CHRIS LUEBKEMANDirector Global Foresight, Innovation and Incubation Arup Group

ALEX ‘SANDY’ PENTLANDDirector Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program MIT Media Lab

SOUMITRA DUTTADean Designate Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Business Cornell University

JOHN KAOFounder & ChairmanInstitute for Large Scale Innovation

ASHA JADEJAFounder Edu Dot Ventures USA

TIM BROWNCEO & PresidentIDEO

InDialogues Luncheon Panel Session

DESIGN AND INNOVATIONEnablers of India’s Urban Future

On January 26, 2012, INDIA Future of Change and INSEAD hosted an InDialogues Luncheon Panel Session Design and Innovation: Enablers of India’s Urban Future on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

InDialogues: Conversations with the World is a platform of INDIA Future of Change where thought leaders come together to discuss, debate and deliberate upon the future of India by addressing India’s most significant challenges, with a view to finding solutions that can be applied worldwide.

INDIA Future of Change (IFC) is a unique Brand India and public diplomacy initiative that aims to position India as a catalyst of change. IFC enagages multiple stakeholders from across geographies with India through contests, events, conferences and collaborative projects. IFC is a programme conceptualised, designed and managed by theIdeaWorks – the only communication design and strategy firm in India that specialises in place-branding and public diplomacy projects. Through partnerships with corporates, institutions, governments and civil society leaders, theIdeaWorks designs and develops and knowledge-led communication and engagement programmes.

Thursday, January 26. KIrChnEr MUSEUM DAVOS. 1145 to 1400 hrs DAVOS 2012

“India is buzzing with innovation at the grassroots level. Once these dots are connected, a tsunami is bound to happen... Because of lack of structure, there is freedom in India to leapfrog into the learning you need to work in the sector where you want to work..” ASHA JADEJA

“...Every Indian has to innovate to survive. Innovation is born out of either inspiration or desperation...With growing access to media, information and technology, the desire to innovate has become much more grassroots and that’s a very big strength for India.” SOUMITRA DUTTA

“For institutional or civil society to help engender civil infrastructure, such as roads and rails, would allow mobility and access to the opportunities in India that will encourage and enhance innovation, which will in turn lead to entrepreneurship...”CHRIS LUEBKEMAN

“India has one asset class that is very distinctive: creative problem ownership... India is a democratic society with enormous intellectual, financial and other assets that are in the process of being stitched together to create an innovation dynamic...” JOHN KAO

“The dabba-walla infrastructure that delivers tiffins in Mumbai is an incredible distributed infrastructure. Centralized infrastructure is more prone to attack where as distributed infrastructure is more resilient, and also better to build trust...” ALEX ‘SANDY’ PENTLAND

Design & Innovation: Enablers of India’s Urban Future was a dynamic, engaging panel at Davos 2012. Led by Tim Brown, CEO and President, IDEO; panelists included Soumitra Dutta, Professor, INSEAD and Dean Designate, Johnson Business School, Cornell University; John Kao, Founder & Chairman, Institute for Large Scale Innovation, USA; Asha Jadeja, Founder, DotEdu Ventures; Chris Luebkeman, Director Global Foresight, Arup Group and Alex Sandy Pentland, Toshiba Professor of Media, Arts & Sciences and Director, Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, MIT, Cambridge, USA.

JOHN KAO spoke on the notion of large scale innovation, referring to innovation at a societal, regional scale. He defined innovation as a set of capabilities, which enables the continuous realization of a desired future. Innovation is therefore not limited in purpose to business success, but is also about addressing fundamental human needs. He talked about why India is exciting to him: where many countries are interested in innovation for the purpose of economic growth, employment, and increased prosperity, for India, innovation serves a deeper purpose. In India, the notion of ‘inclusive innovation’ is very much alive, linking values and human needs, such as alleviating poverty.

“India is an enormous, very complex, very rich laboratory for innovation. Many countries are trying to put together a ‘secret sauce ‘ for innovation, through policy, talent development, and incentives. India has one asset class that is very distinctive: ‘creative problem ownership’, where people need innovation in order to improve their lives. It is a democratic society with enormous intellectual, financial and other assets that are in the process of being stitched together to create an innovation dynamic.”

