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Our world has always been excited by new technology. Nineteenth-century technologies in particular were promoters of communication and mobility, bringing about structural changes towards a commodified world. If those technologies helped collapse space and time, innovation marks the new 21st-century engine of growth and globalisation.
In this ecosystem, a pivotal finding on which Mehran Gul’s The New Geography of Innovation bases itself is that technology innovations are starting to emerge from places far removed from the original hub, the Silicon Valley: Only a third of unicorn companies are now based in the US. Technology is now a race between nations, having bolstered power and its articulation. So we must wonder: At what point does communicative amplification of power overtake actual power?
The book’s eight chapters, arranged geographically, span the Americas, Europe and the Far East, while a forthcoming sequel is expected to contain a broader geographic footprint. The fact that Gul starts to unpack the question, have we come a full circle in the life cycle of US-driven innovation?
The book begins with anecdotes from Finland, Canada, France and China, and the thoughts that made big innovations. The chapter provides graphs that illustrate the new trends and issues, some of which are pertinent to India. Gul says these graphs are too Eurocentric and do not include China, a key contender. We may also notice that India stands fifth by number of private billion-dollar tech companies and fourth in terms of venture capital invested, yet it does not feature in the top 10 countries on WIPO’s (a UN agency) Global Innovation Index.
Stories of the rise of countries including China and India as innovation hubs have made the rounds since 2009. However, Gul concludes that although the global innovation landscape has spread over the past 25 years and is now dotted with hubs all over the world, “predictions of American decline… in the realm of new technologies are vastly exaggerated”.
This mapping of technological innovations is an allegory for the complexities of cultures, competition and collaboration that accompany globalisation. Rather than making it about nations, the book asks us to look at where people and their experiences come from: “Some cultures are particularly fecund, constantly giving birth to new ideas and innovations, while other lie dormant … Understanding innovation, then, requires us to look beyond systems and structures to the internal properties of the cultures from which the technologies spring forth.”
The book excels in providing case studies from various countries, reminding us of the width and variety of innovation around us. As a well-travelled policymaking lead of digital transformation of industries at the World Economic Forum and an expert of industrial policy at United National Industrial Development Organisation, Gul is well-positioned to observe isobars—for example, that every country’s successful strategy entails a DARPA-like state structure strengthened by private venture that enables innovation.
Perhaps the book’s most significant contribution is that it marks a historical milestone. The well-researched and lucidly written insights, while sometimes prescriptive-sounding, may aid investors’, governments’ and entrepreneurs’ strategies, policies, and regulatory frameworks.
Shashidhar Nanjundaiah is interested in new technology policy. He is a commentator at large and the Dean of the School of Digital Media and Communication at Mahindra University, Hyderabad.
The New Geography of Innovation
By Mehran Gul
William Collins
pp. 368; Rs 599
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