Filed under: Creativity India
Dear Bloggers,
Welcome to icreative…a blogspot for those who are excited by the concept of an exclusive institution focussed on creativity in India. India is a land of diversity, innovation, creativity in several forms be it in art, music, litreture, mythology, technology, science or business. Several parts of the world have realised the creativity cannot be specific to a few people and an innovation cannot be awaited to happen, rather, formal training through techniques and tools can enhance the creativity quotient in an individual.
In this context, there is an idea in the minds of some of the more visionary people in India to conceptualise the concept of an exclusive institution of Creativity in India. The scope and reach of the institution will be pan-India and later perhaps South-Asia and Asia. This can become the nerve center for all institutions/ organisations/ associations/ programmes supporting/ sponsoring creativity development amongst children, academia and professionals from the Industry.
The concept is exciting and it undoubtedly has huge potential but also needs to be carefully conceptualised owing to the subjectivity involved. Whilst we may embark upon a great mission, there lie several questions yet to be explored and discussed among the experts in this space, questions such as:
1> What is the need for a dedicated Institution on creativity in India?
2> How will this institution be different from those already existing?
3> What will be the objectives of such an Institution?
4> How will it impact or contribute to the society at different levels?
5> How can it become a self sustainable entity?
6> What sort of products/ services should it offer?
7> Should the institution be an autonomous body or should it operate under the aegis of a consortium of private organisations?
8> Who will fund it for the initial few years?
9> What can be the revenue streams for the institution assuming it needs to become a self sustained entity?
I welcome one and all to share their opinion about the above mentioned concept and allow us to build the same steadily to fructify a visionary initiative to establish India’s first institute on creativity.
23 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Institute of Creativity in India 
Hi, this is a comment.
Comment by Mr WordPress April 13, 2007 @ 4:39 amTo delete a comment, just log in, and view the posts’ comments, there you will have the option to edit or delete them.
Test Comment
Comment by icreative April 13, 2007 @ 11:19 amTest Comment 3
Comment by Test Guest April 13, 2007 @ 12:51 pmWe all aspire to see India as a developed nation. Can India be a developed nation if it is not innovative and can India be innovative if Indians are not creative.
Comment by A.S.Rao April 14, 2007 @ 3:50 amStereotype images of nations in terms of their creative potential does exist with a high level of acceptance across the globe.May be we should not ignore them while not being imprisoned by them.
Comment by A.S.Rao April 15, 2007 @ 11:53 am(Source:Article by G. PASCAL ZACHARY,`Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Parade’ NY Times,15th April)
Therefore, some comments here:
1. Unlike innovation, creativity has little commercial value, it
reflects stretching the capabilities of the human mind and removal of
inhibitions.
2. Improvement in creative ability is best tackled at the school level.
3. Because of 1 & 2 above, it is challenge to create an institution
for creativity on a self sustaining basis. However, some direct
options to get funds are: Train teachers on creativity techniques as
short – term courses and charge for it; Conduct creativity seminars
for schools at a charge; etc. However, once you start
charging for services, the universality of the program is curtailed.
Another option is to organize events as fund raisers. Here also the
problem is that with the domination of event managers, the nature of
the institution may undergo a change. These are just thoughts.
4. If funds can be organized on a long term basis from trusts, private
institutions, government etc., an institute is an excellent idea. It
should be independent and operate as a mission.
For a start these comments should generate discussion. I will take it
Comment by Upendra Kachru April 18, 2007 @ 1:42 pmup from there in the future.
Creativity is the foundation of innovation. Innovation is the foundation of entrepreneurial behaviors. Entrepreneurial behaviors is the foundation of economic growth. The challenge of any nation seeking to emerge as an economic engine is to build the methods of creativity into the minds of its youth. Those methods give young people the tools for taking on problems and solving them in new ways (innovation). This in turn opens the possibilities for moving solutions to problems to the marketplace. Upendra is right. There needs to be an investment in the youth of India and it needs to be sustainable. And that will occur when parents, teachers, business leaders and politicians articulate the need for the investment now to bring full prosperity to the population of India.
Comment by Timothy Stearns April 22, 2007 @ 2:54 pmA dedicated institute will give innovators and scientific creators a chance to publicise their work and also a lot of beurocratic and administrative hassles can be overcome by approaching this institute.It is high time that scientific creativity be given a separate identity
Comment by Dr Padma S Vankar April 23, 2007 @ 3:09 amToday institutions represent the next evolutionary stage of human development. Every human effort domains from Education, Health, Security, Finance etc etc are getting increasing socialized and democratized by institutionalization. There fore the question if we need an Institution for Innovation and Creativity becomes an invitation for appreaiciation and complements. The question on defining and automating the process of creativity in order to institutionalize needs deeper research and by it self is a requriement for such an institution. If creativity is a process then it can be standardized and learn. Such standardization needs institutional arrangements and can not be left to lurch. World over it is governments which are the main donors for R&D and therefore this mechanism which brings in fertility to R&D should also be funded by governments. However, in order to ensure relevance and hence sustainability, we can think of various sustainable revenue oriented models. By and large this requires more mind time to design such a wonderfully creative organization.
