Creating World Class R & D Organisations In India

CREATING WORLD CLASS R & D ORGANISATIONS IN INDIA
The Nataraja Foundation, Mumbai, 30th
March ‘ 2018
Strategic Design Concepts
Design Thinking Workshop

March ‘ 2018
© Ashish Puntambekar March ‘ 2018
Ashish Puntambekar, Trustee of the Nataraja Foundation and Lead designer of its Design Lab is the author
of this strategic concept note.
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March ‘ 2018
Former US Secretary of State, Henry A Kissinger has said “ If you are going to
do something ultimately you might as well do it immediately ”.
This “ Here and Now “ attitude is something that R & D Organisations in
India need to inject right into their DNA if they are to successfully Fast-
track new product / technology development.
From a strategic designers perspective, it does not matter whether the
research being done is in Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) , Genetic Engineering
or Armaments ( e.g a Next Generation Rifle ) .The Macro policy remains
the same.
There are however certain Do’s and Don’ts that organisation
managements should keep in mind while setting themselves up for
success.
By success, I mean starting right from scratch ... to create a Patent portfolio
with a market value of US $ 300 – 500 Million in 5 – 7 years.
In the following discussion I will focus on the Do’s with the caveat that
the Don'ts are equally important.
Design Issues in Creating World Class R & D Organisations in India :
1. Leadership :
It is better to have a leader who has great people skills and who can get
brilliant minds from different disciplines to work together … than to have
a leader who is technically brilliant herself / himself but cannot get five
people to agree on anything OR work together.
2. Alignment with Business :
Right at the beginning you need to have a good understanding of (1) Who
your Target customers are (2) What are the economics of the existing
Product / Technology in the market that you are seeking to replace ? (3)
What are the margins which you expect after successful development ?
Strategic Design Concepts
By Ashish Puntambekar

March ‘ 2018
In the case of Breakthrough Technologies, it is OK , NOT to have a
complete understanding of business potential at the beginning, but you
should at least “ Have a plan to … develop a proper plan “ within a
reasonable timeframe.
Secondly, all research projects must have a Business Owner who drives
the project and has responsibility for its delivery.
In some projects Top Management has a vision about a technology and
its possibilities ( For instance Henry Ford was convinced of the possibility
of the Multi – Cylinder IC Engine in the same engine block. It was his
vision and he funded it for a long time till it achieved results ). Such
projects ( which do not originate from the Business Team but from the
promoter ) should then be part of a Management book with a defined stop
loss level where the promoter will take a call.
But for most research projects, the need identification and business case
should come from the Business group.
3. Start With An End Objective in Mind :
" Well Begun is half done" is how the expression goes.
Once Alignment with business objectives has been achieved through
Business - R & D Meetings, a Project Charter is written and the hard work
of Estimating and Calculating various variables starts. (1) What are the
Markets you are targeting ? (2) What are your competitors economics ?
(3) What are the cutoff “ economic thresholds “ below which you will NOT
take up a particular research project ?
Most projects FAIL because these issues are not handled at the beginning
itself. Therefore we do all the numbers and for this certain templates are
required.
There are certain standard templates and tools that are used by research
teams so that they stay focused from the start. I have personally
developed such templates and have found them to be very useful in
helping the team become more financially aware while simultaneously
pushing the Technology Innovation envelope.

March ‘ 2018
4. Fix Responsibility with a RACI Matrix :
You need to be very clear about who owns the Research project and who
is responsible for delivery. A RACI Matrix can help fix responsibility within
the New Product / Service development ecosystem and fast-track the
process.
5. Inter –Disciplinary Teams :
This is perhaps the most important of all in an R & D organisation that is
working on the development of New Products / Technologies.
Companies such as 3M and Google have organised themselves to work in
Inter-disciplinary teams and it has been one of the primary reasons for
their immense success.
The critical thing here is diversity. Your team must have the right mix of
Subject matter experts, Scientists, Engineers, Tinkerers and Design
Thinkers as well as people from the IP team and Business who will
constitute the core team.
Project leaders should also bring in line function experts from Finance,
Legal, Procurement etc … to give critical inputs from various angles so
that costly mistakes are avoided in the product / technology development
effort ... at the beginning itself.
This has not been happening In India for a long time and as a result today
we have a situation where money is often spent on useless projects with
no business or strategic case because different technology verticals do
not talk to each other … or to the business group.
This needs to change and the best way to do this is to have inter-
disciplinary teams working on all New product / technology development
projects.
In fact a Project leaders performance appraisal / grading should be clearly
linked to the seriousness with which she / he brings in people from other
disciplines into the project team.
There are ways to break up Knowledge silos within an organisation and
this is best done by rewarding senior managers who do this. Similarly

