 | « Back to article | Print this article |
India Inc recognises that innovation is the 'mantra' for success.
Nearly 70 per cent of the companies, which were recently surveyed as part of the 'Manufacturing Innovation: A Senior Executive Survey' by Boston Consulting Group and Confederation of Indian Industry, stated that they were hiking innovation spend in 2006.
This is despite the fact that lack of collaboration between research institutes and academia remains the top hurdle for innovation.
The survey covered senior executives of corporate India on innovation and Innovation To Cash process.
Most Indian firms said innovation was not only a strategic focus but was 'top of mind' for most managements, of whom 37 per cent ranked innovation as top priority in their organisations.
Only one per cent of respondents in the survey said their innovation spends would be reduced in 2006.
Capturing growth, gaining competitive advantage, were some key drivers for increased innovation spend as 76 per cent of managements believed globalisation had an impact on how their companies pursued innovation.
In India, the survey covered 83 senior management executives, representing all major manufacturing industries. The findings were comparable with BCG's 2005 Global Survey on Innovation, in which 940 executives from 68 countries and all major industries participated.
About 82 per cent of the companies surveyed felt that generating organic growth through innovation had become essential for success in their industry.
On financial returns on investments in innovation, 73 per cent of executives expressed satisfaction while in the global survey less than half the respondents held the same view.
Innovation in India assumed importance as it was already being recognised as one of the most innovative nations among emerging economies. It had the highest number of MNC research and development centres and patent filings.
Among the major rapidly developing economies, Indian firms were the most active innovators with over 1,000 patents filed out of a total 5,401 patents. Asia accounted for 2,375 patents while Eastern Europe had 1,524 patents to its credit.
The resurgence in confidence in Indian manufacturing was borne out by many examples of Indian companies going global.
The major challenges confronting Indian firms in 2005 were timeframe and return across an entire portfolio of new projects.