinese telecom universities went on to establish the likes of Huawei, ZTE) and electronics revolution of the 1980s subsequently saw China become the manufacturing capital of the world.
The next epoch-making invention is predicted to be a clean, convenient and renewable source of energy. Despite India having nature worshippers, we didn't capitalise on solar energy until some international organisation told us about its significance. Even now, it takes a Tesla to build a battery that offers 300 miles of mileage.
India, in its frantic drive to usher in an industrial revolution, is scrambling to grab a piece of the cake when the party is already over. But better late than never. Initiatives such as IMPRINT India and Start-up India still hold promise for facilitating innovation and should contribute to the rise of a vibrant economy.
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In the post-World War II era it was due to generous federal support that the US produced epoch-making inventions such as the IBM-360 (the US government bankrolled half the research and development expenses) and ARPANET.
The Bayh-Dole Act enacted by the US in 1980 paved the way for researchers at public universities to commercialise and patent their innovations - which is how Stanford University in California (in addition to MIT and Harvard University in Boston) gave birth to the Silicon Valley, the world's pre-eminent entrepreneurial hot spot that is home to iconic companies of the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple and eBay.
Back in India, our track record in such matters leaves a lot to be desired. Vijay Chandru, a member of the expert committee on innovation and entrepreneurship at NITI Aayog, laments that although the original aim of our universities and public sector undertakings was to innovate for the material benefit of society, they later got reduced to publishing articles in top journals and recruiting postgraduates at centres of excellence with little or no social accountability.
Japan and China, too, were industrially backward like India in the mid-20th century. But by dint of vision and economic policies, their governments identified the technologies of the future and sought to help build industries around them, wisely acquiring technical know-how from the US originators and leapfrogging over them with value additions and practices such as kaizen.
That is how the Sony transistor and the fuel-efficient, compact cars made by Toyota emerged. The telecom (the graduates of Chinese telecom universities went on to establish the likes of Huawei, ZTE) and electronics revolution of the 1980s subsequently saw China become the manufacturing capital of the world.
The next epoch-making invention is predicted to be a clean, convenient and renewable source of energy. Despite India having nature worshippers, we didn't capitalise on solar energy until some international organisation told us about its significance. Even now, it takes a Tesla to build a battery that offers 300 miles of mileage.
India, in its frantic drive to usher in an industrial revolution, is scrambling to grab a piece of the cake when the party is already over. But better late than never. Initiatives such as IMPRINT India and Start-up India still hold promise for facilitating innovation and should contribute to the rise of a vibrant economy.
C V Krishna Manoj Hyderabad
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number