Jugaad vs. Moonshot Thinking: What's Holding Back India's Break-thro Innovation?

The Innovation Imperative

This article is a reflection that emerged after attending the Metaverse Fireside with Salim Ismail What If Growth Has No Limits? — a special preview session in the lead-up to the Singularity University India Summit 2025 scheduled for this August. The session was a powerful 30-minute fireside chat held inside the SU India Metaverse Lounge and was moderated by Sreekanth K Arimanithaya , CEO of Xarpie Labs and pioneering Singularity University India.

The conversation delved into transformative ideas about exponential technologies, organizational scalability, and the power of moonshot thinking. Dr. Salim Ismail emphasized the importance of shifting from a scarcity to an abundance mindset and posed provocative questions about India's role in shaping the future of innovation. Many of the reflections and perspectives shared in this article are inspired by that insightful exchange. Innovation has long been a cornerstone of progress.

From the steam engine to the smartphone, from penicillin to generative AI, breakthrough ideas have transformed societies, economies, and the way we live what Dr Salim Ismail calls Gutenberg moments. In today's rapidly evolving global landscape, nations are in a race to foster innovation-driven ecosystems that can yield exponential impact. For India, a country brimming with talent and entrepreneurial energy, innovation is not just an aspiration; it is a necessity. But the question arises: are we innovating at the level and scale the world now demands?

The Context: India and the Innovation Landscape

India has shown tremendous promise in the field of innovation. It is the birthplace of some of the world’s most successful IT services firms, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and fintech startups. The country ranks high in frugal innovation and has been lauded for its ability to deliver cost-effective solutions to complex problems. However, when it comes to breakthrough or exponential innovation — the kind that creates entirely new industries or solves massive global challenges — India often lags behind.

One frequently cited reason for this innovation gap is India's deep-rooted Jugaad mindset.

What is Jugaad Innovation?

Jugaad is a colloquial Hindi term that loosely translates to a clever fix, an improvised or low-cost solution using limited resources. It reflects a mindset of ingenuity and resilience in the face of constraints. Over time, Jugaad has been celebrated as a symbol of Indian creativity and grassroots innovation.

Examples of Jugaad Innovation:

• Using a refrigerator motor to power a makeshift water pump.

• The Mitticool clay refrigerator, which requires no electricity.

• Frugal heart surgery at Narayana Health for a fraction of the global cost.

These innovations solve real problems in local contexts, particularly for the economically underprivileged. But they often lack scalability, robustness, or global competitiveness.

The Jugaad Mindset: Strength or Stumbling Block?

The Jugaad mindset is rooted in:

• Frugality and improvisation

• Risk aversion and incrementalism

• Resourcefulness over rigor

• Short-term problem-solving rather than long-term vision

• A scarcity mindset, where constraints dictate the limits of ambition

While this approach has yielded practical solutions in a resource-constrained environment, it can also create a ceiling for ambition. It tends to optimize for "good enough," potentially stifling the pursuit of radical, high-risk, high-reward ideas.

India's culture of risk aversion and "playing it safe" further compounds the problem. In many Indian households and institutions, failure is frowned upon, seen as a source of shame rather than a step towards growth. In contrast, in places like Silicon Valley, failure is often celebrated as a badge of honor, a necessary detour on the path to breakthrough success.

Breakthrough/Exponential Innovation and Moonshot Thinking

Exponential innovation involves the creation of transformative technologies or systems that scale non-linearly, impacting millions or even billions. This type of innovation demands bold vision, significant investment, and a culture that encourages failure and experimentation.

Moonshot Thinking is a term popularized by Google X to describe the mindset required for exponential innovation. It entails:

• Aiming 10x better rather than 10% improvement

• Tackling big, audacious problems

• Combining interdisciplinary teams and cutting-edge tech

• Embracing failure as part of the innovation process

Examples:

• SpaceX's reusable rockets

• CRISPR gene-editing technology

• Tesla’s electric vehicles

• mRNA vaccines

Peter Diamandis and Salim Ismail of Singularity University have been leading global voices advocating for Exponential Organizations — entities that leverage accelerating technologies and abundance thinking to achieve massive impact. They challenge the scarcity mindset and promote a shift towards an abundance mindset, where opportunities and resources are seen as scalable and limitless, especially through technology.

Jugaad vs. Moonshot Thinking: A Comparative Analysis

Is the Jugaad Mindset Holding India Back?

The Jugaad mindset has served India well in building resilience and accessibility in tough conditions. However, when this mindset becomes the default approach to innovation, it can indeed hinder the pursuit of exponential impact. The over-glorification of frugality may disincentivize big bets, long-term R&D, and the audacity to imagine differently.

India's innovation ecosystem also suffers from a scarcity-based cultural narrative that emphasizes survival over scale, conservation over expansion, and risk mitigation over experimentation. Without a cultural shift that embraces failure as part of learning and adopts abundance-driven thinking, India risks being a consumer, not a creator, of exponential technologies.

How Do We Move Forward?

1. Reframe Innovation: Celebrate both frugal and breakthrough innovations, but don’t conflate the two.

2. Invest in R&D: India spends less than 1% of GDP on R&D; this must change to enable deep-tech innovation.

3. Build Innovation Ecosystems: Foster academia-industry-startup-government collaborations.

4. Promote Entrepreneurial Risk-Taking: De-stigmatize failure and reward bold thinking.

5. Mentor Moonshot Leaders: Identify and groom leaders with a global vision and resilience.

6. Leverage Diaspora Networks: Tap into global Indian talent and capital for moonshot ventures.

7. Embed Innovation in Education: Teach design thinking, systems thinking, and exponential technologies early.

8. Adopt an Abundance Mindset: Encourage belief in scalable resources and possibilities, inspired by the frameworks of Peter Diamandis and Salim Ismail.

Jugaad is a uniquely Indian expression of innovation under constraint, but it should not be the ceiling of our ambitions. To solve the grand challenges of our time — climate change, healthcare, education, space, and beyond — India must embrace moonshot thinking and build the infrastructure for exponential innovation. Frugality and audacity are not mutually exclusive. The future lies in blending the best of both worlds to build a new innovation narrative for India — one that is bold, abundant, and exponential.

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