Unleashing India’s Innovation: Toward Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

Unleashing India’s Innovation: Toward Sustainable and Inclusive Growth/ edited by Mark A. Dutz. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2007.

Report Summary

India’s becoming a top global innovator for high-tech products and services. Yet, the country is underperforming relative to its innovation potential. To sustain competitiveness, economic growth, and rising living standards over the long term, India needs to aggressively harness its innovation potential.

India is increasingly becoming a top global innovator for high-tech products and services. Still, the country is underperforming relative to its innovation potential —with direct implications for long-term industrial competitiveness and economic growth. This book focuses on inclusive innovation — knowledge creation and absorption efforts most relevant to the needs of the poor in India. This is in addition to the book’s emphasis on how faster growth can be facilitated by promoting “new to the world” knowledge creation and commercialization—the traditional understanding of the term innovation—as well as through often underappreciated but even higher-impact “new to the market” diffusion and absorption of existing knowledge.

Facts:

• Domestic R&D spending has never exceeded 1% of GDP.
• India's stock of scientists and engineers engaged in R&D is among the largest in the world.
• Only 16% of Indian manufacturing firms provide in-service training; firms that provide in-service training are up to 28% more productive.
• The sectors most open to competition have increased R&D spending the most.
• The informal sector accounts for roughly 90% of the workforce.
• Only 10-25% of general college graduates are suitable for employment.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: The Indian Context and Enabling Environment
• Chapter 2: Creating and Commercializing Knowledge
• Chapter 3: Diffusing and Absorbing Knowledge
• Chapter 4: Promoting Inclusive Innovation
• Chapter 5: Strengthening Skills and Education for Innovation
• Chapter 6: Upgrading Information Infrastructure
• Chapter 7: Enhancing Innovation Finance

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