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May182007
Interview with Dr Anil K Gupta
Our previous post exploring the grass root level innovations in the country triggered a good deal of discussions here in the mutiny. Everybody thought that the hand pump is probably one of the most loveliest innovations of yester years and the man who made it ought to be a millionaire. The fact is he is not and so arent the tens of thousands of farmers and artisans in rural areas who have found solutions to problems that we have been living with since the last five thousand years. These people are not successful businessmen or budding entrepreneaurs, they are farmers, street hawkers, garage workers, daily wage labourers, housewives or children working their way through school, and working with
them are a group of organisation that are helping them in any way possible. National Innovation Foundation, SRISTI and The Honeybee network are organisations that work for strenghtening the creativity of these innovations.
I met a very jovial and inspiring personality, Dr Anil Gupta who is the Co-ordinator, SRISTI and Honey Bee Network, and , Executive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation. He is also a faculty in the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. I spoke to him about their work. Now before I begin, I would like to say something about him. He is popularly called gyan in IIMA campus (for very valid reasons). If you are visiting him in the faculty residences of IIMA campus, at the gate you would have to say, “red car waaleh sir ka ghar“.
Ujj: Dr Gupta, very kind of you to have agreed to talk with us, I believe you are very busy so we will be very swift.
Dr Gupta: I am busy yes, but I always have time for people who like to know more about innovations in our country.
Ujj: So please tell us what does NIF do? Is its main job is to get patents..
Dr Gupta: No no, patents is only one tenth of what we do. We do a lot of other things like redesign the innovation, repair its ergonomics, look for a prospective market, look for entrepreneaurs who would be interested in taking up mass production etc. Patents, in my opinions are just a status symbol. We have filed 150 patent applications in India, out of which nineteen have been granted. In US, we have filed 7 patent applications and 3 have been granted. Can you believe it? You are a software fellow, tell me how many indigeneous softwares does India produce in an year?
Ujj: thats remarkable. Tell us a little more of how you get to know about these innovations?
Dr Gupta: Well we conduct Shodh Yatras every year, in which we walk through a particular part of the nation, together with students, analysts or simply enthusiasts who love talking to people. There we document innovations and their effects. One of the most important ideas behind Shodh Yatras is to build a database of all these rural innovations. To give you an idea, we have the worlds largest multilingual database of innovations, and this is not due to the recent IT boom, it has been the largest database since 1998.
Ujj: wooh! nine years back, it was difficult to think of railway ticket reservation over the web ! tell me something about some of your favorite innovations and then some wacky ones 
Dr Gupta: Well my favorite ones are all wacky. In kerela this guy developed a tree climber. Its an elastic rope like object that one wears on ones legs that pushes one upwards, so that a person can easily climb and get the coconuts.
Theres this little girl in Ahmedabad who developed a new way of repairing tyre punctures, that will last much more. We are trying very hard to get the method a patent.
One of the most interesting one came from Assam. We all feel that road bumpers are a pain. This guy thought otherwise. Whenever his cycle hits a bumper, his specially made shock absorbers retain all the energy generated and via a gear system pass them on to the back wheel. This energy can be used to get more speed. Now thats some innovation.
Ujj: truley ingenuious. SO is NIF, SRISTI getting some support from the Government.
Dr Gupta: Central Government yes, but we are more keen on getting the support of academic institutions. There are several institutes of repute in Gujarat like NID, IIMA, MICA, DAIICT , NIRMA etc. All have a core strenght, we would like to use the knowledge of all these institutions and collaborate to bring these innovations in the forefront. We offer internships to students in NIF. We work totally on open source software and love when once in while someone comes over to our office and says he/she is interested in working with us. See thats our idea, we need people who seem to have problem accepting the fact that they can make a difference and still they are not.
Ujj: This is the last question and I appologise if its a little blunt. Do you really see this working? I understand you have some critics, what do you have to say about them?
Dr Gupta: Yes I do. Sometimes it hurts me when people tell me that Im doing the wrong thing. That knowledge is free and we are trying to make rural people greedy. I honestly do not have a problem with this. If a poor man becomes a little greedy, I seriously do not have a problem with that. You sell almost every possible thing to them and the one thing they are good at, their local knowledge, they should give for free, what sort of just system is that? Asli Mutiny to tab hogi when we get rid of this five thousand year old mentality!
Ujj: Thats so true sir. How does one get in touch with NIF for volunteering etc?
Dr Gupta: you can either mail me to get some projects in NIF. We also like students to walk with us in Shodh Yatras. We really hope to see some people there.
Ujj: Dr Gupta thank you for sharing all this with us. We really hope that we can live upto the task that you people have set.
Dr Gupta: Thanks a lot.
Dr Guptas Webpage
The Nineteenth Shodh yatra in Anantnag, Kashmir. Contact details here.