Finally, he urged a global integration of the innovation agenda, where diverse nations practice interdependence and invest in an innovation arbitrage, linking across the world for innovation effects. He highlighted theIdeaWorks & Govt of India initiative INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future (www.indiafrica.in) as an example of this global engagement and aspiration.

SOUMITRA DUTTA recalled his experience of graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, 27 years ago, when approximately 45 of the 50 graduates went West to develop their careers. This year, only 2 graduates of a class of 60 made that decision. While many took jobs in multinationals within India, a non-trivial minority – 6 to 7 students – started their

SUDHIR JOHN HORO and AMIT SHAHI, the designer and entrepreneur duo, who co-founded theIdeaWorks in 2006, had circulated a very wide canvas background note amongst the panelists…

The contours of the world, as we know it, are changing. new technologies, clean energy and social accountability are important ingredients in tomorrow’s recipe. This necessitates the adoption of an innovative approach to leadership, learning and policy-making. The future will be driven by advances in technology and design, and innovation in human practices.

How ready is India for its urban future - that will have to be so different from what any part of the world can expect, purely because of the unique set of challenges that it faces?

own companies. This distinct shift towards innovation, with young people inspired to create new initiatives, serves to broaden the set of role models available for young people in India today, and alters the future of India.

Dutta compared India and China, stating that while China’s strength is in high quality mass production, India’s strength lies in seeing disruptive innovations at the grassroots level. He discussed two prompts for innovation: technological push, where new technologies create whole new industries (example: the laser), and market pull, where, in specific contexts, existing technology is cleverly combined to create viable market solutions. In India today, there are many innovative market pull solutions, or innovative ways of combining existing technologies to produce solutions for local contexts. These solutions can be easily transferred to places with similar market conditions, such as Africa and Latin America (example: Tata Nano).

He closed by posing the biggest challenges for India today. While India has great human talent, a disorganized education system fails to develop this talent appropriately, producing sub-standard graduates with wasted potential. He suggested that India follow China’s lead in investing intelligently in ramping up the education infrastructure from the bottom up, improving education on a broader level and creating quality faculty and graduates. He also asserted that India should not remain satisfied with market pull solutions, and should focus more on technological push through increased investment in original research and development. Without this investment, and production of new technologies, India will not maintain ground on a global stage.

ASHA JADEJA cited poverty in India and lack of institutional structures as huge advantages and opportunity creators. Disruptive educational technologies would be difficult to implement in developed economies where existing structures and systems of education and legislation are solid and difficult to navigate. In India, thanks to poverty and a general lack of lack of structure, there is more of an opportunity to take learning outside normal boundaries of education and normal structures like schools and colleges, and to take leaps in innovation.

India is buzzing with innovation at the grassroots level. Once these dots are connected, a tsunami is bound to happen. Jadeja talked about innovation amongst youth who do not have access to good schooling or colleges. Rather than seeking degrees, this ‘absolutely brilliant talent is learning what they need to learn to meet employability criteria. Because of lack of structure, there is freedom in India to leapfrog into the learning you need to work in the sector where you want to work.’

She also addressed research and development, saying that private investment is necessary for good models to emerge, given proven lack of impact of government investment over the past

Jayasree Mohan, Cheryl Giovannoni, renu Khanna, Peter Flury, Elisabeth Stangl, TIm Brown, John Kao, Soumitra Dutta, Craig Branigan, ravinder Kaur, Amit Shahi, Asha Jadeja, Sudhir John horo, Eric Ashok Ledergerber, Chris Luebkeman, Mark Wigley, Sheila Mathrani, Bill rusitzky, Alex Sandy Pentland, Kartik Chandran, Juliana rotich, Chitra narayanan, Sindoor Mittal, Catherine henggeler, rakesh Sarin, Falguni nayar, harish hande, Lakshmi Pratury, Sangita Jindal, Tim roemer and Kapil Wadhawan

