Sujavna 1:45

Giri at 0850 hrs on 25^th December

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.

So have you thought about what innovations will come to impact your lifestyle in 2012? I have given this some consideration and I have come up with the following list. I am not sure if my list can stand scrutiny of the experts in predicting the future, and I fear that my list is more about my wishes rather than an objective outcome of an analysis on trends. But for whatever merit it holds, I am ready to stick my head out on this list:

(a)    Innovations in delivery of e-commerce and m-commerce services that will fast-track the adoption of such technologies and services in low-income societies and poorly-penetrated consumer segments. Many of the innovations are likely to be focused on healthcare, banking, trading and public administration services.

(b)   Innovations in political systems or political approaches, in response to citizens’ displeasure on the inadequacy and ineffectiveness of existing systems to tackle core issues.

(c)    Innovations in marketing and branding services, primarily driven by competitive pressures as well as the increasing use and economic viability of new media technologies.

(d)   Innovations in multilateral aid programmes that will see the onset of less of “money allocations” but more “bang for the money”. These innovations will be driven by a despair amongst UN members that the MDG programme has so far not reached anywhere near its target.

(e)   Innovations in remote sensing and robotics will help in managing risks from nuclear power plant meltdowns, tsunami and earthquake predictions and will also have trickle- down applications in homeland security (speaking of which....)

(f)  Innovations that will pave the way for passwords to become defunct.

(g) And regretably, I do not see any innovations in the way homeland security systems will become (non-intrusively) effective.

So then , what is there in your list?

Before finishing, let me thank each one of you for the encouragement, support and shared ideas that facilitated me to publish my blogs all through 2011. The next blog will be on New Year day in 2012 and I look forward eagerly to an even greater year ahead on this blogworld.

Suvna 1:44

Giri at 1630hrs on 18^th December

The more things change, the more they remain the same – I recall this easy explanation from those lazy enough to strive for improving the situations that they find themselves in; and wonder, how do we see through the clutter and recognize changes that have been subtle, yet impactful?

2011 indeed presents us with many such wonderful opportunities to recognize these subtle changes, I would venture to claim. Be it the Arab Spring, Anna Hazare’s rallies to get the Government of India to legislate an anti-corruption bill in India, the process employed as well as the final choice of the new Chairman of India’s leading business house (Tata Sons), the struggles of EU leaders to save a common currency...... all of these have shown us that, while global leaders and local communities use lateral thinking and innovative models but seem to have made little impact, the fact of the matter is that these efforts are indeed the ones that have positively ensured that workable solutions to problems are attempted.

So, what do you think will 2012 bring out in terms of innovations and new approaches to making our lives a little better? Can we do some crystal-ball gazing? I look forward to your predictions? I will let you have mine next Sunday. Until then, wishing you a great week ahead.

Sujavna 1:43

Giri at 1330hrs on 10th December

Hello. A bit of a surprise for you in that this is being posted a day in advance. Two reasons - the first is that I have have had the opportunity to interact with a number of people in the last two days on innovation and design and learnt several things that I thought I should share them with you at the earliest; and secondly, I suspect that my day tomorrow will be busy and I may not get the opportunity to sit down and publish this.

So what did I learn in the last two days that I want to share with you? My attendance at a CII Design Summit in Delhi provided me with an opportunity to understand how others are viewing design and innovation, and what sort of creative thoughts and creative processes are being applied to everyday business issues, market issues or social issues. I list below some viewpoints and experiences that were shared:

As Prof Vijay Kumar from Chicago suggested, innovation is all about attempting to apply new and viable options in specific contexts to add value to not only the user and the provider of a product or service but also other stakeholders who may be impacted with the delivery and use of the product or service.

And Richard Eisermann from Prospect London, Nick Talbot of Tata Elxsi, Bangalore illustrated and Prasad Boradkar, professor at Arizona and author of the Long Wide Deep View confirmed true innovation cannot happen if we take short term views and are reactive to immediate problems - start from the end and pull the future towards you - but then there are no simple guides on how to master such approaches!

And young Mamata Gautam, who has worked extensively with the small and tiny sanitaryware manufacturers in Gujarat, very irreverantly, but passionately defended the marginal innovations that these industries are attempting, even when it may be looked at as infringing on IP rights of someone who may have developed some processes in other industries or sectors!

All in all I was pretty much inspired that there is a growing ecxosystem of people continuously working at lateral thinking in India and across the world! And yet I was also brought back to earth, at the end of the two days, when I once again read about the horrific hospital fire tragedy in Kolkatta that claimed 90 lives, mostly of patients. And I once again started wondering - how can we get the Vijay Kumarss, Richard Essarmans, Nick Talbots and Mamata Gautams of the world to work on delivering us from all these manmade tragedies?

Wishing you a great weekend.

Sujavna 1:42

Giri at 0800hrs on 4^th December

Hope you had a great week and are spending a wonderful weekend with family or friends or both.

One of India’s senior-most and top journalist lamented at a media and entertainment conference in Chennai last week that there are no dependable surveys that actually assesses the real penetration of the internet and broadband in India and wondered if the figures of 110 million are indeed accurate.

Statistics and surveys in India (and perhaps the world over) are best understood once we know who has sponsored the survey and what models and data acquisition processes have been employed and who they have targeted for. And this is indeed a compelling reason why we need innovations in the manner by which such surveys are initiated, done and communicated, so that the recipient of such information is able to decide how , and to what extent, the results can be used or understood. Are there any takers for this>

Wishing you a great week ahead.