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Global Immersion Program (GIP) - Session
Hyderabad, 16th February 2022: Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Hyderabad, hosted the third session of the Global Immersion Program (GIP) on 16th February 2022. The eminent speaker and guest of honor for the session were Prof. Sudhanshu Rai, Professor - Copenhagen Business School, who discussed "Innovation in emerging economies, Are emerging economies innovative?". Prof. (Dr.) Manoj Das, Assistant Professor & Area Chairperson - Marketing, IMT Hyderabad, presented the inaugural address by welcoming the speaker & the participants, after which Sai Supraja Ramraj, a first-year PGDM student, briefly introduced the speaker.
Elaborating on innovation, the speaker talked and explained different myths and facts about it. He briefly discussed how innovation is different from invention and how entrepreneurs drive innovation in the real world, as opposed to the common viewpoint that entrepreneurs are the creators of innovation. Additionally, he discussed India's innovation practices that had constantly happened for thousands of years even before entrepreneurs became a reality, as Indians used to live in a closed-knit society and frequently innovated several non-industrial products as a group.
Further supporting his point, he highlighted the example of Elinor Ostrom's theory. He explained that cultures share the knowledge and that clusters of industrial activities have been in society for thousands of years, innovating for decades. Prof. Sudhanshu Rai discussed Schumpeter's theory and the theory of material culture along with its flaws. According to him, immaterial culture is the science present in us, and it enables the entrepreneurs to make material culture. He explained the two fundamental approaches to understanding innovation & data, the first being the Evolutionary method, which is slow but powerful and lasts over time, and the second being the Scientific method, which is data-driven, analytically dominated, and short-lived. He exemplified that, generally, industries use scientific methods; however, Indians have been using evolutionary methods for many years. He mentioned that innovation is driven by the community in India and is based on empirical evidence rather than deductions.
In addition, he spoke about India's shift from the traditional way of innovation to the industrial way. According to him, traditional industries of India are dying due to lack of innovation as young innovators prefer to go into new-age industries, but this causes problems as many new industries are not sustainable.
Prof. Sudhanshu summarized the session by defining innovation as "a system of thought that has a potential to adapt and adopt existing knowledge in the pursuit of novel ideas." He concluded by explaining that innovation is not always positive; some innovations have a positive impact, while others have a negative effect. He reiterated that new innovators must strive to create a sustainable environment where traditional knowledge can be preserved and applied to modern problems.
The session was followed by a brief interactive question and answer session between the students, the professors, and the guest speaker, after which the students expressed their sincere gratitude and thanked the speaker for such an insightful session.