LISTEN TO THE SESSION IN DETAIL AT www.indialogues.in

Why InDialogues at Davos? Every year Davos plays host to over 3000 policy makers, CEOs, academiciansand civil society leaders during the World Economic Forum’s five day annual meeting. This unique gathering of global influencers is very receptive to ideas and moves by nations and corporations alike; moreso, because, the Davos environment fosters debates and discussions that look beyond mere business and take a conscientious look at issues that affect larger sections of the world’s population. It was this that encouraged theIdeaWorks to bring its unique, independent Brand India programme - INDIA Future of Change, to Davos in 2011. The two panel discussions on “India and China” and “Design and Innovation for Inclusive Growth” attracted stellar panelists and great audiences. That experience gave theIdeaWorks, the confidence to institute an annual luncheon panel discussion at Davos on an issue of contemporary relevance.

Why organise an event in Kirchner Museum at Davos?The Kirchner Museum, named after the artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), showcases some of the finest works of art and provides the perfect stage for thought leaders to discuss game-changing solutions for the future. It is also the most strategically located event venue in Davos, in close proximity to the Kongress Center and hotel Steigenberger Belvedere, which serve as the central hubs of all activity during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting every year. The museum is recognised as a Swiss heritage Site of national Significance.

To ogranise your own corporate event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at this venue, you could contact us at amit@theideaworks.in or +91 9810001985.

fifty years. She mentioned that poor faculty quality in IITs and engineering schools demotivate an otherwise enthusiastic and intelligent student body. A study done on classes in IITs showed that 95% of students are not learning in the classroom, but rather outside the classroom. She said there is a huge opportunity for new structures to evolve, and that she, herself has invested in a disruption to deliver learning technologies to a bright pool of students.

CHRIS LUEBKEMAN discussed the importance of infrastructure, entrepreneurship, thrival and leadership. In India, inadequate infrastructure makes innovation a very frustrating process. A strong infrastructure presents huge opportunity from the bottom up. For institutional or civil society to help engender civil infrastructure, such as roads and rails, would allow mobility and access to the opportunities that encourage and enhance innovation, which leads to entrepreneurship.

“I have rarely met so many interesting, fascinating, passionate, and very quiet entrepreneurs as those that are Indian. I say quiet because its not the brash ‘I’m gonna tell you what I’ve done before I’ve done anything’, it’s ‘I’m doing this’. It’s not promises, it’s actions. To me that is very impressive. This is the tsunami bulging.”

He discussed the growth of the middle class, and moving from a society focused on survival to a society that believes it is thriving. This mindset is the key to being innovative. He said that in order to believe in thriving, it is crucial to have strong leadership that is both empowering, encouraging, visible and vocal. He named Andhra Pradesh’s former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu as a strong leader and visionary who created many innovative solutions and initiatives to transform Hyderabad city. He stressed that encouraging and embracing leadership in every strata of society is vital.

‘SANDY’ PENTLAND discussed technology’s role in organizing innovation. He referred to mass data banks that collect information such as credit card records and mobility records. We can trace, with amazing accuracy, very important societal patterns such as the impact of mobility on creative output and the relationship between spending and crime. Human behavior is then very predictable and therefore malleable. It is in our hands to design healthy cities and environments that promote creativity and innovation. The key here is infrastructure, and creating neighbourhoods with high levels of trust in interaction.

He talked about traditions of guarding private data against violation or abuse, and the importance of building a trusted cyber infrastructure that protects individual privacy, in order to promote efficiency in organization. He mentioned that a highly centrally planned approach is problematic if the center is corrupt. He said, ‘the dabba-walla infrastructure that delivers tiffins in Mumbai is an incredible distributed infrastructure, that is far more robust to attack. We’re living in an age where there’s more and more cyber attack and other challenges. Centralized infrastructure is more prone to attack where distributed infrastructure is more resilient, and also better to build trust.’

ASHA JADEJA also addressed distributed infrastructure, pointing out the number of citizen groups taking matters into their own hands. In rural areas, people have developed SMS systems for farmers to broadcast crop pricing. This is completely outside the government infrastructure. Once smart phones become ubiquitous, there will be a huge rise in citizen and grassroots action on ad-hoc infrastructure, such as pricing systems, markets, and learning, that will no longer be regulated by the government.

