Rethinking Innovation Policy | Episode 59 | Everything is Everything

Should the state have a role in amplifying innovation? If so, what should it do?

Welcome to Episode 59 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay and Amit argue furiously about whether the state should spend its resources trying to make innovation happen. But while they disagree on the Why, they agree on what How and the What: the blueprint laid out in Ajay's brilliant paper with RA Mashelkar and Susan Thomas: https://xkdr.org/paper/rethinking-inn...

Enjoy this lively discussion! And if you like watching Everything is Everything, please like, subscribe, share, comment. :)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Packaging
00:13 Introduction: Bionic Man!
01:32 Chapter 1: Why Innovation
07:04 Chapter 2: Why Should the State Get Involved?
13:22 Chapter 3: Amit’s First Point of Skepticism
28:31 Chapter 4: What Should the State Do?
40:11 Chapter 5: How Should the State Enable Innovation?
57:28 Chapter 6: Amit’s Second Point of Skepticism
1:01:39 Chapter 7: Amit’s Third Point of Skepticism
1:06:42 Chapter 8: Case Study One: NASA
1:14:01 Chapter 9: Case Study Two: NIH
1:16:28 Chapter 10: Case Study Three: French Military R&D
1:18:26 Chapter 11: Case Study Four: NMITLI in India
1:19:57 Chapter 12: The Path to Change
1:27:54 Chapter 13: Recommendations

USEFUL RESOURCES:
1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here:    / @theseenandtheunseen  )
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. The India Uncut Newsletter -- Amit's newsletter at https://indiauncut.substack.com/
8. Rethinking innovation policy in India: Amplifying spillovers through contracting-out -- RA Mashelkar, Ajay Shah and Susan Thomas: https://tinyurl.com/2s39f2mt
9. Where Has All the Infrastructure Gone? -- Episode 55 of Everything is Everything:    • Where Has All the Infrastructure Gone...  
10. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 56 of Everything is Everything:    • A Deep Dive Into Education | Episode ...  
11. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything:    • Fixing the Knowledge Society | Episod...  
12. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything:    • Understanding the State | Episode 25 ...  
13. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything:    • When Should the State Act?  | Episode...  
14. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma: https://tinyurl.com/n8dj9nru
15. The industry structure of India's large firms: IT is the biggest industry -- Ajay Shah: https://tinyurl.com/y87vbbnd
16. The Problem With Digital Public Goods -- Episode 56 of Everything is Everything:    • The Problem With Digital Public Goods...  
17. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything:    • Why Freedom Matters | Episode 10 | Ev...  
18. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy — Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta):    • Ep 387: The Life and Times of the Ind...  
19. Covid-19 in the tropics: How will high heat and humidity shape the outcomes? -- Suja Thomas: https://tinyurl.com/y9x86xac
20. Mosquitoes As Big As A Bus -- Amit Varma: https://tinyurl.com/44zped8z
21. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom -- Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 392: Biju Rao Won't Bow to Convent...  
22. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything:    • India Needs Decentralization | Episod...  
23. The Martian -- Ridley Scott: https://www.hotstar.com/in/movies/the...
24. How to Do Development -- Episode 57 of Everything is Everything:    • How to Do Development| Episode 57 | E...  
25. When Ideas Have Sex -- Matt Ridley:    • When ideas have sex | Matt Ridley  
26. Why Does It Always Rain On Me? -- Travis:    • Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On M...  
27. Only Happy When It Rains -- Garbage:    • Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains  
28. Public Finance at XKDR: https://xkdr.org/field/public-finance
29. How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom -- Matt Ridley: https://amzn.in/d/ezHBXfO
30. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything:    • Why Talent Comes in Clusters | Episod...  

Produced by Amit Varma
Shot by Vaishnav Vyas and Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / vaishnav.vyas  
Edited by Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / nomsitaharitashya  
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter image by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina