Given the diversity and plurality of Indian society, Indian models of innovations cannot but reflect its culture of resistance, redefining the context and rebuilding the connections among different streams of ideas. Akbar tried to synthesise the good practices of different religions in what he called as ‘deen-e-ilahi’ and he failed. Maybe, if he had tried to nurture the secular institutions of each sacred belief system, he might have succeeded. While designing models of innovations for distributed knowledge management, the Honey Bee Network has been very conscious of keeping the identity of ideators intact. And still, it has tried to forge cooperation and development of a value chain around different idea streams after having scouted more than 1,50,000 ideas, innovations and traditional knowledge practices (not all unique or distinctive) from over 500 districts all over the country.

The first 5,000 ideas took Honey Bee Network and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) about six years. The next 5,000 took another three years. And then, within next 10 years, we reached the current number with the help of various collaborators and civil society members and non-governmental individuals (NGI) through the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). I would write more about what has happened in this regard recently but I want to share a new platform that SRISTI has developed through primarily its own resources: www.techpedia.in.

It has more than 1,00,000 projects done by 3,50,000 students, mainly final-year engineering students, from over 500 institutions including IITs and NITs. This could be done just in about a year. The contribution of the SRISTI team set up for the purpose, led by Hiranmay, is extraordinary. If one were to search for all the projects of engineering students at Stanford and MIT, one would not be able to find such a platform. But in India, disregarding the indifference of the human resource ministry, AICTE or UGC, such a platform already exists.

What does it enable in terms of growth of ideas and innovations which would not have been possible without it? It makes it very difficult for a student to do what has already been done. The innovation quotient thus has gone up and so has the originality quotient. The search cost for the new students, MSME entrepreneurs, other companies looking for talent, for ideas to invest in or join hands with, has gone down enormously.

The real-life problems of the informal sector and small entrepreneurs are posted at techpedia.in so that students can take them up for their project work. The long-felt disconnect between the needs of small entrepreneurs and the talent of  students and their guides is being overcome.
The innovations at the grassroots level have also been posted under the window of ‘innovations waiting to be augmented’ for those who wish to add value to existing ideas of farmers, artisans, roadside mechanics and others. Many Techfests at technology institutions have begun to include such value addition as a contest to gauge ‘groundedness’ of the Indian genius among tech-friendly youth.

It is obvious that not many projects will become products in a single cycle of six to nine months. It is here that the kho-kho model has been put forward. For example, four girls at a government women polytechnic developed a black box for automobiles – something that no Indian car has got yet, though insurance companies would sure love to have the black box data while settling claims. Another group of students at an engineering college of Nagpur has taken it forward to add value by bringing several new concepts of information processing. In a few cycles of kho-kho, it is likely to become a product with benefits being shared among all the contributors so that more and more collaborative innovations emerge through this platform. 

Not many purveyors/scholars of innovations would have expected original ideas to emerge from polytechnics – among the most neglected institutions. And yet, one finds so many interesting examples of applied technologies whether dealing with RFID, laser, or sensor at such institutions. New hotbeds of innovations in small towns and small institutions are emerging which planners can continue to neglect because of their myopia. 
The moment one looks at the name of the colleges of ideators, a new breakthrough model of collaboration across time, space and sectors and social segments starts emerging. It is this potential which is going to transform the Indian story in the coming decades. The fact that this story is unfolding without the help of the government or the private sector so far shows that when it comes to new ideas, the role of SRISTI in spawning new models and platforms such as NIF and Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN) will continue to remain pivotal.

However, the full potential of techpedia.in cannot be realised without active involvement and ownership of the platform by the young technology leaders in different technical universities, MSME clusters, and other science and technology institutions. The future challenges will be shared in the next column. Till then, connect, collaborate and create new solutions through kho-kho and other match making options at techpedia.in.