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Publish in Economictimes
The Need for innovation is being articulated far more significantly in recent years than was the case just a decade ago. Organisations have started creating awareness about the need for generating innovative mindset through various conferences amd workshops. But, most of the time, the effort stops there. There is a need for a fresh approach to evolve a rooted model of innovations building upon an indian cultural and social strength. Let me illustrate.
Idea that may not scale up are considered unworthy of at tention. It is obvious that when needs are hightly heterogeneous and in many cases localises, then stress on scale will imply meeting only a few needs of many rather than many needs of a few.
An if these few people happen to be on the margin, then the social anomy is inevitable.
Despite large-scale penetration of mobile phones, there is very little content in local language, which is beamed at communities for widening their choice and extending their time frame. The result is not just a apathy but somtimes explicit hostility towards the government. There are three models of innovations that may come to rescue. First the long tail of innovation second, the long nose of innovation and third, the long-tailored innovatiopn. The first implies that while a few innovation may have large market, a large number of innovations may have a niche market. The aggregation of innovations that have potential for limited diffusion may bring about a viable business opportunity. On an online book portal, a few books sell in large numbers. But, a very large number of books may sell only a few copies each.
If those few books were not there, you may not go to that porta. The ecosystem for innovation at the basic level must have a large diversity of ideas for mass consumption ideas. The long tail thus may imply a much more inclusive model.
The long nose, on thae other hand, implies a tail on the right side of the distribution. That means a few innovations may take a long time before their market really develops. The mouse was discovered in 60s but its makret evolved in 90s after the apporpriate platforms emerged. The third model implies that we do not supply the readymade garmet. If the entired humanity had not been divided into six or eight size, the garmet industry would not have been born. The ratio of shoulder to neck was the key determining variable. But, the age of customisation has already set in. As the incomes increase, Indian society might want more and more differentiated, customised, user-based solutions to there needs.
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