March ‘ 2018
those who resist breaking up organisational silos need to be suitably
educated so that they see a personal interest in the creation of Inter-
disciplinary groups to fast track innovation.
6. Design Thinking and Fast Prototyping :
It is now well established that Design Thinkers and Strategic Designers
bring huge value to New Product and Technology development and it is
worth paying for their services as these are people who look for
Possibilities … not problems.
Designers think very differently. They are able to effortlessly synthesise
their vast knowledge with the varied experiences of Team members ( from
across Industry verticals ), to see things that most people with a more
limited exposure would miss.
This is a very significant point, because the difference is between
obtaining a Unique insight ... or missing it entirely.
Designers working as part of a team in a Design Thinking workshop, help
a team develop a larger number of options than they otherwise would ...
and then help them to quickly develop prototypes and test them instantly.

March ‘ 2018
Design also allows you to achieve a deep reduction is costs at the very
beginning.
Once you have brainstormed the design options and have brought in all
the ideas including Customer Feedback and Cost Reducing Concepts ...
you should immediately develop your first Prototype ( This could
sometimes be just a Drawing ) ... and Test it immediately with select
customers who have been Co-opted into the New product development
effort.
All of this greatly reduces the time to product / technology launch and
could potentially save the organisation tens of millions of US Dollars in
each project.
7. Fail Fast :
My limited experience is that researchers are prone to get emotionally
attached to their work. While this is natural and very human, it starts
hurting the organization financially if a project is unable to go
beyond bench scale and subsequently beyond pilot scale ... due to scale
up issues at these stages.
Sometimes the idea itself is flawed, but whatever the reason, it is
important to test all assumptions as soon as possible and to kill the project
if it stalls for any reason.
To avoid any conflict of interest, the Business group that usually finances
R & D projects should have final kiss – kill authority and their word on this
should be final.
Financial discipline requires that R & D should not be allowed to bypass
the business head and get independent approval from management. If
this happens too often, it undermines financial discipline and could
become a Major governance issue.
The main problem is that Failing has negative connotations in India and
therefore most people just do not like to openly accept failure.
This needs to be changed. The best way to do this is to have a Special
Prize for the research team which has killed the maximum number of
projects. By openly rewarding people in the Scientific community who

March ‘ 2018
believe in Financial discipline ... we can successfully overcome the Stigma
attached with failure.
8. Reduce Bureaucracy :
This is a Key decision matter for the CEO . It is a choice she / he has to
make between continuing with the same old bureaucratic control over the
R & D function ... or shifting totally to a New Ideas driven system.
This is a Key decision for the CEO because in the Knowledge Economy,
Intellectual property and Patents that come from a well managed R & D
function have the same financial significance and impact on corporate
valuation as PROVEN RESERVES do in the Upstream Oil & Gas
business.
There is a need for a Transparent and Accelerated Process ... without the
bureaucracy and information secrecy. Experience in India ( mostly in
Government funded R& D ) shows that the scientific community and its
bureaucrats has often worked to ensure that senior management never
comes to know that a Project has failed. They do this by creating an
" Information Black Hole " which is essentially a strategy which ensures
that No information about the project ever goes beyond the core project
team.
The result has been huge losses of Public and Private capital and R & D
will languish as long as business leaders do not take a firm view on this
matter.
To make things happen the CEO has to do the following :
1. Ensure that the Innovation Committee is staffed by IDEAS People only
... Even if you have just one genuine innovator to start with.
2. Ensure that your Intellectual Property ( IP ) Committee has Genuine
Innovators and Lawyers besides the technology vertical heads ... and NO
one else
The bureaucrat has No Business being on any of these committees.
These are individuals who have never done any real innovation in their
lives and yet they have been able to ensure their presence by introducing

