Innovative India

As the American elections draw near, the Economist takes a refreshing look at the outsourcing debate. Examining advances made in research and development (R&D) in India’s high-tech centers such as Bangalore, the article reports that many Indian IT professionals are rightly vexed about the portrayal of their country as merely “a source of cheap labor and a telecommunications link.” Although industry lobbyists play down India’s success, “the globalization of innovation” has allowed Indian companies to make leaps in R&D, which involves more than outsourcing back-office processing jobs. Last year, Intel's Indian subsidiary filed for 63 patents, and some 140,000 IT professionals now work in Bangalore – about 20,000 more than in Silicon Valley. While some Indian industry experts think it is premature to call this increase in R&D a phenomenal success, others are already talking about the loss of the US’s near-monopoly on global innovation. – YaleGlobal