Digital Transformation Driving India towards Becoming Global Innovation Hub

By siliconindia  |  Saturday, 16 December 2023, 11:33 IST

Having completed his AI certification from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rajaneesh has over 25 years of experience across diverse tech verticals. Prior to joining Cyient in 2021, he had successful engineering experience with companies such as Wipro, Aricent & Altran/Capgemeni. He is also an Official Forbes Technology Council member due to his profound industry knowledge. Siliconindia recently got a chance to interact with Rajaneesh Kini, President and Chief Technology Officer, Cyient, where he shared his insights on the research & and innovation scenarios in India today and other related aspects. Below are a few key extracts from the exclusive interview

How is digital transformation driving the innovation among Indian businesses?

India is undergoing a serious digital-influenced transformation across all industries driven mainly by various government policies and initiatives. As a result, our country can now boast of having a strong ‘digital backbone’ that can have a massive influence toward the betterment of every industry. This has led to increased innovations across healthcare, finance, agriculture and many other sectors. Additionally, with extensive availability of bandwidth readily available through 5G, we are seeing many use cases of video streaming-based solutions being launched into the market. Also, startups increasingly rely on cutting-edge technologies like AI and blockchain to make data-driven decisions. This way, startups are playing a prominent role in enhancing the customer experience across all industries as well. Overall, all the sectors and businesses of the digital ecosystem are now coming together to create a bigger impact, which is a very good sign for our country

Throw some light on the major technologies that are driving innovation and R&D in India.

A lot of transformations started with the advent of cloud-based technologies. Today, many of the services that are being launched – be it UPI, Aadhar, or any other – would not have been so successful without having an efficient cloud service in the backend. Additionally, IoT and 5G connectivity coming to the fore has resulted in enhanced connectivity, thus multiplying the capabilities of cloud and data based platforms. A few other cutting-edge technologies that have gained widespread acceptance from businesses across many industries recently are AI/ML, Robotics and many more. With all these technologies working together towards optimizing diverse business functions, there has been a great emphasis on leveraging them in order to achieve accelerated outcomes in terms of innovation and R&D. Going forward, there will be an even bigger impact on the technology landscape in terms of improved cybersecurity capabilities with the emergence of quantum computing. Some of the major areas that will witness heightened innovation in India are healthcare, biotechnology, transportation, and Logistics.

Briefly explain the importance of India becoming the next global innovation hub.

Undoubtedly, India has perfectly positioned itself today toward becoming the next global innovation hub. This is because although we didn’t start with innovation at the forefront, we did start with scale, which was paramount for foreign organizations involved in the R&D space. Largely, India was so far the go-to market for getting access to the scale and skillsets that are essential for diverse R&D initiatives. However today, it is capable in every way possible to evolve to the next level and maintain a competitive edge in today’s global innovation space. Increasing number of global innovation centers and starts up in Inda is a proof of this change. This has also resulted in a significant growth in our nation’s GDP, which is of huge importance in our country’s economic growth. Additionally, the changing consumer dynamics of people in terms of domestic lifestyles also demand accelerated innovation across various sectors. Also, with a lot of talent moving abroad in search of better career opportunities, we have been losing a lot of skilled manpower resources. By encouraging innovation and R&D within our country, we will now not only be able to retain our domestic talent, but also attract foreign talent to come here and be a part of the tech ecosystem.

What is the role of government in fostering a sense of innovation among Indian businesses?

Post 2020, we have seen a lot of government initiatives such as Aadhar to help drive innovation across the country. However, this needs a lot of funds, human resources, computing power, Also, since data is the backbone of many organizations, having the right policies and frameworks to protect the data, while simultaneously making sure that the data is available at scale for startups is another key step that the government is constantly working on. Going forward, the government should device stringent policies and establish regulations for all businesses to follow regarding data collection and availability. Additionally, investments in computing capabilities mainly in AI workload handling capabilities, providing funds to support innovation and offering substantial benefits for doing innovation and research in India through various investment subsidies and tax benefits are few other ways through which the government can further nourish the innovation and R&D efforts happening in India today.