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S&T INNOVATION in different manner

The Government of India has announced its new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013

(STI 2013), at the centenary session of the Indian Science Congress. What is striking about this new

policy is its explicit inclusion of innovation as a component. The two earlier policies confined

themselves to S and T; innovation did not find a place in those two declared policies of nation

building.

Why is the present one different? Because it is more democratic and more inclusive; it sends a signalto the S&T community in the private and public domain and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

which work with the aam admi . It states that STI should hitherto focus on faster, sustainable and

inclusive development of the people of India. And among the main aspirational elements of the STI

policy are increasing accessibility, availability and affordability of innovations, especially for

women, differently-abled and disadvantaged sections of society, and triggering ecosystem changes

in attitudes, mindset values and governance system of publicly funded institutions engaged in STI

activities to recognize, respect and reward performances which create wealth from S&T derived

knowledge.

What is innovation?

Stripped of all high-faluting jargon, what does it mean? In order to appreciate it, we need to go back

and understand what innovation is and how it benefits daily life. Science looks at the cause of things,

comes out with laws and principles, and thus generates knowledge in a concise and comprehensive

fashion.

Technology applies this knowledge, uses these laws and generates products, processes and leads to

inventions. An invention is a new creation that comes out of the application of science and

technology. An invention is usually the intellectual property of the individual or group which

thought about and brought about the novel product. It is thus patentable and produces wealth. Classic

examples are the light bulb (invented by Edison) or the telephone (invention of Bell).

An invention is usually the result of the dogged application of the underlying science and technology,

and more often than not is made by a professionally trained person or group. But innovation is

different. It builds on existing inventions and products; it tweaks them, coalesces them and

incrementally adds on personal ideas and applies them to find new ways to solve an existing everyday

problem.

It is thus, by its very nature, a cleverly assembledKadambam ,Khichri orRagamala . More often than

not it is made by the aam admi , who has found existing solution or product wanting, and goes aheadto find a solution. He may not have a PhD, M Tech, or MD- might not even have gone to college, yet

produces a product!

Steve Jobs of iPhone is the poster-boy of innovations, and of course even he needed the

laptop/palmtop computer invented by someone else for his product.

The classic example of an innovation is the missed call on the cell phone. A more elaborate example

is the domestic cooler that substitutes for an air conditioner in many homes. It uses existing invented

products- exhaust fan (turned inwards towards the room), submersible water pump, and tubes with

spaced holes through which water drips, and a box enclosing them.

The motorcycle- based ploughing machine, developed and patented by Mr. Mansukhbai Jagani is

another such innovation. In the social sector, Mohammed Yunuss Grameen Bank or the microfinance

scheme is an innovation. Professor Anil Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad has meticulously collected and

compiled such innovations, and runs the Honeybee Network which has almost 1000 innovations,

most of them created and used by rural folk. Please accesshttp://www.sristi.org/hbnew/and see what all innovative products ordinary people have developed, each just as useful, yet

specific for a set of given needs. Innovations come about when an ordinary person uses his mind to

come out with useful products, just as a technologist does. Dr Abdul Kalam says: Innovation opens

up new vistas of knowledge and new dimensions to our imagination to make everyday life more

meaningful and richer in depth and content. It is thanks to this evangelical spirit to push the

recognition of such creative innovations, and the support this has received from the National

Innovation Council that the government has realized the importance of innovation.

Innovation does not always have to involve nuts and bolts, machines and materials. It could make use

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of, and even affect the mind and attitudes of people. Grameen Bank or the Amul Dairy Project are two

outstanding examples. These projects use soft science- economics, sociology and behavioural

psychology for their success.

They turn the minds of people towards the common good. In other words, the major S&T component

here is as much soft science as hard science or technology. Along these lines, can we, in the

proposed STI policy take up the enormous task of providing public toilets and sanitary facilities across

the country, plus change the mindsets of people so that they do not dirty the environment?The health and welfare benefits are clear; if we do not provide then, the future consequences are

dreadful to even think of (see the article by Dean Spears in the March 14th issue of The Hindu, and his

article http://google/PFy43).

The technology is available, innovations are published, and the government commitment is there as

well. A country with where only 47% have toilets, and the disgusting habit of urinating in public by

even those who have toilets at home is unacceptable. What is needed here are innovative methods to

change the mindsets of people, and that needs not science but sociology, behavioral, psychology.

The task is enormous but I believe it can be done. Our parents and grandparents went Swadeshi,

discarded western clothes for Khadi, marched against salt tax, and let Harijans enter temples.

These were enormous shifts on mindsets, where the dreary desert sands of dead habit were won over

by the clear stream of reason. Can we use our new STI policy to do a similar thing, using methods of

sociology and psychology, and bring about a cleaner, safe and healthy India?

Innovation is a cleverly assembled Kadambam , Khichri or Ragamala