March ‘ 2018
some New process OR a New set of Rules now and then … to remain
relevant
To neutralise the bureaucrat , Organisations need to realise that they need
the bureaucrat a Lot Less than they need the IDEAS person and as long
as the CEO understands this, the research team will deliver and Make
Money over the medium term.
9. Respect Contracts & Knowledge Sharing Agreements :
Respect for Contracts and Knowledge Sharing Agreements ... is
Extremely important.
In today’s world with “ Technology velocity “ being what it is, it is counter
productive to dis-respect contracts and knowledge sharing agreements.
A well crafted Collaborative Technology Development Agreement will
create Hundreds of Millions of dollars worth of wealth. It is therefore well
worth the effort to spend time on this. The same can be said of a
robust Corporate Design Thinking Standard which must be a written
document and disseminated throughout the organisation.
A Properly written Design Thinking Standard can bring in Huge Changes
in the way your Organisation thinks. This is because Design Thinking will
change your Annual Operating Plans in each department of the Company
... from the Treasury team, to Corporate Finance, to Sales and Marketing,
Manufacturing and even the Construction Team , if you are into
Construction. I have written a Design Thinking Standard and its my
personal experience that is talking here.
As far as the Collaborative Technology Development Agreement is
concerned, it’s observed need to Fast-Track R & D has its origins in …
the Changing Nature Of Work itself.
McKinsey has written an entire report on the Subject of " The Changing
Nature Of Work ". It is a seminal work and I encourage everyone to read
it.

March ‘ 2018
The truth is that Excellence and the people who possess expert level skill
sets are no longer interested in working for one company. Instead they
will typically work for 5 – 6 different companies at the same time.
The question Business heads therefore need to ask themselves is this :
" Are we better off hiring an Expert who comes in for a few weeks and
Changes the way 300 people think about a problem … or are we better off
spending US $ 20 - 30 Million each year on staff salaries in the hope that
one of our scientists will some day change the way he / she thinks ... to
come up with some breakthrough idea.
Therefore a sound collaborative agreement framework makes things
much easier for everyone.
Let the innovator come in, give her ideas … and move on to her next
assignment immediately with Another Company. To ensure that your IP is
protected. you can have a well designed Non Disclosure Agreement
( NDA ) with a Non-compete clause that works for both parties. To make
sure it works, craft an agreement that works for the Ideas person as well.
Too restrictive a Non – compete clause will not work in todays
environment where real innovators are a Rare and much sought after
commodity. It is also true that genuine innovators hardly have the time or
the inclination to go against a Non-Compete clause.
So ... Do Not listen to your Bureaucrats and your lawyers. Focus instead
on what your Organisation wants out of a Collaborative Framework
Agreement ( In terms of Millions of US Dollars of additional revenue and
a much better trained team of scientists who gain immensely by
interacting with Design Specialists and Senior Technologists ) .
By focusing on strategic objectives the organisation is able to Leapfrog
technologies and acquire new capabilities. This may cost some money,
but it is money very well spent.
Collaboration is now the New Normal even in India. If you are expecting
a real Expert or an Innovator to dedicate all his or her time to your
company and not work with others, it is time you did a reality check.

March ‘ 2018
10. Maximize Video Conferencing :
An easy and convenient way to cut costs steeply in R & D is to Maximise
Video conferencing. In this day and age, there is absolutely no need to
travel halfway around the world to meet someone face to face.
In fact you could move close to 90 % - 95 % of your initial Ideas generating
and product development process online by extensively using Video
Conferencing and Paypal.
In fact by using Video Conferencing and Payment gateways such as
Paypal, R & D Organisations in India can cut their Idea generation costs
by close to 75 % and at the same time develop far superior products than
has hitherto been possible. Nowadays, everyone uses Paypal and
organisations can use the platform to pay Innovators and Technology
experts with whom they are collaborating in a seamless and convenient
manner. Paypal also ensures that you have access to Experts on demand
at a very affordable cost.
Organisations can use the money saved from reduced foreign travel to
set up relationships with leading universities and research institutions
around the world.
Many universities like MIT and Stanford have well established
collaborative research programs in a large variety of disciplines. They also
have Industry partnership agreements that could be used to gain access
to the best minds on literally any subject.
Today, all it needs to spark off a new product or service innovation is a
discussion with a technical expert working in the same area. The
discussions are also extremely interactive and interesting and Video has
proved to be a very effective way to accelerate innovation.
11. Huge Shortage of End To End Technology Experts :
One of the Key Challenges in India, that is hampering our ability to
develop Technology is the Huge Shortage of Senior Technical people with
proven experience in End to End Technology development. These are
people who have the skills necessary to take a Technology from Bench
Scale ... To Pilot ... To full Commercial scale. We just do not have enough

