Some optimists think India is moving forward. But the not-so-optimists on the other hand show us a different picture. They say India is in the same situation where it was years ago. “The nation is rapidly modernising, but its age-old inefficiencies persist,” says Pico Iyer. Though he saw the emergence of giants such as Google and Microsoft as good, he says he found it impossible most of the time to get online in a city that is one of our major cyber hubs. The eminent scientist CNR Rao thinks that our laboratories are ‘rife with mediocrity’, our universities are decaying and our scientists are losing ground to activists. He says that India is the biggest supplier of techno-coolies (for the IT industry), which is a sheer waste of talent. What should India do to become the real player? Knowledgeable people say that people matter the most. India needs innovative leaders. Our country needs innovative and socially responsible organisations where a give-and-take situation could be developed. Innovative organisations respect their employees as they know that respect begets loyalty.

Based on the 2011 science careers top employers survey, Carol Milano writes: “Innovative leader is the most powerful driver of the top companies.” According to the survey, top employers search for exceptional scientists who can bring fresh, original ideas to the company. It includes passion to fulfill the objectives of the company. A top scientist wants to be a part of the company that has the potential to make changes in the world. It is not enough for an innovative company to hire people who are only exceptional scientists. The person should also fit into the company’s core values. The innovative company recognises the joys of uncertainty. Maintaining status quo doesn’t satisfy an innovative company. In order to attract the right people, for example, a company advises the job seekers not to apply if science is not their obsession, if one is content being the smartest person in the room and if one is afraid to fail. In other words, if you are routine, you are not fit to work in an innovative company.

Promotion in a research-based company generally means it is time now for scientists to leave the bench. One certainly would want to be promoted, but may also like to stick to the bench. Some companies provide such an opportunity. Such companies recognise the value of the individual in the company. They provide opportunity so that one can stay at the bench without forfeiting any of the managerial incentives.

Retention of good scientist is another issue. A good scientist needs an environment that recognises “accomplishment and celebrates the entire team.” An innovative company encourages individual development plans such as study leave and sending to symposia at company’s cost. The introduction of “social hours”, so that fellow scientists can share perspectives, can greatly help a company. Innovative leadership is a matter that needs to be carefully nurtured and cultivated, writes Milano. We all know that bureaucracy is the greatest enemy of innovation. The respondents of the survey felt that companies need to place at least as much emphasis on society’s interest as they do on business interests. Some innovative companies are adequately serving this purpose by introducing community outreach programmes. These initiatives help companies to generate the right atmosphere and, at the same time, it gives the employees the satisfaction of giving something back to the society.

Last but not the least, we need to nurture future scientists. The department of science and technology, government of India’s INSPIRE (innovation in science pursuit for inspired research) programme is one such initiative. The purpose of INSPIRE is to inspire young minds to follow creative pursuit of science, and build the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the science and technology system and R&D base of the country.

(The writer is a biotechnologist and ED, Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Jaipur)