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INNOVATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME FOR COMPANIES AND ENTREPRENEURS START-UPS THAT POWER VILLAGES, RESTORE TRADITIONAL CRAFTS AND SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT - By Ahmed Kamal Khusro

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n today’s competitive environment companies cannot survive without innovation. They need to explore and adapt new cutting edge technologies to drive their business forward.

Many companies are increasing their R and D spends to incubate new innovations.

Tata Industries has an innovation forum called Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF) for fostering a culture of innovation in Tata companies. TGIF has been conducting a programme to encourage innovation in the group since 2006, according to a TOI report.

According to a Tata spokesman, “Innovation agenda will remain and be more focused now. Innovative ideas are in our agenda. But in what form, we have not yet decided.”

The group recently held its Tata Innovista 2014 programme for entries in four categories:

Tata Industries has an innovation forum called Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF) for fostering a culture of innovation in Tata companies.

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Yashraj Khaitan, set up a company to provide remote Indian villages with on-demand electricity through a pre-paid affordable model, according to HT.

“promising innovations”, “leadingedge innovations”, “dare to try’ and “design honour”.

The Tata spokesman pointed out that Tata Industries had provided seed capital for Tata Honeywell and later on for Tata Telecom ventures.

“Tata industries are basically providing seed capital for long-term projects. But incubation is not that long term, so we have to find the right solution for that,” he said.

Tata Industries has initiated and promoted Tata ventures across several sectors, including control systems, information technology, financial services, auto components, advanced materials, telecom hardware

and telecommunication services.

Commenting on Tata Innovista 2014, Mukund Govind Rajan, the brand custodian and member of group executive council of Tata Sons, said 43 innovations were shortlisted in the ‘promising’ category which recognizes innovations that have been successfully implemented during the year and have accrued benefit. “The combined economic benefit assessed from these innovations was $ 1 billion”, he explained.

Tata Group is spending an average 2.5 per cent of the turnover on R & D, which is much higher than the national average of 0.76 per cent of GDP in 2013-14. In actual terms,

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UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi (MP)during the foundation stone laying ceremony of an AMU centre at Kisanganj.

the group has spent Rs 13,223 crore, which is likely to be higher in the current year.

Innovation is the name of the game. Those companies that are focusing on innovation are much better prepared to outshine their competitors in increasing their market share and boosting brand awareness.

Start-ups tailored to local needs Yashraj Khaitan, a 20-yearold student of the University of California, set up a company to provide remote Indian villages with on-demand electricity through a prepaid affordable model, according to HT. As part of a university project, Khaitan travelled to several villages in Rajasthan and noted that many of them had limited access to power.

“Even though children were studying under street lamps, the villagers used cellphones that they charged at common points, “he said. “Like the

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cellphone revolution, I wanted to create a similar microgrid model for access to power”, he said.

Khaitan’s company, Gram Power, now supplies power to villages in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, using a combination of solar, biomass, wind and conventional grid systems to supply power to the microgrid.

For this project, Khaitan is one of five Indian finalists for the international Rolex Awards for Enterprise. In all there are 22 finalists from around the world, all of them young social entrepreneurs. Winners will receive 50,000 Swiss francs (about 34 lakh).

A Rolex spokesman said that “The aim is to encourage individuals with the courage and determination to take on major challenges in improving lives and protecting the world’s natural and cultural heritage.”

Gram Power initially identified remote villages that were off the grid or ones that received less than six hours of power a day. A microgrid,

powered by solar panels, was set up in a village in Rajasthan, to eventually provide power for lights, fans and television sets.

Innovation is the key to success. Khaitan made a key innovation in the microgrid system that set it apart. He created smart pre-paid meters for each house, with a pay-per-use arrangement. These meters would draw energy from the central grid and help villagers keep track of how much pre-paid energy remained.

“Similar to a cellphone recharge plan, the villagers can purchase power on a daily basis. About Rs 250 per month provides enough power to operate fans, lights and cellphones.

With the meter system, villagers have become more conscious about power they use as there is a screen on the meter which displays how many hours of power they can still use”.

Khaitan and his team have appointed villagers in charge of the power consumption in each village, and they have the means to track if a meter has been stolen.

Website: www.grampower.com Promoting traditional crafts

After graduating from college in 2009, Medhavi Gandhi visited several villages in different states.

Along with two friends, she set up the Happy Hands Foundation to promote indigenous arts and crafts. Gandhi is a finalist for the upcoming edition of the Rolex Awards

STAIRWAYS The foundation also runs a fellowship programme for college students, to connect the youth with existing Indian craft traditions.

After graduating from college in 2009, Medhavi Gandhi visited several villages in different states.

Along with two friends, she set up the Happy Hands Foundation to promote indigenous arts and crafts.

Gandhi is a finalist for the upcoming edition of the Rolex Awards.

“While working with artisans to build better access to markets, we realized that while their craft was very skilled, they were not exposed to design education”, Gandhi pointed out. “Our focus is two-fold—to create better opportunities for them in mainstream markets, and to teach them to experiment with different mediums, through workshops and other projects.”

The Foundation has worked with artisans in villages such as Pingla in West Bengal, Etikopakka in Andhra Pradesh, Sakhigopal in Orissa and Dimapur in Nagaland, among others. Now they market lesser known arts and crafts such as sujini, dhokra, cheriyal, bidri, jadu patua, and sikki grass. Its work has spread over 13 states and involves over 1,000 artisans.

Gandhi has planned a fivecluster development model for the artisans. Each cluster will work with 50 artisans. These clusters will be in the villages of Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

The foundation will train artisans in modern technology so that they can produce quality products in sufficient quantities. The idea is that these artisans will go back to their villages 43 EASTERN CRESCENT | JUNE 2014

and teach others.

Meanwhile, Gandhi has developed a network among corporates and takes orders for the artisans for bulk gifting or exhibition orders.

The foundation also runs a fellowship programme for college students, to connect the youth with existing Indian craft traditions.

Selected fellows will travel to villages or ‘craft clusters’ to build marketing strategy for the artisans.

College students can choose from another option. A new initiative called The People’s Project will have student teams from different colleges choose a craft prevalent in their city or state, and help revive this through a project idea.

Through various youth chapters spread across the country, the foundation aims to sensitise young people to the tradition of Indian handicrafts as also to incubate promising projects and mentor young craft entrepreneurs.

The foundation also strives to revive art and craft forms through contemporary ways.

Website: www.happyhands.in Preserving the environment Another Rolex Award winner, Arun Krishnamurthy has registered a non-profit organization called the Environmentalist Foundation of

India (EFI).

When he applied for the Rolex Award, Arun was focused on cleaning up Lake Killattalai in Chennai. Later, they started working on 34 lake projects.

The first step in lake conservation is manual cleaning, where volunteers physically remove waste, followed by lab tests of water samples, to check pollutants and contamination levels. The team of volunteers identifies

The first step in lake conservation is manual cleaning, where volunteers physically remove waste, followed by lab tests of water samples, to check pollutants and contamination levels.

The team of volunteers identifies sources of sewage inlet and works ways to regulate them, to prevent contamination sources of sewage inlet and works ways to regulate them, to prevent contamination. After this, they carry out dredging and de-silting the lake to remove deposits, strengthen the bunds while planting native species on the lake bund. The lake is fenced off to keep away encroachers and avoid trash accumulation.

The foundation has also helped design an animal-friendly set-up at Coimbatore zoo.

Students can register for the NGO’s fellowship programme, called the Science Batch Fellowship.

School and college students from any city or state can volunteer with the foundation to help ecological restoration.