From Jugaad to Systematic Innovation: The Challenge for India

FROM JUGAAD TO SYSTEMATIC INNOVATION: THE CHALLENGE FOR INDIA by Rishikesh T. Krishnan, The Utpreraka Foundation, Bangalore, 2010 The book presents a detailed analysis of the market systemic weaknesses that are responsible for the lower ranking on various measures of innovation, despite India ranks number two in the world in terms of annual output of scientists and engineers in the country. Transforming individual creativity into innovation is a social and collective process. Organizations (particularly in the Indian context) and social networks constitute the arena where this process happens. Though government policies can provide incentives to overcome some of the barriers to the social process, others that are embedded in the social, cultural and political fabric are more difficult to overcome. The reason why India remains an uneven inventor "is that it has many such barriers. They are sticky and threaten to persist for years to come."