83% of Indian Entrepreneurs Believe they are a Major Source of Technology Innovation in India : Survey
In 2012–13, Accenture, in close cooperation with the Young Entrepreneur Alliance’s global management and country associations in G20 countries, conducted comprehensive research on how G20 countries can support entrepreneurship to help drive economic growth, productivity, innovation and employment. The research was designed to highlight entrepreneurs’ views on the importance of innovation in their businesses, what they consider drivers and inhibitors of entrepreneurial activity, and what they expect from government policies.
Accenture’s research included an exclusive online survey of 1,000 young entrepreneurs, eight workshops with entrepreneurs in selected countries, and interviews with a variety of experts on entrepreneurial innovation. The resulting research report was prepared for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (G20 YEA) 2013 Summit in Moscow.
Across the G20 countries the research studied, three-quarters of entrepreneurs believe they are a major source of innovation. It is particularly true in Australia, the United States, Mexico, France, India, China and Italy. Furthermore, respondents expected innovation to continue in the near future:84 percent said they are optimistic entrepreneurial innovation will rise in the next two years.
The report also talks about 'Frugal Innovation' coming out of India with the examples of YourStory.in Sociopreneurship 2010 winner Forus Healthcare and Reindeer Technologies, which has developed a “smart plug” to help consumers manage their energy consumption more effectively: Frugal innovation is all about innovation tailored to the needs of countries where a majority of consumers have low income per capita, many still require basic needs to be fulfilled and, in some cases, the population is widely dispersed across a massive geographic area, including in isolated rural areas. India has been at the forefront of frugal innovation. It is home to 18 percent of the world’s population, much of which is poor and rural: India’s per capita income is just $103 per month and 70 percent of its people live far outside the major cities.12 Furthermore, much of the country still lacks the basic services many people take for granted, including access to safe and clean drinking water, effective sanitation, healthcare, and electricity.
Importantly, frugal innovation is not confined to its “home” markets. A growing number of companies that have created products initially for emerging markets via frugal innovation have been able to export those products to customers in developed markets. One prominent example is the portable ultrasound scanner that General Electric created for rural clinics in India and China. The product was a major success in those countries, but also proved to be a perfect fit for ambulances in Western countries. Successes such as this are one of the reasons why emerging markets are increasingly being seen as challenging the historic innovation supremacy of mature markets, adds the report.
Five key findings emerged from the research:
- Today, every entrepreneur is a digital entrepreneur. Technology-driven innovation is a strategic priority for 78 percent of the survey respondents, who are extensively leveraging a range of new information and communication technologies to lower the cost of access, create new products and services, reach customers at scale and speed, and develop new business models.
- These innovations make entrepreneurs confident about their role as catalysts. At a time when global economic growth is slowing and volatile, 41 percent of the respondents are confident that their business will grow more than eight percent per year and 81 percent believe they will create new jobs in the next two years.
- China is considered by entrepreneurs as the second-most innovative country after the United States. Greater growth opportunities, abundant supply of technologically skilled workers and fewer constraints are making China and other emerging markets an increasingly strong source of innovation.
- Entrepreneurs increasingly believe collaboration is vital to success. One-third of our respondents already collaborate with large companies on innovation and another 46 percent are planning to do so in the next two years.
- Entrepreneurs favor technology clusters in the Silicon Valley model. Adapted to different business and cultural environment, these clusters can provide a vital ecosystem for entrepreneurship development.
Governments can and should play a major role in encouraging entrepreneurship. But two-thirds of the entrepreneurs surveyed believe government support for entrepreneur-driven innovation is not sufficient. They expect a wide range of actions from the government to promote innovation such as tax incentives, development of technology education and training, and increased government purchasing of products and services from small businesses. They also suggested several measures that G20 governments could implement to promote technology innovation:
- Support the development of digital infrastructure to ensure entrepreneurs and their ecosystems (clients, suppliers, etc.) get access to digital transformation of industries, especially through social, collaborative technologies.
- Facilitate international mobility of data, while ensuring adequate protection of personal data—a key success factor for entrepreneurs who develop international businesses.
- Promote cloud development based on harmonized standards, so entrepreneurs can “put the cloud to work” and create additional value.
- Develop common open data standards that enable entrepreneurs to create, test and develop new business models to provide citizen services.
- Make it easier to attract serial entrepreneurs who set up and conduct businesses in different countries.
- Encourage development of crowdfunding at the international level as an alternative route for startup financing.