Creativity and Innovation for Sustainable Development
One must understand the difference between creativity and innovation. Creativity is the function of the intellect for breeding new ideas but innovation converts the same into tangible products. — Dr. Dhanpat Ram Agarwal
It was in September 2015 that the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 SDGs (Goals) including a plan to end poverty, inequality, to protect the planet and ensure prosperity for future generations. As a matter of fact these are also the important goal post for A Vikasit Bharat@2047.
Quality education (SDG 4), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and no poverty (SDG 1) are the major goals which our Hon’ble Prime Minister is also advocating in his socio-economic development objectives. Besides this We in India also speak about Entrepreneurship and self reliance for zero unemployment. These goals can be achieved through innovation and new ideas and creativity. United Nations Genereal Assembly has adopted a Resolution (71/284) on 27 April 2017 to designate 21 April as “World Creativity and Innovation Day”. Besides UN has also embarked a “World IP Day” on 26th April every year which is organised under the banner of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). IP and innovation are two different concept although complementary to each other. IP or intellectual property leads to IPR or intellectual property rights which is protected under Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the different IPR laws for Patents, Trade Mark, Copy Rights etc. However Innovation basically means to use the new ideas into products and the commercialisation of the creativity or of the intellectual property (IP).
Innovation can be in any field of Marketing, Finance, Production or even in any social field of education, health and governance. Thus innovation is a much wider term and need not have any IPR behind it. Therefore in order to have economic growth , the society must encourage and create a conducive environment for incubating the ideas of the young mind in schools and nurture it for converting the ideas into wealth or the social capital or the human capital. In today’s knowledge era, this is very important and for a country like India where we have the richest Human Resource in the world, there is tremendous opportunity for promoting innovation and creativity through proper education and skill development. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative of Government of India under NITI AYOG set up in 2016. AIM has set up Atal Tinkering Labs in schools across districts, Atal Incubators and Atal Community Innovation Centres and to provide support to start ups.
Climate change and global warming is a major problem to the Mother Earth. In G-20 meeting our Prime Minister spoke about “One Earth, one family and one future” and this became part of the Delhi Declaration. Green house gas (GHG) or the black carbon absorbs the Sun’s energy and light , affects cloud formation and rainfall patterns causing violent storms, rains and floods. Glaciers are melting and the sea levels are rising endangering the lives of the people living in coastal areas and many of them have already become the victims as climate refugees. The climate change and air pollution causes neurological, respiratory and immunological diseases including cancer. The World Bank has estimated the cost of damage to health due to air pollution to the tune of US$8.1 trillion a year equivalent to 6.1% of global GDP. (Source WIPO Magazine, Issue 1/2024).
Therefore, there is an immediate need for adoption of Green Technology. Today there is a positive change in the field of innovation and as per WIPO Patent Analysis, out of over 15.2 million active patents, more than 4.7 million are already linked to SDGs and it is also reported that 31.4% of active patents are addressing the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
India’s position in the Global Innovation Index 2023, is 40 out of 132 economies published by World Intellectual Property Organisation. India has been on a rising trajectory from a rank of 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2023 which is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant start-up ecosystem and the active participation of various science department including department of space, the department of biotechnology and also the departments of electronic, IT, telecommunications. Niti Aayog has also been working tirelessly to ensure optimisation for bringing policy led innovation for electric vehicles and for green energy.
However, India’s R&D spending remains very dismal and is one of the lowest in the world. India spends less than 0.7% of GDP on R&D in contrast to 2.43% for China, 3.3% for Japan 3.14% for Germany and 3.46% for the US. It is also very unfortunate that the private sector spending on R&D is practically nil and whatever little bit is spent is for Pharmaceutical and IT and the major part or almost 2/3 of the India’s R&D is spent by Government department and the public sector.
One must understand the difference between creativity and innovation. Creativity is the function of the intellect for breeding new ideas but innovation converts the same into tangible products. For example, one person may be very creative in his thoughts for improvement in a particular field of technology and even in the business and may bring out a very good document or a research paper but an innovator is an entrepreneur who will translate his idea in producing a new product. It may be a new machine or an e- vehicle or a mobile App which can be used by the consumer. Similarly, there is a difference between an invention and an innovation. An invention is generally in the field of science and technology which is in theory or may even be tried out in a laboratory. However, an innovation will look for a pilot project or a prototype through several attempts and ultimately bring out a product in the form of a medicine or a motor car or an engine or an aeroplane. Thus there needs to be collaborative approach and an ecosystem for proper coordination of incubating the ideas or creativity and for providing research facilities for invention and for proper venture capital funds for a start-up whereby an entrepreneur can really make the product by taking some risk.
Lately some unique initiatives are being taken to provide support to startup’s by private enterprise. One such is by India Accelerator which has launched a new vertical, RUMS (Robotics, Unmanned & Space) to provide strategic support to unmanned aerial systems, counterdron and ground robots with the help of dedicated team led by Indian Army Veteran Lt. General Anil Chait. Similarly Zoho corp of Sridhar Vembu has also invested in Drone startup Yali Aerospace providing drone solutions for medical, surveillance and logistics globally. India is becoming the World’s fastest growing startup ecosystem with more than 100 Unicorns as of March 2024 and more than 100000 startups and the number is rising in geometric progression.
Thus for Vikasit Bharat @2047 innovation and creativity is the right answer where our youth which is highest in number globally can act as the engine of growth and prosperity for a sustainable Mother Earth.
Dr. Dhanpat Ram Agarwal: Director, Swadeshi Research Institute and National Co-Convenor, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
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