Bengaluru Tech Summit: India has highest intellectual capital per dollar, says scientist Mashelkar

India has the highest intellectual capital per dollar which is the reason Indian innovation is taking the world by storm said acclaimed R.A. Mashelkar, Former Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Addressing a plenary session at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023, the prominent leader and innovation specialist cited the example of National Chemical Laboratory becoming International Consulting Organisation within a year and more recently, India’s UPI innovation which clocked over 74.05 billion transactions in 2022, which is 46 per cent of the world’s transactions.

“Our UPI is now being accepted in Bhutan and Singapore too, which speaks of the ground-breaking attitude of our people,” he said.

Mashelkar spelt out six principles for start-ups to follow for assured success.

“Make offerings that are affordable, easily scalable, make the business sustainable, the product or service offered should be universally accepted. It should have a rapid-to-market strategy with excellent features and have a distinctive business idea,” he said.

He said that Karnataka is an incredible state with exemplar achievements in the start-up culture. He lauded the state for being an “amazing 40 per cent state” that hosts 40 per cent of the GCCs, 40 per cent of India’s software talent, 40 per cent of unicorns, and responsible for 40 per cent of exports.

He also recommended the state to show leadership in creating an IP policy by incentivising innovative SMEs with subsidies and grants.

He said that Karnataka is a knowledge capital and a centre for innovation, but for the next leap in growth, the state must quickly move from innovation-led incremental growth to exponential growth.

Terming this growth strategy ‘exprovement’ he said that the start-up culture has to shift to a game-changing ethos.

While the environment has to be adventurous in supporting start-ups, he also urged start-ups to follow the BTS motto ‘Breaking Boundaries’ not just in geographies, but also in their minds.

“The ladder of excellence has no limits and companies have to learn to lead not by leapfrogging but by pole-vaulting,” advised the eminent scientist.