Indian School of Business organised a round table discussion at its Mohali campus with Richard Rossow, Senior Fellow and Wadhwani Chair in U.S. India Policy Studies, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The discussion was around the theme ‘Shared Prosperity - Finding innovative solutions to global challenges’.
 
The session began with an introduction round where Pradeep Singh, Deputy Dean and CEO Mohali campus, introduced Rick with the ISB staff, students and other guests. Pradeep Singh said that the school looked forward to working towards a better world with ideas and insights from its respected guests across countries.
 
Richard shared his insights on ‘Shared Prosperity- Finding innovative solutions to global challenges’ in the backdrop of launch of the India Innovation Forum recently. Rick observed that even though a lot of changes have been initiated and things are moving well at the ground level with regard to the India-US partnership, there is a certain inter-government level ideological disconnect between the two nations. The launch of the US-India Innovation Forum in August 2016 amidst this background comes as a welcome step. The Forum envisages a first time thrust on innovation and on small businesses; because earlier while businesses were encouraged they grew within a short periphery and remained small.
 
The engagement at the Forum could have many social implications as well and could come as an ice-breaker for the policy disconnect between the two nations. For instance, the Start-up India and the Stand-up India sessions can help entrepreneurs, and new ways may need to be sought to get more Americans to get involved in the process.
 
Richard also stressed that the focus of this new relationship should be on the commercial aspects. In his words ‘businesses will go where profits are.’ The buzz word for this partnership seems to be frugal innovation, or in Indian terminology ‘jugaad’. The model through which the Forum is envisaged to work is by setting up one accelerator in India and the other accelerator in the U.S. University partnerships with the State Universities may also provide an impetus to this model, though it may be a bit difficult in the current scenario.
 
The session culminated in a Q and A session.

-Contributed by Samridhi Aggarwal (Co17)