Cover; Contents; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; 1 Indian Innovation for All; Welcome to Indovation; A benighted past; The present age of austerity; An enlightened future; Plan of the book; 2 Indomobilities; The mobile India; Global brains; The stakeholders; Offshored talent; Conclusion: Global reach/local touch; 3 Austerity in the Dark Ages; Benightedness; India and Mars; Scattered lamps; The brightest and the best; From darkness to light; Conclusion: Colonizing the stars together; 4 Austerity in the Spotlight; Enlightenment; The new torchbearers; Shining India; Ignited minds; Knowledge is like lightLighting a path; Conclusion: A new shiny India; 5 Expertise on a Shoestring; Links forward; Knowledge is mobility; Core competencies; Ties in the shoestring; Bootstrap capitalism; Pulling the strings; Conclusion: Learning austerity; 6 Bare-Bones Entrepreneurship; Nuns on wheels; A billion entrepreneurs; Garage innovation; Global events as opportunities; Fixing Y2K on the cheap; Cutting corners in outsourcing; Profit from the BoP; Conclusion: Selling austerity; 7 Close-Knit Communities; The web ashram; Global community service; Leveraging India; Wearing India; Learning the ropes; Development agents; New religious architectures; The super-included; Conclusion: Pitching austerity; 8 India: From Indolence to Innovation; Notes; References; Index
Summary
"How should we understand the many reports that poverty is the mother of innovation in India? What has the role of austerity been in the development of India's knowledge economy? In this critical study of Indian innovation, or 'Indovation', Thomas Birtchnell explores how the complex mobilities of 'globals' with stakes in India have transformed discourses and imaginaries about innovation in the region. He adopts a critical eye to the notion of Indovation by focusing on the various circuits of globals where India's knowledge economy is concentrated: expertise, entrepreneurship and community. Birtchnell traces the various discourses and counter-discourses around an Indian way of working and illustrates how differences in the international dimensions of austerity allow India's knowledge economy to prosper."--Publisher's website
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 188-210) and index
