What are the biggest mistakes corporations make in their R&D?
Making R&D free of accountability. Eventually, R&D has to be linked to business profit. R&D has got to get routed into deliverables. Not being diverse is another mistake. The composition of human resources in R&D, especially male-female ratios, is important. The breakthrough innovation of low-cost flexi-packs for consumer goods [such as shampoo] was really pioneered in India by a team of women. Having a certain portfolio of projects is also very important. We have taken on six projects this year, which we call quantum innovation, of significant size and risk, which will probably start showing results in 12 to 24 months. Q: Salaries for Indian talent are rising sharply. How is that affecting India? A: An Indian engineer from a good university costs between $8,000 and $9,000 a year compared with $45,000 in the U.S. or Europe. Indian salaries are rising about 12% a year and American salaries are going up at 3% a year, so it would take more than 30 years for the two to converge. The key is
