Lessons from the Past 133: Where Do Innovations Go?
Recently, I came across a breakthrough from two young scientists in Bengaluru: a mobile-sized cancer detection device promising results much faster and at a fraction of the cost of the device used today – a mere 10%. It also claims a current accuracy rate of around 70%, aiming for 98%–not perfect, but powerful. 
 
I found myself thinking: India desperately needs this. One merely has to look at the hordes outside Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai to know that every minute saved in early detection becomes a life saved. Yet, as with so many promising ideas, this device remains largely absent from our hospitals.
 
This isn’t an isolated case. I have catalogued innovations—around 20 so far—and measured them in terms of application and price. They are affordable, application-ready, and built by Indians for India. But despite being designed to serve the masses, possessing proven technical merit, and the ability to change the face of this country, they are not in circulation.
 
Take LeChal: Anirudh Sharma, an MIT alumnus, together with Krispian Lawrence, developed haptic shoes with vibration-based navigation and smartphone connectivity for the visually impaired. His creation, capable of sensing obstacles and receiving voice inputs, won global recognition–including an MIT Innovator of the Year award–and has been sold abroad. In India, where approximately 70 million people are visually impaired, there is an immense opportunity waiting. Yet widespread adoption in India remains limited.
 
Or Hemant Satyanarayana’s virtual trial room – TrialAR, which uses augmented reality so people can “try on” clothes with simple gestures, adjusting the fit to their body shape. India’s apparel market is massive, and AR-based trials have an estimated US$800mn (million) opportunity – but you’d struggle to find one in your local mall.
 
Then there is the inspired simplicity of Mansukh Prajapati’s Miticool refrigerator, a clay-based fridge costing around Rs3,000, using no electricity or chemicals, but storing up to 5kg of fruits, vegetables, or milk for days. Mr Prajapati went further, making Teflon-coated clay tawas for Rs25 (compared to Rs450 in the shops) – and these purportedly keep 100% of nutrients intact while other pans lose up to 70%! He even designed a clay thermos. Brilliant, affordable, eco-friendly – but, again, where is the scale?
 
Dr SV Rao’s 3nethra – a portable, handheld, battery-powered eye screening tool – can detect cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and other conditions that account for 90% of preventable blindness in India, running on just 10W. All this, for a third of the cost of conventional systems. It has screened over 7.5mn people across 45 countries and helped prevent around 1.5mn cases of blindness. Still, its coverage across rural India remains sparse.
 
What causes this disconnect? Steve Jobs once remarked, “People who think they are crazy enough to change the world are the ones who do.” But crazy ideas need more than technology–they require a path to market.
 
And that is where the chain appears to break, perhaps in more than one place. We have the product, but no reliable market; we have a market, but no consistent sales push; we have customers, but no one to sell to them. And so, these shining examples languish – their creators forced to move on to other things, their inventions going abroad, or worse, gathering dust on lab benches or in newspaper clippings.
 
You may also want to read other articles written by the author. Here is the link https://moneylife.in/author/walter-vieira.html
 
(Walter Vieira is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India - FIMC. He was a successful corporate executive for 14 years, capping his career as Head of marketing for a Pharma multinational, for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka- and then pioneered marketing consulting in India in 1975. As a consultant, he has worked across four continents. He was the first Asian elected Chairman of ICMCI, the world apex body of consultants in 45 countries, in 1997. He is the author of 16 books, a business columnist, international conference speaker and has been visiting professor in Marketing in the US, Europe, and Asia for over 40 years. He was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for Consulting in 2005, and for Marketing in 2009. He now spends much of his time in NGO work - Consumer Education and Research Centre, IDOBRO, and some others.)
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