March ‘ 2018
of these people in India and most of our scientists are currently not skilled
in taking a technology beyond Bench Scale.
Get Retired Scientists ( From The US / EU/ Russia / Japan ) ... To Train Young
Scientists in India
The idea here is to Get these people, Many of them , Retired
scientists who have worked with the worlds largest technology companies
... to advise Indian Companies Via Video Conference from the comfort of
their homes in the US, Europe, Japan , Russia or Where-ever.
This will greatly help bridge the Experience deficit in End to End
Technology development that currently exists in India. This kind of
strategy will speed up the Training of our young scientists and engineers
and Fast-Track the development of indigenous technology within the next
decade.
For instance, after the Collapse of the Soviet Union, the Chinese hired
5,000 Russian Military Scientists who had been laid off … and got them
to develop Unique technology for China. This resulted in the development
of State of the Art technologies in China, not just for the Military but also
in the manufacturing and other industries. It was a Strategic Decision the
Chinese took.
We need to adopt a similar approach in India by bringing in the best minds
from around the world to engage with and train our young scientists. If this
is done, it will transform Indian industry and our innovation landscape.
The Government of India needs to facilitate this access to Technology
specialists from around the world by means of a forward looking policy.
If the Chinese could do it and get outstanding results, why can India not
do it ?
12. Monetisation … Implementing the 90/10 rule
Ultimately the success of any business venture is critically dependent on
People. Ninety Percent of the time, success depends on who you take on
as your research partner or who you choose to do business with.

March ‘ 2018
In the case of a Research / IP development project it is even more
important.
No matter how good the idea and how sound your other decisions above
are, if you choose the wrong partners you will have to pay a very heavy
price. Therefore it is extremely important to be careful in matters
concerning the selection of Business partners.
13. Need for a Strategic Patents Policy
Patents in the knowledge business ( as has been stated before), are in
the same Asset class as Reserves in the Upstream Oil & Gas Business.
The Gold standard in Patent efficiency belongs to companies like Siemens
and others where approximately 55 % of Patents are have some tangible
value ( i.e 45 % of patents are worthless ). It goes by this logic that in most
organisations, the lack of a clear Patents strategy has led to a proliferation
of Patents, most of which ( 85 % in some cases ) are worthless.
Organisations therefore need to achieve an affordable balance between
the Researchers craving for more and more patents against their names
and the organisations need to prevent frivolous filings.
One solution therefore is a Platform / Flanking strategy where patents are
filed in accordance with a strategic plan spelt out in advance. In addition
to this organisations also need to develop templates to help them put a
value to each patent in their portfolio.
So you need to have both ( A robust strategy for your patent portfolio and
a set of templates to help you determine the value of the technologies you
are developing ).
14. Does SIZE Matter ?
In India specifically, the Smaller you are , the better off you are. In fact, I
would say that you are Very Lucky if you are small today ( 2018 ).
This is because in India, most of our Larger R & D outfits are struggling
with Bureaucracy and Massive Internal Politics which has made it

