We were delighted to return to the auditorium at TCS' world-class Yantra Park facility in Thane for the Mumbai Tata Network Forum Regional Round of Tata Innovista 2010 after just over a year.

A total of 16 companies in the Mumbai region had contributed 181 Promising Innovations (PI) entries and 10 in the Dare to Try (DTT) category. These were examined off-line by a Jury comprising senior Tata Group leaders, who had shortlisted the final 17 entries (13 PI + 4 DTT) for the Regional Finals. 

The shortlisted teams presented their cases to an eminent Jury comprising: 

1. Mr. Subhash Dixit, President (HR & Planning), Bharati Shipyard Ltd.
2. Mr. Ram Vaidya, Regional Product Development Director, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Asia-Pacific
3. Mr. Vivek M Bhide, Global Licensing Leader and Business Director, Packaging and Industrial Polymers (P&IP), DuPont India
4. Mr. Samir Kumar, Cluster Head for Service Delivery and Business Engineering in India, Deutsche Bank

Mr. G Jagannathan (Jaggu), Executive Vice President and Global Head of Business Excellence, TCS, represented Mr. N Chandrasekharan, CEO and MD, TCS, who had an urgent commitment to meet with the External Affairs Minister and hence could not attend. Jaggu welcomed the Jury and the teams and proceeded to introduce each of the Jury members to the audience. 

The presentations were made with the fervor that is by now associated with teams from Tata  and the Jury asked several probing questions to each team, focusing on areas such as commercial applicability, protection of the organization's interests by ensuring patenting and copyright, how the team intended to drive each idea to its logical conclusion, etc. 

The winners were: 

Promising Innovations (4)

• Matching Algorithm - CMC
• Body Accuracy Control during Transfer - Tata Motors
• Tactical Secure Computing Platform - Tata Power
• Shubh Griha - Value Homes for the Common Man - Tata Housing

 and Dare To Try (1)

• Heart Beat and Cardiac Arrest Detection and Alarming System - TCS

 Summing up the day's proceedings, the Jury Voices are captured below: 

• Importance of encouraging Innovation in this special way and blending various techniques when people across different organizations are innovating
• Cross fertilization and pollination of ideas across the Tata Family is good to see
• Learning and sharing is key, considering that less potential for an idea in one company may have far more in another
• This is a difficult, challenging forum, for most of us are unable to think differently
• Synergy can be achieved across diverse organizations in the Group e.g. many other Group Companies could support Tata Housing's initiative for low-cost housing
• The criticality of trying, for only those who try will eventually go on to great successes
• Innovators are not normal. They love what they do and think differently, out-of-the-box
• Progress in a competitive scenario is driven by emotional creativity
• Innovation is usually across the Product or Process areas - what was demonstrated was special since many presentations were a blend of both
• Only Tata is able to do it this way - mind-boggling range and scale
• Where speaking with pride and passion is concerned, Tata leads the way. You are spreading the message not just across the Group but also outside it
• Tata Motors are Innovative Growth Partners of DuPont and are working various ideas with DuPont scientists, sharing common values
• Very pleased to see that Safety aspects were addressed, and that most employees were holding on to the hand rails on the staircases
• Must go across boundaries and break silos
• Core Values are clearly intact, as indeed they must be at all times
• Top-driven initiative with visible commitment from Tata leadership across all levels
• Very well-planned Event, organizers to be applauded

Some OFIs mentioned by the Jury: 

• Financial impact must be assessed at all times. All innovations must eventually make financial sense
• It is always important to ensure market needs are addressed
• Protection of knowledge by Patenting and Copyright is an imperative at all times
• R&D is critical, but we must also think of C&D (Connect and Develop)
• Energy across presenting teams was quite good. Persistence is important, but passion is key. All presenters should note that for the future and guard against the 'Powerpointicism' that is rampant across many organizations. 

Mr. Vaidya, who had also officiated at last year's Regional Round, stated that the quality of the ideas this year was much better and teams and their managements needed to be complimented. He said the Jury's job was extremely challenging and they eventually had to make compromises to select the winners, so well thought out and presented were the ideas and efforts of the participating teams. He repeated what he had said last year, emphasizing that as Indians we do not protect knowledge well. Many of the ideas presented must be supported by Intellectual Property Rights / Legal backing / Patenting. He also complimented the Tata Group for being far ahead of his own organization (Johnson & Johnson) in terms of how the spirit of innovation is encouraged. 

Dr. JJ Irani, Director Tata Sons and Chairman TQMS joined the audience in the afternoon and gave away the prizes. He was pleased to note how rapidly the Innovation Movement was spreading across the Group and stated examples of how organizations such as Fuji Films have had to innovate to merely survive. He urged us all to think and expand our mindsets at all times to ensure we remain competitive and thrive, and hoped that all Companies across the Group were ensuring that time is set aside for people to develop the ideas that would ensure sustained profitability in the long-term. 

Special thanks were communicated at the end of the Event to Dr. Irani, the Jury members, all participants, the panel of judges who assessed entries in the preliminary rounds and shortlisted presentations for the Regional Round, and the teams from TCS and TQMS who assisted with all the preparations for the Event and helped conduct it successfully.