Why are we so blind to innovation?
Last week almost every news outlet in India published a wire copy from New York about an Indian-origin school kid, Shubham Banerjee, who has developed a low-cost Braille printer and is now working with Microsoft to commercialise the technology.
Read Shubham's story: Microsoft hires 13-year-old Indian-origin boy for Braille printer
It was a typical "feel good" story which had all right ingredients - an interesting innovation, Microsoft and an Indian connection. I felt good too, but the story set me thinking. Just a couple of months back I had seen a similar innovation - a low-cost Braille printer - by a couple of Indian boys at the innovation fair hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The low-cost Braille printer developed by Santokh Singh and Khushwant Rai from Jallandhar, however, remains in oblivion because Indian media hardly wrote about it. This was despite the innovation having been showcased to the Indian President, just like Shubham who had displayed his innovation at the White House science fair. Shubham could get Microsoft's attention and float his own venture, while Santokh and Khushwant are struggling to get their innovation even noticed.
"The two Braille printers are completely different, but Indian printer is going to be much lower in cost," said Nitin Maurya of National Innovation Foundation (NIF) which had scouted the printer from Jallandhar and included it in the innovation fair at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March 2015.
The Braille printer developed by Jallandhar boys is a modification of conventional dot matrix printer. By altering the size of printer's roller and removing its ink ribbon, its pins are made to strike on paper directly, resulting in desired impression. The idea occurred to Santokh and Khushwant when they visited a blind school for a school project. They noticed that much of the printing work was being done manually. One of the teachers there asked them to see if they could help in any way. The duo soon found that all Braille printers in the market were very costly, so they decided to develop a low-cost one. They started working on the innovation while in school and are now pursuing engineering degrees.
The fate of innovators like Santokh and Khushwant continues to be uncertain in India. Despite all the talk of India becoming innovation hub, much-needed ecosystem for translating innovative ideas into products and services is to be fully developed. Innovators are still looked down upon with suspicion. Indian companies do not take home grown innovations seriously. This includes large forward looking corporations too.
A few years back, an engineer at the Tatas proposed use of high-altitude balloons - instead of terrestrial towers - for providing telecom access in rural areas. He even demonstrated the idea along with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) which has a balloon facility. One would have expected the company to pursue it, but the idea was killed internally. In 2014, the same balloon idea came from when Google in the form of Project Loon. Google is reportedly in talks with the Indian government to implement the project in India.
An innovation for which an Indian company could have taken the lead, we are now looking up to Google to help us. Don't be surprised if Microsoft soon starts marketing Shubham's Braille printer in India, while Santokh and Khushwant languish in Jallandhar. India needs to not only wake up to innovation but also learn how to take them to the market.