Dr. Hardik Vachhrajani, Assistant Professor, School of Business at the Amritapuri campus recently presented a paper at the 4th International Conference on Indicators and Concepts of Innovation in Stuttgart, Germany.

Hosted by the Graduate School of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, University of Stuttgart, the conference was attended by approximately 25 innovation scholars from around 10 countries.

Dr. Hardik represented India together with one another participant from the Department of Management, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore.

Presenting a paper titled Innovations to elevate the most deserving: A stroll back to recent Indian experiences, Dr. Hardik explained the changing approach to innovation in India.

“Affordability and sustainability are replacing premium pricing and abundance as innovation’s key drivers,” he highlighted, quoting from a 2010 study of Prahalad and Mashelkar.

Discussing case studies of successful examples of innovation including Tata Nano and the Aravind Eye Hospital, he elaborated, “These innovations are targeted to elevate people at the bottom of the pyramid. Both are a great success not only in terms of the impact they have but also in terms of their ability to create sustainable business model.”

The paper, together with others presented at the conference, will be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development.

The overall theme of the conference this year was The Technological Dimension of Innovation that explored the tension zone between the concepts of a social construction of technology and a technological construction of society.

In previous years, the conference has focused on non-technological and non-economic innovations and their impact on economy (Bern 2008) and the social dimension of innovation (Prague 2009).

November 2, 2010
School of Business, Amritapuri