Biocon Cell for Innovation Management

The Biocon Cell for Innovation Management (BCIM) has been launched at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in association with the biotechnology company Biocon. The cell has been launched to help organisations find answers to questions such as the gaps in a company's ability to innovate as well as assess the required understanding to manage and mitigate risks associated with innovation.

The Cell has been established under the Aegis of the Centre for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC). The primary objective of the BCIM will be to foster innovation and link it to operational excellence. Biocon will contribute an initial investment of Rs 1 crore to set up the Cell and will provide further funding later. The partnership between Biocon and the ISB further strengthens the trend started by the ISB when its founding fathers attracted the support of the industry to establish a business school of international quality in India. The aim of the cell will be to understand the process of innovation and create and develop champions who will make innovation a part of company culture.

 India and other emerging markets have developed breakthrough ideas in the process of facing challenges unique to their countries. BCIM will focus on understanding and streamlining these knowledge processes through research. The cell will discover best practices, success stories and processes that have worked for various organisations and prepare a framework that can be implemented by any company across the world.

A representative of Biocon, the Executive director of CLIC, other prominent industry leaders and academics in the area of innovation and strategy comprise the board of BCIM. The board plays an advisory and enabling role by providing research ideas that will assist the activities of BCIM to create maximum impact.

The cell is an open forum and is not restricted to only students. Individuals from non academic background are also welcome. Workshops, Lectures, Exchange Programmes, Corporate Case Studies and Policy studies are some of the activities of the Cell.

Capability Building in the Pharma Industry
How do we develop leadership in this area and develop project manager competencies, innovation to reduce cycle time for medicines to go from bench side to bedside? How do we not just become outsourcing companies for generics to creating new molecules and drugs from India?  These are some of  the questions that pharma industries are exploring and we will conduct studies in single companies as well as in the industry to understand how these capabilities are being built. How are these companies becoming global competitors and how are they learning best practices from others?

Design and Innovation in Products and Services
How does Indian design differ from that of the west? How is innovation unique or different in different Indian companies? What is an innovative mindset? Innovation is one area where many people try it but very few people succeed to their satisfaction.