JOHN KAO posed that if distributed infrastructure becomes a reality, distributed urbanism will emerge. The value of the urban environment is in access and proximity to resources, culture, information, and stimulation. “India could be a very interesting laboratory to examine the trade offs between distributed vs. centralized and rural vs. urban. These are being addressed with partial success in other countries; not just in emerging environments like China where there is a huge push to be in the city, but also in places like Australia, where they are figuring out how to create equity between urban centers and isolated entrepreneurs.”

SOUMITRA DUTTA closed by saying, “I believe that every Indian has to innovate to survive. Innovation is born out of either inspiration or desperation, and a lot of Indians live in pretty desperate situations. They have to survive despite great odds. So when the usual governmental institutions are not performing the roles they are meant to, that is when innovation must happen. With growing access to media, information and technology, the desire to innovate has become much more grassroots and that’s a very big strength for India.”

TIM BROWN closed the event with an overview. He mentioned the challenges that India faces, around driving higher quality education in engineering, and perhaps all around; the language barrier that creates a hidden class of innovators that aren’t being served today; and finally the challenge of manufacturing innovation as well as service innovation in India.

He also cited a number of exciting concepts, including Ahmedabad as an example city of both bottom up and top down organizing; the ‘new normal’ that we should be aspiring to define, rather that simply ‘muddling through’ and solving problems that occur in front of us; and finally the notion that Indians are extremely innovative by necessity, which creates an awesome potential to be tapped, across over a billion minds.

He referenced adhoc and distributed infrastructure and innovation and suggested that India lead the way with these models, as this approach is probably the most globally appropriate given the complex challenges we face. Finally, he said, “I went into this conversation wanting to be optimistic, and hoping there would be some optimistic ideas. I heard some, I hope you did too.” He thanked the panelists for their wisdom, and the audience for being respectful, engaged, and present.

InDialogues at Davos 2012 was hosted in partnership with INSEAD. As one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas from around the world to change lives and to transform organisations. A global perspective and cultural diversity are reflected in all aspects of InSEAD’s research and teaching. Its campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi cater to discerning candidates from all over the world. www.insead.edu

InDialogues: Conversations with the World is InDIA Future of Change’s platform to bring together thought leaders and domain experts to focus on challenges that India shares with large parts of the emerging world; and attempt devising solutions that can have wider applicability and acceptance. Over the coming months, InDialogues will travel across campuses in India and overseas touching upon contemporary themes and also creating opportunities for InDIA Future of Change contest winners and young professionals to share the stage with accomplished seniors from their fields. www.indialogues.in

INDIA Future of Change is a unique public-private partnership in nation branding launched in 2010, by theIdeaWorks with the support of Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. It features a series of global contests on India-centred themes targeting students across the best campuses worldwide, a platform for exchange of ideas and an outreach programme to engage young professionals and entrepreneurs in the India narrative. The initiative has won wide appreciation amongst multiple communities of stakeholders and is now seeking corporate support in India and overseas to achieve the desired scale and reach. www.indiafutureofchange.com

IdeaWorks Design & Strategy Pvt Ltd

IdeaWorks Design & Strategy Pvt Ltd is India’s only communication design and strategy firm that specialises in place branding and public diplomacy. Over the past six years, we have handled Brand India campaigns across the globe, including those at Davos 2006, 2011 and 2012; and, Brand UK and Brand France campaigns in India. We are currently managing the ambitious, three year “InDIAFrICA: A Shared Future” programme, in partnership with Public Diplomacy Division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs. www.theideaworks.in

For more information about theIdeaWorks, InDIA Future of Change or InDialogues, please contact Amit Shahi +91 9810001985 or Sudhir John Horo +91 9811352154.

no part of this document and information about the January 26 session may be published in print or electronic media without giving due credit to theIdeaWorks, INDIA Future of Change and InDialogues.

Photographs by Kasimir höhener, Catherine henggeler, Patricia Froidevaux POWErFOTO, Kirchner Museum

LISTEN TO THE SESSION IN DETAIL AT www.indialogues.in