For more details please mail your queries to info@nifindia.org
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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chacko
001
3:33 am
Asli Mutiny to tab hogi!
Very good interview Ujj. Is there anyway to get touch with that coconut climbing device maker. We really need it in Kerala, it’s surprising that we haven’t heard much about it.
Ujj
002
2:09 am
You can contact him directly for it. His email id is on his web page. You can read a newsletter on NIFs site which also reports latest innovations. Its really interesting.
tintin
003
11:15 pm
Its indeed great to bring innovaton to the light, and Prof. Anil Gupta’s work will prove milestone in this regard.
sm katti
004
1:01 am
Wonderful work!
Ujj
005
2:35 am
Hey guys you can also see some Indian innovators in action on you tube.
go through this link
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=NIF+India
for find several videos.
sandeep sharma
006
7:30 am
Dear Ujj,
There is a factual mistake in the content. We have filed 150 patent applications in INdia (not US) . In US we have filed 7 patent applications , 3 granted.
I would request you to please correct the facts in this interview.
2. For a number of queries, it is very nice that you are answering on our behalf. However, to ensure that correct information goes to the viewer, you can do in two ways :
a) you can forward all the queries to us at info@nifindia.org
b) you can give contact info of us to users so that they can be in direct touch with us
It will help in a way that in many matters you may not be able to answer technical queries which we can handle.
regards,
Sandeep
CIO (Acting)
NIF, Ahmedabad
09925010386
sandeep sharma
007
7:40 am
Dear Mr Chacko,
If you can send your email id at info@nifindia.org , we can send you the details of coconut tree climber.
regards,
sandeep
NIF
Anil Kumar Pandey
008
7:59 am
Dear Ujj,
Some corrections about the facts mentioned in your article again. We have filed 150 patent applications in India, out of which nineteen have been granted. In US, we have filed 7 patent applications and under PCT one application.
We file patents on behalf of grassroots innovators and TK holders for protecting their knowledge and technologies, so that no body can copy and use it commercially for their own benefit.
So i would like to request you to correct the facts accordingly. Any IPR related queries can be forwarded to ipr@nifindia.org.
regards
Anil K. Pandey
IPR
NIF
Woke
009
8:16 am
Great job with the interview Ujj. Please look into the corrections regarding IPR.
Chacko
010
8:17 am
Thanks Sandeep. Will get in touch when I’m back in India, we need to talk to the local CITU coconut climbers union if this is permitted.
ujj
011
12:37 pm
Sandeep and Anil, Thanks a lot for the corrections.
anil gupta
012
3:33 pm
but why will union object? In fact, unless the productivity of the workers improves, how will their wages go up. NIf will be actually interested in financing the production in bulk by appachan and his partners ( which might reduce unit price a bit so that workers can afford it easily).
let u shope that thousands of coconit climbers will have to bear with lesser drudgery and thus get higher wages and greater comfort, rest and higher fun.
Bill
013
2:52 pm
Very effective. Thanx.S
Dr.A.Jagadeesh
014
10:54 am
I would like to bring out the obstacles many innovators in organisations face: Market outcome from innovation can be studied from different lenses. The industrial organizational approach of market characterization according to the degree of competitive pressure and the consequent modelling of firm behaviour often using sophisticated game theoretic tools, while permitting mathematical modelling, has shifted the ground away from an intuitive understanding of markets. The earlier visual framework in economics, of market demand and supply along price and quantity dimensions, has given way to powerful mathematical models which though intellectually satisfying has led policy makers and managers groping for more intuitive and less theoretical analyses to which they can relate to at a practical level. Non quantifiable variables find little place in these models, and when they do, mathematical gymnastics (such as the use of different demand elasticities for differentiated products) embrace many of these qualitative variables, but in an intuitively unsatisfactory way. From this perspective innovation succeeds from strategic structures that engage the individual to the organisation’s benefit. Innovation pivots on intrinsically motivated individuals, within a supportive culture, informed by a broad sense of the future.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP)
2S
015
11:20 am
@Dr. A Jagadeesh - that’s an interesting point you make there. And I personally believe that is the root cause of the issue here. Good innovators and good leaders because such a positive driving force that even the lethargic would tag along behind them if they believe in the cause, and if they subscribe to the idea. I honestly think that the grassroots awakening is very good, but it has to be driven by quality leadership with an out-of-the-box approach.
I’m really glad you made this point here.
chinzah
016
8:57 pm
Appachan, the coconut tree climber device innovator was supported under our ‘Micro Venture Innovation Fund ‘ or MVIF in short. MVIF is sort of a hybrid VC soft -loan scheme we run with SIDBI. The innovator is doing modest business. We have even helped the innovator in getting some customers aborad. At this very moment some Brazillians, Australians, Americans, Jamaicans, Thais etc. may be using the climber.
Chinzah
National Coordinator
BD & Micro Venture
NIF