Comment by R.M.P.Jawahar April 23, 2007 @ 11:50 amIt is an excellent idea. It has to be an autonomous body. It has to be supported initially, but can sustain itself in the long run through funds contributed by the innovations supported by it. If a group of experts can foresee the importance and potential of an innovative idea, the institute can go ahead and support the innovator. The support can be in several forms:
1. Examining the feasibility of an idea.
2. Providing technological help in finetuning the idea, and protection of IPR.
3. Finance for patenting.
4. Active assistence in promoting the developed systems and devices.
I am convinced that a large number of ideas are floating around waiting for a lifeline. We have a large number of problems crying for solutions, and also have very innovative individuals, but unfortunately there is little support. The Ministry thinks that the only innovators are serving in the institutes and universities and have programs to support their innovative programmes. But for those who are out of this loop there is absolutely no support.
The proposed institute can possibly fill a vital gap.
Yash Pal Singh
Comment by Yash Pal Singh April 23, 2007 @ 11:54 amExcellent idea.
Any Nation’s prosperity depends on how effectively the country uses the talents of creative and innovative people. If One Edison could bring in so much development, how about millions of creative and innovative people who are dormant? Though there areTePP, NIF,L-RAMP, NRDC etc., their efforts are piecemeal in a vast country like ours.
I myself an Innovator,inventor and creator all blended into one. I have several innovations to my credit. An exclusive INSTITUTE OF CREATIVITYis the need of the hour.
I WILL BE GLAD TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCE,EXPERTISE AND ENTHUSIASM IN ASSOCIATING WITH THE PROPOSED”INSTITUTE OF CREATIVITY “.
My suggestion is don’t put people on the board by their position and designation. Often people holding high positions hardly contribute any thing. On the otherhand committed people can be assets in this noble mission.Software giants like TCS,Wipro,Infosys.Satyam etc., can pump in money so that creative people can be encouraged to bring pathbreaking innovations.
BEST OF SUCCESS.
Yours creatively,
Dr.A.JAGADEESH
Comment by Dr.A.Jagadeesh April 23, 2007 @ 12:38 pmHead
Nayudamma Centre for Develolopment Alternatives
2/210 First Floor
Nawabpet
NELLORE 524 002Andhra PradeshE-mail: a_jagadeesh2@yahoo.com
The proposed institute is an opportunity to support the assets India has in abundance and continue the country’s transformation as an economic powerhouse. With a well educated population, diversity of culture, and existing technology base, a creativity institute would be the catalyst to fuel innovation.
Comment by Ed Sobey April 23, 2007 @ 3:24 pmHey, This is a really cool move. I hope there would be solutions for real problems than just theoretical talk. Most of the innovations that happen sprout from the young minds with out of the box thinking. If the system is not flexible for a student out of school/college to come and setup a company and doesnt permit him to move beyond a set boundary – the the whole point of innovation and creativity from the hot bed is being killed without being born. This root problem has to be solved if creativity has to emerge from students in india. :-).
I’m not an expert in this space but as a student and the youngest CEO in the oldest IT Park in the country – this is what i figured out. 🙂
Comment by Sanjay Vijayakumar April 26, 2007 @ 7:06 pmCreativity is by definition boundless. It blooms best when there are no fetters and structures to constrain the thinking process. Institutes tend to do that. If we can conjure an institution that encourages out-of-the-box thinking, it tends to become amorphous in shape and form and hence normally does not survive beyond the life of its creator Exceptions do exist.
I do feel that an institution that utilises its structure only to channelise the energies of its members and associates into productive forms by wedding together ideas and resources (human and financial) is a better option. Insitutitions with their own executive councils, board of governors tend to become the focus of power struggle rather than encouragement of ideas, which is the original raison d’etre.
It is a difficult balance – eminent people on board attract resources. Eminent people also bring along with them egos.
Comment by G.V. Ramana May 9, 2007 @ 4:55 amcreativity is extended intelligence in particular specific area. what is needed is platform to work if problems are put and brain storming allowed many innovative ideas on many subjects may come upbut training to be creative is little far streched
Comment by malati maligi May 9, 2007 @ 8:00 amMy thoughts on this issue:
I think that nurturing creativity (assuming it is possible) is addressing the wrong problem. I’m not saying it’s unimportant. I agree that it’s perhaps needed – no one gets more dissatisfied at mediocrity we see everyday around us than me. Making “creativity nurture” a regular part of our mainstream education curriculum and a mandatory part of teachers’ training institutes – thereby impacting millions of students – would perhaps go much further than creating a dedicated “creativity institute” that would churn out a few hundred or a few thousand graduates at most.
But, as I said, I believe addressing that is going after the wrong problem. I think as a priority for the nation, an issue of far greater importance is *rewarding* creativity in those who exhibit it. If you reward it correctly, you nurture it indirectly by inspiring others.
I think there’s no lack of creative people in India. National Innovation Foundation (NIF) and your own Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP) has shown that there is tremendous innovation already happening at the grassroots levels. When I look at some of the projects, I’m astounded by potential for commercial success and need to disseminate the knowledge to the right people who can make use of it.
