Ideas that move beyond the confines of the laboratories away from the old and accepted towards new processes, structures and mindsets, can break the mould and give birth to new possibilities which is the key to innovation.

Will this innovation be the key to India’s double digit growth dream? Will ideas give rise to sustainable solutions to the problems of over a billion people? Will innovation be India’s key differentiator in an integrated global economy? The government seems to be putting its weight behind the power of innovation.

The decade is being touted as the decade of innovation with the national innovation council headed by the man who capitalised India’s telecom revolution Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda also called as Sam Pitroda. In a conversation with CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, Sam Pitroda talks on how he intends to build the framework to create innovative solutions to propel India towards an unlimited future.

An inventor, entrepreneur and policy maker Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda or Sam Pitroda is considered responsible for the communication revolution that India witnessed. After his much lauded work at the National Knowledge Commission, the government of India now vested him with the responsibility to create the roadmap for India’s decade of innovation from 2010-2020. He shares some of his key thoughts that will drive this exercise.

Pitroda said, "Innovation is not a project, it is a process. We are growing today at 9-10% and we plan to grow at that rate for the next couple of decades to really lift large number of people at the bottom of the pyramid, we need to focus on two things – one,  right kind of skills needed and two, innovations."

He further stated, "The gut to innovate, not only for us to be globally competitive in products and services, but also to restructure our own processes and governance structures. At times, people feel that we have 19th century mindset, 20th century processes and 21st century needs."

India needs the role of innovation to make use of ideas and create solutions to benefit the masses in sure steps to bring development closer to its people.

"In a country where you have 550 million young people below age of 25, you need to look at their future, prosperity and jobs, but we aren’t in tune with their needs today. A lot of our legacy comes from British Raj, which our own administration and bureaucracy has perfected. Fortunately in 1991, we decided to dismantle British Raj in terms of License Raj, and encourage entrepreneurship private initiative and free market economy. We have seen this gain, but to keep it going, we need innovations. This is the reason why we have been seeing a lot of emphasis on innovation," he added.