The government of India has declared 2010-2020 as the decade of innovation. The endeavour of the national innovation council (NInC) is to develop an inclusive innovation strategy geared towards creating ‘more from less for more’. The Indian model of innovation is frugal, distributed and affordable. “The idea is to encourage, inspire and empower people to think, discover, deliberate, innovate and implement novel solutions at the local and national level to expedite the process of development for the benefit of the nation”, writes Sam Pitroda, chairman, NInC. I recently attended a conference on innovation and the ecosystem. Since cities are an important part of the ecosystem, after the conference, a thought occurred to me – Is an innovation city co-dependent, and if so, what size of a city is ideal for innovation?
In this exciting period of development, our lives and the whole human ecosystem are going through a major transformation. As we grow, cities are growing too. We are seeing massive migration of rural population to urban centres. More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. It has several implications. One is that towns are becoming cities and cities are getting transformed into metropolis. As the city grows, one observes a change in its character. We observe changes in consumption patterns and population behaviour. As the city grows, it attracts creative people, and thus, its potential for innovation increases. As the city grows, new resources of wealth generation are created. It starts optimising the delivery of the social services. This is due to the economies of scale in infrastructure. However, as the city grows, there is also an increase in crime, pollution and diseases. A city loses or gains its identity when it becomes a megacity.
To read the original article: Innovation city | mydigitalfc.com