Both NIF and TePP (and other organisations) are doing great deal of work in area of recognising innovation and creativity. I’m not sure though that enough is being done in rewarding it suitably in terms of commercial benefit to the entrepreneurs. There is a huge need not only to recognise that potential but to reward it.
Some of the projects I’ve seen are so innovative and so significant that if properly addressed they could create a windfall of money for the entrepreneurs and investors. One such TePP project that I’ve researched a bit (I even managed to trace the entrepreneur and interacted with the him over phone) has the potential for worldwide sales in the range of of hundreds of millions. The problem is, no one has taken an initiative from the industry in identifying this potential and developing the invention.
Naturally, all products may not have such massive commercial value but several are equally important in terms of the benefit they can bring to a large scale of population in areas such as farming.
So, unfortunately, despite the huge prospect of commercial success or potential benefit to the masses, the invention goes unrecognised and entrepreneur’s creativity unrewarded.
I’ve found that this is true not just of TePP and NIF, but of several govt. research institutions (whether in technology or agriculture or any other area) sometimes even from prestigious places like IITs and IISC. Great projects are just sitting in their files and research papers.
What’s needed is people with vision who can look at an invention and ask questions such as…
* Which problems does this invention solve?
* How big or important is that problem?
* What are the other applications in which this invention can be deployed apart from the one intended?
* How does it compare with existing solutions?
* What are the areas that need to be further developed?
* Is there a critical flaw that needs to be plugged?
* How can its cost be brought down?
* What would be the ideal method of commercial deployment that would achieve greatest success and widest penetration?
* How does it need to be packaged and marketed?
* What available modes of deployment can be used?
And so on.
I’m sure even if only a small percentage of the thousands of innovative projects (Honeybee network has documented over 10,000 grassroots innovations) are identified in this way, and are subsequently developed and launched, it would be a great beginning.
Therefore, I contend that it’s not nurturing creativity but rewarding it that’s sorely needed.
Comment by Manu Sharma May 10, 2007 @ 5:37 amWould also like to add that nurturing and rewarding creativity cannot be clubbed together in one institute because they require very different approaches.
While the former will have maximum impact if launched at a large scale (as I said above, at the level of school education and educators’ training). Rewarding creativity, on the other hand, needs to be an extremely focussed small scale activity.
Comment by Manu Sharma May 10, 2007 @ 5:40 amBrilliant idea.
Comment by Ajay May 11, 2007 @ 5:52 amIf there can be a briefing paper on the proposed initiative,with info. on its scope, mission and mandate then one can use that as a starting point to discuss it further.Otherwise
Comment by ravi srinivas May 23, 2007 @ 11:59 amit is difficult to have a meaningful discussion.
I think we definitely need a creativity institute. The prime reason being that our basic education does everything to curb the creativity in people.
Comment by Anuradha Goyal June 17, 2007 @ 6:17 amThe institute can create creativity enablement programs for the rest of the ecosystem, be it our education institutes, our organizations, our social communities and the inter-realtionships between them. I am sure this institute can be self sustaining if it can start doing consulting work for enabling creativity / innovation in established enterprises.
As Ravi suggests, we need to have a paper outlining the objectives of the institute, and then probbaly a larger debate is possible.
We thank all stakeholders for sharing with us their views. Taking into account all suggestions made, the consultants EY submitted concept feasibility report. This will be discussed soon in DSIR.
Comment by A.S.Rao September 15, 2007 @ 6:10 amInformation to all stakeholders:
DPR prepared by consultant has been received at DSIR.
Comment by A.S.Rao November 13, 2008 @ 6:44 amThe institution and the concept is a pioneering one and for anything pioneering, there are enough barriers – barriers to understand the concept, to implement it, to drive it and to achieve success.
In this case success will need the concept to be initialized on a large scale and with hard impact to gain initial momentum, momentum enough to overcome the barriers – practical & intellectual.
For the same the institute of creativity needs to be put on a world map right away by tying up with the whos who institutions e.g – Richard Florida, Edwrd debono, ITPI, MIT Media labs, Ideo et all.
Government should have a marketing blitz around this just as would be if it was a corporate initiative or project or a business unit. This would only be an excellent fit in these tough recessionary times instilling entrepreneurial and innovative confidence amongst people of India and the industry.
Leverage the excellent relationships we have with all the corporates which can and need to use innovation in their businesses for achieving innovative products, services, models without taking much risk.
The idea of a multi-sector focus where the resultant will be applicable in a larger set of sectors will act as a force multiplier for the idea since one innovation can span application across industry sectors. e.g: plastics can be applicable across aviation, auto, toys, space research, defense etc.
The prospects are mind boggling but the need of the hour is NOT to take this project as an ordinary one but to create a halo around it and launch it with the due fanfare it needs to attract the heavy stakeholders right from the beginning.
As a significant contributor to the initial concept I have great faith and passion for this idea and wish all the best for this.
Comment by Seemant Jauhari March 26, 2009 @ 8:03 am