Rationale

Opening of the economy raises the prospect of increasing international competition. Survival and growth of the industry, in its wake, depend on expanding output; they would depend even more on the ability of enterprises to add value through innovation. Organizations would need to be creative, come up with new products, processes and services, and find innovative ways of managing: (i) organizational resources, including human resource and technology, (ii) internal processes, and (iii) external environment and marketing.

Indian organizations have yet to develop a robust culture of innovation. Products and services on offer, at best, imitate those innovated outside. Management paradigms and practices are borrowed heavily from abroad, where development contexts and challenges are quire different. How can organizations be made innovative, how can managers create an environment in which employees constantly search for and generate innovation, what institutional mechanisms are needed to foster and sustain innovation and entrepreneurship – are key questions that will need addressing.

Technology has been at the centre of economic development worldwide. Further, its contribution has been rising with time. Organizations will need to develop effective capacity to deal with such aspects as: identification, negotiation and transfer of technology; adoption/adaptation of chosen technologies and their application to productive processes; needed organizational policies and strategies in support of technology based growth; and stimulating generation of product and process technologies, in-house or otherwise, for building competitive strength.

A large part of the country’s wealth comes from economic activities of the unorganized/informal sector, which comprises of small and tiny enterprises and self-employed persons. This sector, however, is characterized by extremely low productivity. Raising unorganized sector productivity would have enormous positive impact on economic and social growth in terms of significant acceleration of GDP and employment growth rates, higher incomes and better distribution across a much larger spectrum of population, and sharp reduction in poverty. One of the crucial factors for improving productivity of the unorganized sector is up-gradation of technology. Connected with this measure are important issues of: assessment of technology needs, creating institutional mechanisms for identifying sources of better technologies, mobilizing and creating institutional arrangements for generating technologies suited to resource characteristics of the informal sector, developing technology and marketing linkages between the organized and unorganized sectors, and designing viable financing arrangements for the uptake of new technologies.

Not many institutions in the country are engaged in investigating the spectrum of issues which have a bearing on innovation, creativity and technology management. The Centre for Management of Innovation and Technology at the IMI proposes to take up this important challenge.

CMIT is an institutionalized effort designed, on the one hand, to support and foster innovative solutions to challenges within client organizations and help them to resolve issues arising out of management of technology, and on the other, to promote improvements in productivity of the unorganized sector. Apart from addressing the needs of enterprises in the formal and informal sectors, the Centre also looks at the concerns of the central and state government departments, R&D institutions and development agencies with regard to innovation and technology management. The prime focus of the Centre is to make Indian economy, industry, and business more competitive, nationally and internationally.

CMIT will position IMI as a major node of research, training and education in the area of innovation and technology management. Central to the development of CMIT is the creation of an extensive range of local and international networks with business, government, Universities and research institutions.

• Establishment of CMIT is a crucial step in IMI’s institutional and programmatic strategy of promoting innovation and management of technology.
• As a centre of excellence within IMI, CMIT builds on IMI’s extensive resources and expertise in business and management and works with professionals from national and international institutions.
• CMIT is a “network” organization that works with government and business agencies in the field of innovation and technology management.
• The Centre facilitates seeding, nurturing and promoting innovation in Indian enterprises and addressing issues related to development and diffusion of technologies.

• To work as a think-tank on the issues of innovation and creativity. Inter–alia, to study innovation as a phenomenon, and identify and suggest strategies for promotion of innovation and creativity within organizations.
• To facilitate the development of entrepreneurial and innovative business culture in India.
• To study the role and scope of technology management in fostering competitiveness in the organized sector and suggest strategies for building organizational capabilities in the area of technology management.
• To identify strategies for stepping up productivity of the unorganized sector through interventions in the area of technology and innovation management.
• To develop management strategies that help build creativity among R&D organizations and bring out the full potential of R&D personnel.
• To develop and position IMI as a key partner to new business startups and other organizations interested in building their business strategies around innovation and provide them the needed consultancy inputs.
• To study best practices in the field of entrepreneurship, innovation and technology transfer and assist their adoption/adaptation in the Indian context.
• To develop and undertake research programs aimed at addressing the challenges facing enterprises in the areas of innovation, creativity and technology.
• To develop and conduct a series of education and training programs aimed at management students, business managers and owners of enterprises in the field of entrepreneurship, innovation and technology management.

• CMIT’s activities are relevant to the client group.
• CMIT studies the issues of R&D management from the perspective of R&D organizations, development agencies and R&D personnel and aims at optimizing R&D institutions’ innovation capabilities.
• CMIT provides services aimed at assisting organizations develop strategic innovation objectives and align their people and management systems with those objectives.
• CMIT works with organizations as long term partners in their total effort to transform them into innovative enterprises.
• Government of India has institutionalized various schemes for encouraging innovation. CMIT extends its services to relevant agencies for the purpose of evaluation and monitoring effectiveness of implementation of the schemes.
• Agencies such as the DST and DIT have been making significant interventions in the area of innovation and technology up-gradation. CMIT studies and documents successful strategies and innovation processes, particularly in selected industry clusters.
• A significant thrust area of the Centre is small, artisan sector and the self-employed in the informal sector. Barriers to innovation and technology up-gradation in this sector are identified through research, and policy level interventions needed to unleash the potential in these sectors articulated.

Research, Publications and Database

In the area of managing innovation and technology, undertaking research, creating a database of research material with annotated bibliographies, preparing cases useful for education and training, and disseminating Center’s publications and working papers on the theme comprises core activities.

Capacity building through training programs

The Centre develops high quality training programs and relevant learning material. Apart from IMI’s faculty, it draws upon external faculty from well-known collaborating organizations in India and abroad.

Capacity building through education

CMIT plans to introduce an elective module in the MBA program of IMI so that its graduates are exposed to the important area of managing innovation and technology. Later, CMIT will develop and offer a full-fledged course in managing innovation and technology. IMI would collaborate with experts from leading national and international institutions for the purpose.

Network building

Work related to managing innovation and technology requires the involvement of the best available talent, expertise and experience. To this end, CMIT networks with reputed institutions in order to tap the best talent and expertise available from within the country as well as abroad.

Consultancy services

CMIT and its networking partners offer consultancy services. Such assistance is on offer particularly to organizations facing transitional changes resulting from initiatives in introducing innovation and technological improvements.

Creation of an Information Centre

The Information Centre of CMIT would meet the needs of clients, donor agencies, implementing organizations, consultancy firms and others connected with this work and help locate information resources and materials.

Events related to innovation and technology

CMIT organizes regular events to provide a forum to interested parties for exchange of views, ideas and experiences. Such seminars, debates, and conventions would include awareness raising initiatives as well as those for reviewing work being done in the area.

A large number of faculty members of IMI and other institutions are participating in the activities of CMIT. It is proposed to draw upon the expertise of other faculty members and institutions also in the work of CMIT.