“The collaboration - and their customers along with whom they innovate - are predominantly found in India and secondly in the US and in Europe. Therefore there is a strong potential for bringing ICT innovation into the Indian society from these medium sized SMEs”. said Mr Mogens Kuehn Pedersen. Euro-India Coordinator & Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, while inaugurating the second edition of the Euro India ICT cooperation Conference 2009 held at the International Management Institute, New Delhi, India
“The most crucial technologies for innovation are application and communication technologies”
Supported by the European Commission and hosted by IMI Delhi the premier event, underpinned by a deep understanding of the EU-India innovation landscape, aims to inspire an effective two-way dialogue between Europeans and Indians serving not only to boost ICT innovation but also to expand the multi-faceted relationship that exists between Europe and India as we take on board new challenges and opportunities ahead.
Mr Alvis Ancans, Administrator, International Relations, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission spoke about fostering EU-India Cooperation on ICT “India is the country which has a relationship with EU and there are 10 successful project coming up so faras part of collaboration between the two” he said.
The project sampled specific data on ICT innovation and R&D from more than 200 companies representing approx. 50% of a sample of 382 ICT innovative companies from all over India identified through a range of public channels.
“Indian companies innovate together with their clients and customers. So, these innovative companies are not taking advantage of their innovations to reposition themselves in the value chain. Therefore they are not presently using innovation to move up into higher value adding positions” said Mr Rai. “Indian innovative companies are following a short term collaboration strategy. They do not engage in collaboration beyond their immediate customers” he continued.
“While Indian ICT Industry is trying to think out of the box the pace at which it has been innovating is perhaps not good enough. One of the key reasons is funding the innovation projects agreed” Mr Ramesh Behl, Professor IMI also Region Head for the Euro India ICT Project agreed
The project noticed that there are a very wide range of sectors and domains targeted by the innovative companies. Thus, there is no evident candidates to be nominated as the major clusters. Innovative ICT companies are often found to be medium sized SMEs bridging the characteristic gap in Indian industry structure of very many small SMEs and few major companies with few in the middle sized range”
Mr Pedersen, said “we suspect ICT innovations to be different hence did not want to define it at the beginning of the project ” We wanted the data to guide us on the issue of definition therefore we did not define ICT innovation at the onset”.
The Interactive Information Sessions were aimed at giving participants a comprehensive understanding of the FP7 (2007 - 2013) ICT Work programme, covering ICT domains, the international cooperation objectives, instruments and funds to engage in research projects alongside European partners.
They also illustrated about funding opportunities for collaborative research projects available in 2009 & 2010 and how participants can get involved in the same.
Continuing at the inauguration Dr C. S. Venkata Ratnam, Director, International Management Institute, (IMI) Delhi said “there is an awareness in ICT about climate change, at IMI there are special Programs held on Human Resources but the possibility that soon the Electronic mood will begin with Human Management than general management is not far behind. Giving the example of the political progression of an individual from the Panchayat to the governor level he said ICT too can improve poverty”.
The conference built on the growing number of EU-India collaboration success stories supported by the EC to foster new partnerships that draw on the research strengths of both Europe and India. To this end, the conference spotlights co-operation capacities, ICT forecasts, innovation potential and best practices, exploring the forces at play, policy issues, challenges and opportunities moving forward.
About EuroIndia ICT Co-operation
EuroIndia (www.euroindia-
About International Management Institute (IMI) Delhi
International Management Institute (IMI) was established in 1981, as an autonomous non-profit educational society under the Societies Registration Act 1860, to meet the widely felt need for internationally oriented management education/ training for managers at all levels in industry, government and public systems. The academic programs of the institute continue to enjoy full support of the corporate sector as well as the Government of India since its inception. Today, IMI holds a place of distinction among the premier schools of management for being the first corporate sponsored business school with strong international orientation in India.
IMI follows international standard curricula in its programs, which has been enriched by its academic collaborations with a number of leading B-schools in Asia, Europe and North America and prepares participants to successfully manage and lead in an increasingly global business environment. IMI's educational programs have been recognized by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. The corporate world in India, public, private, multinational companies, international consulting firms and other organizations have employed its alumni who are rightly called, the Achievers. For more information about the IMI please visit www.imi.edu
