India?s 41 st ranking among 130 countries in the second edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) released last week seems disturbing. That India?s current ranking is an improvement on a 2007 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study that put India in the 58th position among 82, may be cold comfort. But should we take these assessments at face value? The GII report puts Portugal, Chile, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait ahead of India. Similarly the EIU rankings say Qatar, Romania, Ukraine, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Lativia, Croatia, UAE and a host of others are ahead. This seems absurd. India less innovative than Qatar and Malta?
There are obvious problems in constructing realistic innovation indices. One point being missed by these index-makers is that favoured destinations for investment research are sometimes a much better indicator of innovation potential. Foreign investment will favour a host that can improve its technology. So, a Boston Consulting Group Senior Management Survey on Innovation in 2008 that found 67% favoured India as the top destination across developing countries may be a better indicator of India?s true innovative capabilities.
Note that there has been a seven fold increase in R&D spending by Indian enterprises between 1991 and 2004. Billions of dollars of FDI have come to fund research and development in India after the GE CEO Jack Welch?s famous declaration ?we get the highest intellectual capital per dollar here?. Figures for 2006 show that R&D spending by 300 multinational corporations in research laboratories surpassed that of Indian private sector firms. A recent World Bank study notes that India is already becoming a top global innovations player in sectors like bio technology, pharmaceuticals, automotive engineering, information, technology, software and IT enabled services. Most countries ranked higher than India by the innovation indices could take decades to reach these benchmarks if they can at all. The innovation index needs innovation.
?p.raghavan@expressindia.com
