The Hindu Business Line : `The Finns can teach a thing or two about innovation'

There is more to innovation itself than constantly rustling up new recipes and the Finns and their Nokias can show the rest a thing or two about the art of doing things successfully, according to Mr Charles Leadbeater, adviser to several European companies and part of the Tony Blair think-tank.

Sharing some successful corporate tactics, Mr Leadbeater, currently on a short visit to Bangalore, said that at the bottom of Finland's technological leap and entrepreneurship was its inherent culture of learning, walking the talk, openness, trust, sharing.

It also did a lot of networking, for "ideas require a lot of people to turn them into products."

Nokia, according to him, is a success today because it constantly reinvented itself and this was possible because it is inclusive, egalitarian as well as global; its leaders had the vision to invest for the long haul.

Mr Leadbeater, journalist, author and corporate advisor, was talking on `Business innovation' at an interaction organised by the Greater Mysore Chamber of Industry on Sunday.

Though China has the same respect for learning, he said, eventually innovations bloom in a democracy that allows debate and dissent.

A bottoms-up initiative should match top-down strategy. Companies should push as well as draw their teams towards their goals.

In the end, businesses have to also know their customers besides knowing the winning ways of doing things differently, said the author of books such as Living on thin air and Up the down escalator.

Referring to another business innovation - outsourcing of jobs to countries like India - Mr Leadbeater said opposing it meant political populism and protectionism, which are against the spirit of globalisation.

Bangalore, Mr Leadbeater said, was riding on a crest.

It had what it takes to be a good international platform just as `plug-and-play cities' Singapore and Dubai. It just needs to be backed up with sound public policies and good infrastructure.