Q&A: Innovation is the norm across sectors in Bangalore

If the number of patents filed from this city is anything to go by, Bangalore is brimming with innovation. With over 5,000 patent pending applications, it is emerging as the IP (Intellectual Property) capital of India. S Sadagopan, director, IIIT-Bangalore, spoke to R Raghavendra to understand the phenomenon:
What is the key reason for Bangalore emerging as a city of innovation?
It has a long tradition in science and engineering from repairing war planes for the Allies during World War II to establishment of civilian and defence research labs (IISc, BEL, HAL, ITI, GTRE, Raman Research Institute, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, etc), association with Nobel laureate C V Raman.The trend is conti-nuing, IIM in the 1970s and IIIT in 1999. The success of Infosys, Wipro moving from Mumbai to Bangalore; iFlex becoming a billion-dollar acquisition in seven years, great climate, culture of Mysore and its kings and their promotion of music, arts and temples... the reasons are so many. Finally, the people — academia, industry and government — come together which is not widespread in other cities like Chennai or Hyderabad.
What are the few things which companies here are doing that is in turn helping them to innovate?
The success of Infosys has given them confidence and MNCs like TI have given access and insight to technology development. Intel, HP, IBM, GE and GM have given customer knowledge. Ittiam, Subex, iFlex have benefited and, in turn, are benefiting other companies. The IP culture of companies like IBM has had a widespread influence. The software success story has made it easy for Indian companies. Narayana Murthy has single-handedly built the India brand in software and that's helping everyone. Indians returning from the US and western Europe also help. The Y2K problem and H1B visa exposed half a million IT professionals to the US and the consumer mindset there.
What are the kind of companies innovating the most, especially considering it's the start-ups which are most active in this area?
Start-ups like Ittiam getting to No. 1 position and Subex upstaging HP to become No. 1 globally in telecom fraud manage-ment are phenomenal morale boosters. ImpulseSoft unwiring Apple iPod, ICICIOneSource and TutorVista being featured in the global media. EMC, IBM, HP ($10 to $100 billion companies) are innovating too, so are Philips, Siemens, ABB, Microsoft, Adobe and SAP. Simputer from Encore, world's slimmest watch from Titan, Electronic Voting Machine from BEL, Param Padma in Super 500 Computer Club, etc show that innovation is happening everywhere in Bangalore.