About BCIM

The Biocon Cell for Innovation Management (BCIM) was established in association with “Biocon,” a leading biotechnology firm in India under the aegis of the Centre for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC). Biocon contributed the seed investment to set up the Cell and continues to support the research activities till date. The partnership between Biocon and CLIC is a testimony to the instrumental role played by industry in establishing an international quality research centre in India.

The primary objective of BCIM is to foster innovation to facilitate operational excellence. The Cell addresses one of the most critical areas of national interest i.e. “Innovation,” It focuses on three different innovation themes: Breakthrough innovation, Collaborative innovation, and Affordable innovation. The aim of the cell is to develop innovation infrastructure and human capital to embed innovation into the organisation’s culture. BCIM helps organisations assess the gaps in the company's ability to innovate as well as devise ways to manage and mitigate risks associated with innovation.

India and other emerging markets have developed a multitude of breakthrough ideas in the process of overcoming the challenges inherent and unique to their countries. BCIM strives to understand the innovation process and streamline these knowledge processes through research. The cell explores best practices, success stories and processes that have worked for various organisations and disseminates them through Conferences, Research Papers, Exchange Programmes, Corporate Case Studies and Policy studies. The BCIM is aggressively pursuing the spread of innovation culture on several fronts.

Ever since the Indian Government called for ushering in a “Decade of Innovation,” the call for change is reverberating all over India.  This calls for the start of a new paradigm of collaboration – across educators and executives, students, corporates, managers and consultants – through a joint commitment to think in new ways, to create value, to unleash India’s potential.

More than a century ago, the Austrian economist, Joseph Schumpeter, declared that innovation was the real wealth creator in an economy. But innovation implies creative destruction – destroying something in order to create something new.   This is what innovation does to a society – it creates new things but in the process, some of the old habits have to be crushed.  Often our unwillingness to let go of the comfort of the old hamper our desire to think of novel ways. 

One of the greatest gifts to mankind is the capacity to think anew, to create.  One does not have to earn a PhD to innovate – we are all born with seeds of creativity.  We are curious.  We see a problem and we devise a solution.  As the old saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of innovation.”  It is the innate ability of human beings to find a way to resolve problems.  Hence, it is not surprising that we find creative ideas not just in research laboratories, but in village huts as well.  This is the challenge for us in India. Given the vast diversity of our socio economic profiles, we require creative ways for tapping into the diverse pool of innovators.

Innovation is the change that creates value.  New ideas create value if they are not only brought to the market place but also survive competition and fulfill an unmet need.  The focus on commercialisation is getting increased attention not only in India, but around the world.  Unfortunately, every society has a multitude of innovations that never see the light of the day.  The challenge is how to mobilise the energy to move good ideas from research to the market place.  What should we do to create an environment where innovators want to, can, and, in turn do stretch themselves to commercialisation?  How do we do that without diverting the attention away from research?  We at BCIM, endeavour to address these questions to set us on a renewed trajectory in Indian innovation history.