March ‘ 2018
virtually impossible for them to deliver any innovation. This problem
( i.e Politicians / Beltway Bandits in the Guise of Scientists ) within the
scientific community in India has become so huge and pervasive and so
much of a drag on Innovation over the last 40 – 50 years, that it has
become necessary to Specifically put it on the Agenda.
A second worrying trend seen in India and mostly in Govt. Scientific
organisations is the alteration of the original object function of the
traditional R & D organisation. The object function in many organisations
has been altered to maximize foreign trips … not research. They have
become specialists in attending international conferences and in visiting
foreign labs. Technology groups within organizations are therefore in fact
Tourist groups and many of our scientists are in fact Glorified Tourists.
Just go and talk to the accounts department which clears their bills. It will
become crystal clear what has been going on … for decades.
When so little time is spent in the Lab, it is not surprising that there is so
little delivery in terms of New products or New Technologies. The only
way to stop this bleeding of scarce resources is to have a policy that
Maximizes the use of Video Conferencing in Technology collaboration as
stated earlier.
We are spending Tens of Thousands of Crores in National R & D Labs
and Private sector Labs across the nation, yet there is no output. This is
not normal and should not be accepted as such. There is a need therefore
for leaders within Government and the private sector to solve the
bureaucracy problem and lack of employee engagement issue … in
creative ways.
It is for these reasons that I am saying that if you are Small and
Entrepreneurial , then you have Everything going for you ... as long as you
hire very carefully. In fact, small companies can considerably reduce risks
by bringing most of their people in as consultants for Specific assignments
on a temporary basis. That way you get to see who is a genuine scientist
by observing them over a period of time.
Developing collaborative relationships with Government institutions will
allow small innovators to gain access to sophisticated R & D Labs that the
Large Govt. establishments have and most importantly, it will help Un-
Lock the massive creative energy of young scientists that lies comatose
and buried within Politically frustrating environments that the larger
organisations have become.

March ‘ 2018
Theodore Roosevelt ( US President 1901-1908 ) used to say " Do what
you can, With what you have, Where you are ". This very sage advice
should guide India's fledgling R & D Organisations and give them great
hope within an Economy that is set to Triple in size from US $ 2.5 Trillion
today … to US $ 7.5 Trillion by 2030.
15. What Will Success Look Like ?
Lewis Carroll has said “ If you don't know where you are going, any road
will get you there”.
Success means different things to different Organisations and its best to
leave it to them to define it for themselves.
As a general guide I had indicated that success for an R & D division
could mean … starting right from scratch to create a Patent portfolio with
a market value of US $ 300 – 500 Million within 5 – 7 years.
Different organisations will have different criteria, depending on what their
object function is within the differential equation they are trying to solve.
But whatever the criteria, all of them should attempt to specify in advance
how success will look like for their organisation.
It is recommended that they spend quality time spelling this out in a written
document or presentation and ... Keep it where everyone can see it.
This can be just a single slide ...
Lastly, It can be said … “ Set your people free and they will surprise you with
their ingenuity and their persistence.”
- Concluded -

March ‘ 2018
About the designer
Ashish Puntambekar is a trustee of the Nataraja Foundation, Mumbai and heads its
Design Lab. He has over 25 years of experience working with some of the finest talent
globally in the Energy and Infrastructure sectors and specifically in the area of large
Infrastructure project design and design thinking where he is a specialist.
He has recently been the convener of an International Advisory Board ( IAB ) with
Harvard Economists, Former G – 7 Finance Ministers, Foreign Ambassadors and
Defence Analysts as members. His expertise in the Geopolitics of Petroleum, his deep
understanding of Middle East history and politics and his knowledge of technology shifts
in the Energy Industry have earned him a name in the energy analyst community
internationally. He is also an expert invitee at the Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) where
his work on Urban Equity Withdrawal based financing has been presented. Apart from
this he has written articles on Geopolitics, Energy Security & Military – Industrial strategy
for the Indian Defence Review magazine.
Ashish has worked in a number of diverse roles. He started his career as a project
engineer working in a large petrochemicals complex and then moved on to various
increasingly senior engineering, business and senior management positions on
assignments involving Power plants , Ports, LNG Terminals , Oil Refineries and
Pipelines. He has also worked as an Energy Derivatives Trader for a period of 5 years
where he has traded crude oil flat price and petroleum product derivatives on all major
commodity exchanges and OTC Markets / Investment banks around the world.
Over the years, he has designed several multi billion dollar projects which are under
active consideration by the Indian Government :
1. The Defence Economic Zone Project
2. The Vivekanand Secondary Education Megaproject
3. The Indian East Coast Energy Corridor Project
4. The Mumbai Megaproject – Eastern Waterfront and Artificial Islands
5. The Indian Healthcare Megaproject ( Under development )
6. The Ganges River Basin Re-Juvenation Megaproject ( Under development )
Strategic Objective : Through his work and ideas the designer seeks to transform India
into the worlds largest construction market. The focus therefore is not just on robust
project design, but also on financial innovation which is critical to bring large construction
projects to life … and in the process create approx. 65 Million New Jobs in India by 2027.
Ashish has a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters degree in
International Business.

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