Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 9 (IANS) Putting a premium on innovative ideas to spur inclusive growth, technology evangelist Sam Pitroda Thursday envisaged a Rs.1,000-crore corpus to nurture a culture of innovation in the country.
The prime minister’s advisor on public information infrastructure and innovation bounced the idea at the first-ever meeting of the newly-formed National Innovation Council, of which he is also the chairman.

Pitroda expected the government to pitch in with a 10-20 percent share in the creating the corpus, which, he hoped, would eventually grow to a size of Rs.5,000 crore with public buying its equities.

“This will not be a government fund. The government may contribute only seed capital to the tune of 10 to 20 percent. We are looking at a fund of size Rs.1,000 crore to begin with,” said Pitroda, answering queries as to how the council would fund innovative ideas.

Dwelling upon the need to evolve an innovative bent of mind to spur inclusive growth, he said: “We do not have to solve the problem of the rich. They have the money and the power to get it solved.”

“But, ironically, the best brains of the world are busy solving the problems of the rich, who do not have any problem to begin with,” observed Pitroda, adding the panel would encourage innovation to solve the problems of the poor and the masses.

“We need to create a new model of inclusive innovation for India which can provide solutions for the people at the bottom of the pyramid,” said Pitroda.

“India needs more frugal innovations that produces more frugal cost products and services that are affordable by people at low levels of income without compromising the safety, efficiency and utility of the products.”

To promote the culture of innovations, the council decided to work on the suggestion by one of its members, film maker Shekhar Kapoor, to host a television show to highlight the achievements of real-life innovators at grassroot level in the country.

The council has the mandate to promote the culture of innovation aimed at achieving inclusive growth. While encouraging all important sectors of the economy to innovate, it is expected to take special efforts to facilitate innovation by micro, small, and medium enterprises.

Among other things, it will focus on innovation in public services delivery and encourage multi-disciplinary and globally competitive approaches for innovation.

The 17-member panel includes Planning Commission members K. Kasturirangan and Arun Maira; the former Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), R.A. Mashelkar; the former President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies, Kiran Karnik; Executive Director of Tata Sons R. Gopalakrishnan; and Biocon Chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.