Sridhar Vembu, the billionaire Founder of Zoho, has sparked widespread debate with a critique of India’s innovation ecosystem. In a recent post on X, Vembu outlined a four-step framework for evaluating the nation’s progress in process, product, technology, and scientific innovation.
Process innovation, India a strong performer
Vembu awarded Indian industries a commendable 70% for process innovation. He highlighted sectors such as airlines, hospitals, retail, and financial services, which have demonstrated efficiency.
Product innovation: Room for improvement
When it comes to product innovation, Vembu gave India 35%, describing it as a barely passing grade. While initiatives like UPI showcase India’s potential, he stressed the need for more visionary thinkers who can create groundbreaking products.
Technology innovation: A missed opportunity
Vembu refrained from assigning a score to technology innovation, citing a significant brain drain of India’s tech talent to foreign markets. He argued that without ambitious domestic projects and better nurturing of talent, India risks losing its technological potential to other countries.
Scientific breakthroughs: A long way to go
Vembu stated, “We haven’t even appeared for the exam.” He highlighted the absence of significant breakthroughs, and the urgent need "to have a strong pool of young scientists and they have to be funded adequately."
His post further prompted discussions about India’s innovation challenges and opportunities.
One user commented, "#Innovation @ #India needs more policy changes like the US and Germany," and went on to add, "We have CSIR, ICAR & ICMR labs and a large group of public funded research institutes, which lack in understanding consumer pain points and fail to connect with Industry at large to do applied research."
"Public funded research institutes has to connect and work with Industry sectors as per their expertise across large corporates and MSMEs to understand the market needs and pain points to innovate sustainable technologies, products & services", he said.
