This piece was first published in the Competition Policy International on August 28, 2017


Introduction

If one looks back at the progress of human kind- one will see that every step forward was always greeted with great scepticism. Inventions and new theories propounded were never accepted easily, for the simple reason that they were not understood well enough. In fact, innovations were always viewed as disruptive ideas. All innovators were ahead of their times and the merit of their ideas was acknowledged only after they were tried, tested and proved to be not only good but also better than the old ones. But time and again history has shown us that old ideas did bow out giving place to the new when their worth was proven, society was benefited and efficiency increased manifold – be it the transformation from doves to the postal system, telegraph, telephone, cellular phones and now the world wide web, that has revolutionized communications. Computers were viewed with great suspicion as they would leave a whole section of people jobless. However, these very same computers created an entirely new industry in the form of the software industry – which is one of the biggest in the world and employs millions today. All of these innovations which seemed disruptive initially have now woven themselves inextricably into the processes of production as well as consumption and have led to great technological advancement and overall economic development. Thus, the relationship between economic development and innovation, in particular disruptive innovation, cannot be overstated.Continue Reading Disruptive Innovations: CCI’s Progressive Outlook