The Indian innovation system - new strengths, persistent challenges, and opportunities for the UK

Innovation has raced up the Indian Government's agenda in recent years, and the President has declared the next ten years the 'Decade of Innovation.' India's scientific output has doubled in the last decade, and research budgets have grown up to 25 per cent a year, but how does this translate into excellence, and which strengths and weaknesses remain hidden from these measures? In addition to new insights from our own research, we welcome leading speakers from across business, academic research and policy about future opportunities and challenges.

Speakers included: Mr Saurabh Srivastava - Member of the Indian National Innovation Council and Chairman, CA Technologies; Professor Gerard Parr - Chair in Telecommunications Engineering, University of Ulster; Mr Mark Sinclair- Head of Science and Innovation, India, Foreign Office Science and Innovation Network; Kirsten Bound and Ian Thornton - Co-authors of Our Frugal Future: lessons from India's Innovation System, Nesta.

What is frugal innovation and why could radical approaches underway in India have global implications for companies and public services alike?

An in-depth look at one area the research uncovered as a distinctive specialism of the Indian system, and a timely opportunity for the UK: frugal innovation.This isn't just about innovation 'on the cheap.' As new Yahoo CEO, Marissa Meyer recently pointed out, 'Creativity loves constraints.' Frugal innovation is distinctive in both means and ends - using a range of techniques to overcome constraints from purchasing power to raw materials - often leveraging resources in new ways to achieve radical cost reductions and scalability, both in products and services. While India has no monopoly on frugal innovation, examples from across business and civil society point to fertile conditions and approaches that even global multinationals are beginning to take seriously.

Speakers included: Dr Devi Shetty - Founder and Chairman Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals, Banglalore (by live video conference); Professor Jaideep Prabhu - Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Enterprise and Director of the Centre for India & Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge and author of Bestselling book, Jugaad Innovation; Dr Balram Bhargava - Professor of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Executive Director of the Stanford India Biodesign Centre.