R.A. MASHELKAR BANKS ON INNOVATION FOR ENSURING SOCIETAL PROGRESS
Rapporteur: Amrita Chakraborty
26 Feb. 2019: The Gandhinagar-based Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) hosted
Padma Vibhushan Prof. (Dr.) R.A. Mashelkar for a Distinguished Lecture on February 26, 2019 at its
auditorium. Prof. Mashelkar delivered a scintillating lecture on the topic ‘From Incremental to
Disruptive Game-changing ASSURED Innovation’.
Prof. Nigam Dave, the Director of the School of Liberal Studies (SLS), gave the welcome speech and
introduced Prof. Mashelkar to the audience.
One of the 12 Indian National Research Professors at the prestigious National Chemical Laboratory
(NCL) in Pune and the President of the Global Research Alliance, Prof. Mashelkar served as the
Director General of the Delhi-based Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Prof. Mashelkar was awarded Padma Shri in the year 1991, Padma Bhushan in the year 2000 and
Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in India, in 2014 in recognition of his
distinguished service to the nation.
Prof. Mashelkar started his lecture by remembering Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the former President of
India. He said that the success of any product or idea could be measured using the concept of
ASSURED, which stands for Affordable, Scalable, Sustainable, Universal, Rapid, Excellent and
Distinctive. He also differentiated between incremental and disrupted data. While explaining this
concept, he talked about a few game-changing business models including:
1. Uber, one of the largest global taxi companies possesses no taxi.
2. Airbnb, one of the largest hospitality companies does not have any hospitality property.
Prof. Mashelkar also delved on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its presence in board meetings across
the world. With technology threatening to replace human labour, Prof. Mashelkar stressed on a
technology-proficient world with more jobs instead of a technology-based jobless world.
While talking about Disruptive Innovation, Prof. Mashelkar took the examples of Waterless Washing,
Tubeless Tire, Paperless Printing and Driverless Vehicles. As a case study, Prof. Mashelkar took the
examples of a few of the companies, whose growth could be identified using the ASSURED
parameter. He further quoted the examples of Reliance Jio Mobile, TATA Nano Car, Blackberry
Phone and the likes to measure their businesses.
Few of the remarkable quotes by Prof. Mashelkar included:
Exponential growth cannot come unless there is a game-changing disruptive innovation.
FAIL means First Attempt in Learning.
In life, two things matter. They are ‘Speed’ and ‘Direction’. If there is great speed with no direction,
then it will lead to no destination.
According to Prof. Mashelkar, digital identity is a key to success in the contemporary world. While
supporting this iteration, he took a very interesting example. He said that in order to reach 50 million
3