INSME's Interviews

“Innovation for success: Locally adopted, Globally replicable”: lessons from the winners of the INSME Award 2005

INSME: How did you learn about the INSME Award and why did you decide to participate?

Mrs. Berger (ICNM): I learnt about this prize by occasion. The Austrian Ministry of Economics and Labour passed on the information about this award to us. And when we read the call for application, it was quite clear that it focused on what we are working on. It was just fitting. So our decision to participate was quite quick. You know, if you are an organisation working with SMEs, it is very encouraging that you are given a chance to show what you do. [INSME: ICNM was assigned the INSME Award for its contribution to the advancement of the multimedia industry through the organisation of several international activities like contests, networking and training initiatives.]

Dr. Malik (SIIR): We learnt about this award from the INSME portal and we decided to apply for it because we believed that the advantages of the technology developed by our Institute met the requirements highlighted in the award’s call for application: it is a technology relevant for small and medium scale enterprises, it improves the economic status of the area in which it is applied, it promotes women entrepreneurship and generates employment. [INSME: SIIR has been assigned the INSME Award for developing a new technology for low cost napkins which has turned out to be of great impact to the health and hygiene of rural women in India and is expected to lead positive effects also on jobs in rural areas.] The technology has a global relevance as the experience gained in India can be used for other countries with similar solutions in the world.

INSME: So promotion and visibility were the main reasons to participate. Am I right?

Mrs. Berger (ICNM): Yes you are, because all the projects we are working on have to give recognition to our target group (SMEs in the multimedia content sector). So the more promotion we get as an organisation (as well as for our projects), the more our target will profit from it. Therefore, the INSME Award is beneficial for us and for our target group to make our activity more visible.
In addition, since INSME is a network with a wide range of organisations and institutions, being part of it gives us the chance to learn from each other and from other technological fields, different from multimedia [INSME: As winners of the INSME Award, ICNM and SIIR have been granted 12 months free full membership in the INSME Association].

Dr. Malik (SIIR): In the era of globalisation of science and technology the focus should be on the utilisation of research efforts for the benefit of society more specifically for those who belong to the category of Have-nots. It is important that proper promotion is given to the technology and its impact is made visible to all concerned. In that sense INSME’s efforts to network various stakeholders of the technology was the reason of our participation. Networking is important for us as well. We feel that since INSME is a platform for networking, SMEs from different geographical areas can easily get to know our technology and be interested in promoting it in their own country.

INSME: Let’s shift to the theme of this first edition of the INSME Award, “Innovation for success: Locally adopted, Globally replicable”. Focusing on the first part of this slogan, we would like you to express your views on what made your innovation a success.
I would like to address first to you, Dr. Malik. You work in a research centre and we all know that research is what feeds innovation. But research finding contributes to economic growth only when they are translated into concrete applications. You have proved to be able to do it: you have brought a new technology of yours into the market. How did you succeed?

Dr. Malik (SIIR): The success of a technology depends on different factors, for instance: the existence of technological and scientific inputs, the identification of key factors required for the development and above all the team efforts in making the technology successfull. In our case all these elements were present. Our institute has the mandate to develop technology, which results in the form of an acceptable product as per the needs of the consumer while developing such product the aim has always been to translate the thoughts of the mind to into a marketable product in sustainable manner requiring minimum inputs. For this particular technology the waste material from textile industries has been used to produce valuable product for the hygiene of rural women.

INSME: I suppose you also faced difficulties. What kind of problems did you face and how did you overcome them?

Dr. Malik (SIIR): Difficulties were related to practical issues, for instance the optimisation of conditions to achieve quality products, the design and development of the machinery and the design of parameters for achieving the optimum production levels. In order to overcome these difficulties, we deliver training programmes and workshops and organise demonstration trials on the plant set up at SIIR. We also act towards the end users, rural women, in order to create awareness among them.

INSME: Mrs. Berger, let’s talk about the link between knowledge and innovation. Knowledge is recognised to be a competitive leverage. But the link between knowledge and innovation is not so immediate or clear. How do you think knowledge can be put into value and be transformed into innovation? How do you achieve this in your activity?

Mrs. Berger (ICNM): Knowledge is for us an engine of change and without change there cannot be any innovation. And to gain knowledge the distribution of information has to be guaranteed. This is a basic principle in ICNM’s activity. As a matter of fact we believe in (and work in favour of) information distribution to everybody all around the world, not only in high developed countries, but also in lower or least developed countries. So access to information is essential to produce knowledge. Without information and access to information no knowledge can be gained.

Moreover information has to be given in the form of examples. That’s what ICNM does with its analysis, support and training activity in the field of new media content and markets, selecting best practices, promoting and showcasing them. Examples have to be given not to have SMEs copy them, but to show them that a specific solution can be found. In our opinion it is very important that SMEs in any part of the world understand that there is a specific solution for them and they have to think about it. That is what we try to do with our activity: showing that there can be small solutions, easy solutions, not necessarily high tech solutions, that can help SMEs.

INSME: When talking about information, the problem of selection is especially felt, above all in the field of multimedia. How can an SME know that a piece of information (in your case new media content) is valuable or of high quality?

Mrs. Berger (ICNM): The contests that we organised are there to solve this problem. Through our contests we select information. After our contests we produce catalogues, DVDs, websites. And these products are there to say: if you are looking for a good application in the field of e-business, e-marketing or e-learning, well here are the examples. And we do this on a national as well as international basis. We show what a jury of experts has selected as a good quality content to a network of partners that cover 168 countries.

INSME: Considering that your experience has been successful, do you think that it can also be regarded as a model? As you know, INSME Award’s objective is to acknowledge and promote those initiatives that can be replicated in other geographical or sectorial areas. Where and how can your technology or your business model be applied?

Dr. Malik (SIIR): As far as SIIR’s technology is concerned, I think that our experience could be taken as an example to promote employment generation for women and up-build SMEs. As for the replication aspect, the technology developed by the Shriram Institute can be replicated to other geographical areas, especially in developing countries. Depending on the raw material availability, facilities availability (water, power, etc…) and manpower availability, our technology can be tailored to other situations. Training can be delivered not only to the skilled workers but also to the unskilled ones. Moreover the plant is easy to operate and women can run the plant themselves.

Mrs. Berger (ICNM): Our initiative is a model that can be replicated too. We already do that! We offer our partners our evaluation software for their national awards. They can also “rent” our guidelines for best practice but they have to commit themselves to our quality rules for one or two years. This is our way to spread the knowledge. Moreover, the idea of evaluating best practice can also be developed in other fields.

INSME: As winners of the INSME Award your organisations have been granted free full membership in the INSME Association for 2005. What are your expectations with regard to your participation in this network? And how do you think you’ll be able to contribute to the dialogue among INSME Members?

Dr. Malik (SIIR): As regards to what INSME can do for us, my expectation is that it can promote our technology through its networking platform and online tools, for instance the newsletter. We in turn can share our experience with other INSME Members and offer them our technology. Our institute has been working on various areas of research relevant to the industry in turn to the society at large. With the network of INSME or institute would be keen to work on joint projects with other member countries or institutes. We can also take up contract research assignments on behalf of the member countries of INSME. For those who want to take the technology to India we can help them to provide adaptation of technology.

Mrs. Berger (ICNM): What is interesting for me is the wide range of members of the INSME Association. It is very fruitful to discuss from different points of view and to hear a little bit of this broad knowledge.
In addition, we can broaden the view of pure technological innovation, moving towards a content innovation that can be tailored to different fields. We also have a good experience in the relationship North-South and in international award contests: we can contribute with this.

April, 2005 Copyright © INSME 2005