Sankha Som (SS), Chief Innovation Evangelist, TCS, leads a team that takes TCS’ research and innovation to clients globally. He also oversees the insights, foresights and marketing functions for corporate research and innovation. He has more than 15 years of experience in R&D and innovation in the IT sector.
IE: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT APPROACH TO R&D?
SS: Our approach to R&D is represented through two external-facing brands: TCS Research and TCS PaceTM. TCS Research focuses on producing foundational inventions impacting industry and society, while TCS PaceTM brings our intellectual content, innovation assets, capabilities and practices to our clients. We follow a portfolio approach in managing innovation and building rigour into IP-based assets using our New Products and Services Development (NPSD) process. Additionally, we embrace open innovation, partnering with academia and startups through our COINTM programme to bridge both worlds and drive global business excitement.
IE: WHAT is your BUDGET allocation towards R&D ACTIVITIES?
SS: For decades, TCS has invested about 1.1 to 1.2 per cent of its revenue in R&D. The proportional allocation hasn’t changed much over the years. We have physical innovation centres called TCS Pace Ports where teams collaborate to build minimal viable products to address challenges for clients. We maintain a balanced portfolio where a significant fraction of the investment goes into keeping our existing products, platforms and offerings competitive. Of the remainder, a larger fraction goes towards investments in new capability building which can change the competitive basis of our current offerings. And finally, a small fraction goes into the disruptive category for distant future opportunities.
IE: How is the collaboration between academia, industry, and government
SS: Countries that prioritise, nurture and are driven by innovation are better positioned to address global challenges. For example, Switzerland has retained its top position in the Global Innovation Index 2023 for the 13th consecutive year. This can be attributed to collaboration between well-established, globally recognised research institutions, growing R&D investment and a conducive regulatory environment.
While India has a large services talent base, it lacks them in scientific research areas. The Research Scholar Program(RSP), a collaborative initiative by TCS, was established to enhance the talent base of research in computing sciences. In the past 10 years, RSP has supported over 350 scholars from 45 premier institutes and produced over 2000 research publications.
We understand the value and necessity of co-location for successful collaboration between multiple stakeholders from academia and industry. TCS Research labs have moved to academic campuses in Chennai and Kolkata with plans to expand to other tier 1 cities. The academic COIN programme collaborates with top academic institutions such as IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur and aims to enhance TCS Research offerings across domains like Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME), biopharmaceuticals, quantum computing and more.
IE: HOW DOES INDIA’S R&D LANDSCAPE COMPARE INTERNATIONALLY?
SS: The Indian R&D landscape is marked by affordable and frugal solutions tailored to address local challenges. It is an approach that has immense potential for global applications too. However, to compete more effectively, India needs to ramp up its overall R&D spending which currently lags other major economies. Greater public-private partnerships, incentives to promote corporate R&D and increased funding for universities and research bodies will be critical. We also need to strengthen IPR frameworks to support commercialising new innovations. By closely aligning R&D efforts to real-world business needs, we accelerate India’s tech leadership on the global stage.
IE: HOW CAN THE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AND INCENTIVIsE PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT IN R&D?
SS: The government can play a catalytic role in boosting India’s private sector R&D spend through a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, instituting a weighted tax deduction scheme for R&D expenditures by companies, similar to incentives provided by other major economies, would make investments more attractive. Secondly, lowering import duties on R&D equipment and granting faster clearances can reduce operational costs. From a long-term perspective, the government should look at facilitating academia-industry collaborations and public-private co-investment models for research parks, centres of excellence and translational incubators.
Another key enabler would be reforms to strengthen IP regimes in line with global best practices. Robust IP protection incentivises companies to increase R&D spending by safeguarding their innovations. The government could also explore sector specific incentives targeted at strategic domains like climate technology, digital healthcare and semiconductor fabrication.
IE: WHAT STRATEGIES Do you EMPLOY TO MAINTAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE?
SS: At TCS, we understand that innovation is a crucial component of success. That’s why we have developed AIC (Agile Innovation Cloud), an innovative business model that delivers innovation at scale for our clients.
Our collaboration with academic institutions has been fruitful with more than 260 publications in top tier journals in the previous financial year. We collect, organise and analyse insights from our 2000+ customers across 15 industries using our trends tracking and mining framework paired with our portfolio planning and management processes.
AIC enables cross-functional teams to collaborate in intensive workshops at TCS Pace PortsTM and uncover innovative ideas that help identify potentially disruptive technologies, trends and opportunities. The TCS Innovation Forum is a premier, invite-only event that annually engages over 1000 senior business leaders from client organisations across geographies and are most conducive for identifying technology trends.
IE: HOW DO YOU FOSTER A CULTURE OF INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY AMONG YOUR EMPLOYEES?
SS: Through initiatives like TCS Innovista, TCS Incubation Bootcamp and TCS Ideathons. TCS Innovsita is one of the largest company-wide annual flagship programmes for showcasing the intrapreneurial culture across TCS. Over the last three years, more than 32,000 entries were submitted from 450 units and 48 entries were qualified as winners. The TCS Incubation Bootcamp is a market and problem-first initiative to shape fuzzy business propositions into actionable business plans. In this process, teams are not only encouraged to submit ideas but are also taken through an extensive mentorship process to shape their ideas into opportunities for TCS. TCS Ideathons and Hackathons aim to deliver business value to customers by promoting continuous innovation. Ideas collected from these challenges are used to create proactive proposals that can be taken to customers and later generate incremental revenue. Most challenges see customer stakeholder participation in jury roles. Over the last three years, we have organised 365 ideathons and received more than 31,000 ideas. Out of these, 1162 ideas were selected for implementation.
IE: WHAT METRICS DO YOU USE TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF R&D EFFORTS?
SS: We use different metrics or KPIs to evaluate the R&D efforts involved in inventions and innovations, respectively. For inventions, we consider the number of patents and publications. For innovation, following KPIs are evaluated:
• Robustness of our NPSD framework: 1 in 4 ideas that enter our TRL-inspired processes is transformed into an offering or product and platform innovation.
• Customer engagement at our Pace PortsTM: We have hosted 150 customers at our Pace PortsTM over the last 9 months. With AIC, customers can identify emerging technologies, trends and opportunities, generate and prioritise innovative ideas using structured methodologies like design thinking, explore potential partnerships and develop compelling propositions to build their innovation portfolio. We have 30 active AIC partnerships with our clients.
• Direct revenue from products and platforms: We derive 8 per cent of our enterprise revenue from our products and platforms.
• Revenue influence: TCS won many awards relating to IP, including the Asia IP Elite Award 2023 for being an exemplar of IP value creation.
IE: HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF R&D EVOLVING WITHIN THE IT INDUSTRY?
SS: The IT industry’s future R&D will revolve around AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity and Industry 4.0 technologies. While opportunities for innovation are abundant, talent gaps and data monetisation challenges remain key hurdles. Fostering a culture of research and upskilling will be essential to seize future opportunities and address emerging challenges in the IT landscape.
IE: SPECIFIC SECTORS WHERE INDIA HAS UNTAPPED POTENTIAL FOR R&D-DRIVEN GROWTH?
SS: India holds untapped potential in sectors like semiconductor fabrication, renewable energy, digital healthcare and smart manufacturing. Skilled talent, low R&D costs and solutions tailored to local challenges position India as a hub for R&D-led innovation. TCS contributes to this by focusing on affordable precision farming solutions and collaborating across sectors to drive impactful R&D advancements.
