It is a necessity. India is not a country where one can say that "at least I tried" or "I have found 10000 ways of not making a bulb". Nope! The kind of stigma associated with defeat and the desperate necessity of success in everything that one does ensures that the only those who tread the beaten path are rewarded. The world is so ruthless for the one who makes his own way that sometimes I wonder if its worth at all. I am sure that this question nags many other people. And the most apparent solution is to go somewhere where such an attitude(that of doing something new and innovative) is praised. I think that this is the main reason for the exodus of talented people from India. They say that nowadays things are changing. With booming economy, there are a lot of opportunities. I ask is there any room for innovation anywhere? The answer is a simple no. For all the big corporates that exist in India, none really is involved in any form of innovation. The reason? Well pursuing innovation is a risky business. And in this land of the conventional, such a thing is totally taboo.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Thomas Edison was born in India. Would he have emigrated and become a great scientist or would he have remained here and become a trader in lanterns?(Oh, I am sure he would not have invented the bulb because that required 10,000 failures!)
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3 comments:
correct me if I'm getting you wrong, I think you're using the argument to defend the large scale emigration into the US.
Though I'm in no way against emigration, your argument is far from satisfactory. -With the "booming economy" we couldn't have been any more secure in terms of job,ever before, so if security was the issue, its never going to get any better. So if "Well pursuing innovation is a risky business" we're a lil bit comforted.
-The number of VC's currently in India are more than there ever were and probably more than there ever will be.
and I think the scenario is changing too, there are a number of startups (innovative startups) that are expected to do well. Give them some time and theyll do well.
Well the aim was not to defend the emigration, just to say that its inevitable and there is nothing in sight to suggest that it will reduce in the near future.
As far as the new VC's are concerned, I certainly hope their ventures succeed. My idea was that until big corporates take research and innovation seriously, we are not going to leave a big mark on the world.
Now the question arises, why big corporates? Well, they are the only species that can instil some professionalism in us. You see, we Indians are wonderful. But when it comes to packaging and delivering, we just fail. This is something that working with corporates will ensure. VC's, for all I know, would be concerned just with the balance sheet. So until one shows them a good enough RoR, they will invest and exit when the time is appropriate. I mean they are not here to encourage innovation or anything. They have purely financial reasons. The boom goes, so do the VC's.
correct. though im not convinced emigration is that "inevitable" !.
I can understand and relate to the idea of lack of professionalism though (I did SEN too) but thats the case everywhere. Research is a hazy term. The research we get to hear about it is what you have called the big corporate research, million dollar firms forming consortium and employing scientists to do research. Thats one kind. a kind which does not allow them to get into short term research like the ones done by small companies which I like to call as innovation. I think we should keep it in mind, that not only a big risk innovation is an innovation, a geek sitting in his/her lab trying to create something out of the ordinary, provided it has something new and exciting to offer to the industry and society is also innovation. So there is scope for this research in India too.
but I couldnt agree more, that this requires a certain degree of professionalism and a value system that is way different from what we have currently..
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