RAPID RESPONSES
Jaguar & jugaad
I have to agree with yesterday’s Forum article on India’s innovation culture. Having spent three years with a large multinational pharmaceutical company developing businesses in India, it was plain to see that India was turning itself into an innovation powerhouse and it would be a force to be reckoned with. Look at Jaguar Land Rover.
What struck me when working in India was the approach to lean innovation or “jugaad”, which often reminded me of the
Heath Robinson attitude which made this country great but is no longer as visible as it used to be. Too often, innovation budgets are the first areas cut in hard times.
I have high hopes for the patent box which the government is pursuing and I believe, if combined with reducing red tape for many businesses, it will stimulate innovation and R&D in the UK.
Professor Luigi G Martini, chair in pharmaceutical innovation, King’s College London