Rohit Shukla of the Larta Institute gave a presentation on innovation and competitiveness at a World Bank forum. Larta is a non-profit that has helped over 300 ventures representing $200 million in R&D support. Larta works to improve the transition of scientific breakthroughs to the marketplace globally. They implement commercialization programs, build local innovation capacity, and provide metrics to track program and company success. Larta has also established partnerships around the world and lessons learned include developing networks of trust and collaborating to cultivate innovation and competitiveness.

1. Thoughts from the Trenches:
Innovation & Competitiveness
Rohit Shukla, CEO
Larta Institute & Larta Inc.
California
How to of innovation, technology &
entrepreneurship
A World Bank Forum
Cambridge, UK, June 22 2013

2. © 2013 LartaInstitute. All Rights Reserved
About Larta
Founded 1993 as non-profit professional
services firm
Contractual relationships with technology-
driven
U.S. federal agencies:
300 ventures/year, diverse
sectors, representing $200M/year in R&D
support
World-class mentor teams and
industry relationships supporting
Innovation and enterprise development
Global Bridge™ programs enable insights
and engagements across the innovation
spectrum in countries throughout the
world
MISSION:
Vastly improve the transition of scientific
and technological breakthroughs from the
lab to the marketplace to benefit regional
and national economies and societies

3. © 2013 LartaInstitute. All Rights Reserved
Innovation Programs Management
Transferring our expertise to local program managers
Implementing commercialization and tech-transfer
programs that adapt to local realities
Recommending policies that accelerate the success of
tech-based entrepreneurs
Linking local networks to established global networks to
help nurture tech-based entrepreneurs
Building
Local
Capacity
We work with national/regional entities, and multilateral orgs to
promote innovation through commercialization

4. Documentation & Evaluation
• Real-time tracking of companies’ performance
− During and After program participation
− Tracking intervals over 18 months after the program
− Online portal: efficiency, transparency
• Local mentor groups
• Local Industry Advisory Boards
• Participating companies in programs
• Enduring connection to (use of) Larta network in US
Tools
Metrics
At the Company
Level
• Quantitative: Investment funds raised, grant/loans
received, new jobs created, partnerships, patents,
new products, product sales, financial indicators, etc.
• Qualitative: Success Stories
Metrics
At the Agency Level

5. Larta Program Success Metrics*
results since 2005 alone…
Results
DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTED
by Larta alumni companies to
their participation in a
Larta Commercialization
Assistance Program
129
$550
23
650
R&D grants – non dilutive
($65.5m in aggregate)
Million Raised
Strategic introductions
(per year)
Acquisitions
* Data verified and utilized by the
federal agencies to validate their
Larta-contracted programs and to
attract new participants

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Global Partnerships
Malaysia
• Ministry of S&T
and Innovation
• Biotechcorp
• Prime Minister
Brazil
• EMBRAPA
• FINEP, FAPEMIG, F
APESP
Japan
• METI, NEDO
• Bi-lateral council on
innovation and
entrepreneurship
• University TT:
Osaka, Tohoku, Kyoto
• AIST (National Institute of
Advanced Industrial S&T)
Canada
• Ontario Agri-Food
Technologies (OAFT)
• Ontario Centers of
Excellence
• Canadian foreign office
network
• Conference Board of
Canada
Netherlands
• Ministry of
Economic
Affairs, Agricultur
e and Innovation
South Africa
• The Innovation
Agency of South
Africa
Romania
• GEA Strategy &
Consulting, CRIDL
• Romania America
Foundation
New Zealand
• NZT&E
Current Partnerships
Newly Established Partnerships

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A New Perspective on STI
• Conventionally: STI usually stands for
“science, technology, and innovation.”
• It should stand for
“Solve, Transform, and Impact.”
(Prof. R.A. Mashelkar)

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STI Capacity Building
• “STI capacity building is about building the technical,
vocational, engineering, entrepreneurial, managerial,
and scientific capacity to solve each country’s pressing
social and economic problems, transform their
societies, and have a positive impact on the standards
of living and quality of life.” (Watkins &Ehst, World Bank,
Science, Technology & Innovation, 2008)
• An indispensable tool for promoting sustainable, inclusive
globalization.

9. Some principles
• Rallying cry – STI is driving force of economies
- Employment, revenue, wealth-creation
- Food chain: finding your optimum place (not “top down”)
- Asset-mapping: “What do we have?” “What can we build?”
• Innovation – Original or applied?
- Too often: emphasis on original (the “wow” factor)
- First, see howit serves the home market (regional, local)
- Does it solve(a) problem(s): local, regional, global?
- Does it integrate with current solutions?

10. Things to understand
• Entrepreneurship is a global imperative
- Creating opportunities, liberating opportunism, upgrading capacity
- Exploiting your local/regional asset base
- Entrepreneurs are, of necessity, not parochial
• Knowledge flows, between economies, between
regions, between researchers, between entrepreneurs
- A vital factor in the upgrading of capacity, accelerating economic value,
diminishing the impact of isolation
- Allows for all countries to engage globally
• Examples:IT sector in Egypt, outsourcing industry in West Africa
(Ghana), West Indies (Jamaica), localization services (Uruguay)

11. Issues to confront.. And avoid
• Rush to innovation
- Countries focused on the “brass ring”
- “Me too” phenomenon of international economic
development
- The “cluster craze” makes for overreach and envy
• Inability to achieve scale and critical mass
- Narrow niches are limited in scope and limit capacity-
building
- In a highly-interconnected world, where inputs are highly co-
dependent, can there be unique “national competitive
advantage?”
• Lack of exposure and commercialization
“immersion”
- Entrepreneurs, even “natural” home-grown ones, suffer

12. So what do regions/countries do?
• Understand your place in the “food chain”
- Original innovation is hard to come by, not effective
to basepolicy entirely on its promise
- Focus on adapted innovation that first solves local
problems, issues, markets
- Develop competitive intelligence, understanding of
the state of the world in relation to specific areas of
competence

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Innovation and competitiveness
 Develop your ability to understand (national)
capabilities in science, technology, creativity, to
project:
• production capacity
• sustainability of opportunities (enterprises and
employment)
• high attainment of research ability
• adaptive use of innovations developed elsewhere

14. Focus on productivity, knowledge, adaptability
• It is more useful to focus on “productivity”
 The production and dissemination of knowledge
may lead to greater outputs
 “Creative” societies may become more
competitive
• Adaptability, right-brain/left-brain learning
• Creative output enables stronger “narratives”
• Non-linear pursuits project ability to process
complexity, dynamic signals

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In an interconnected world…
• Within economic blocs, especially:
 Need to gauge technological and knowledge capabilities to create
innovative enterprises, workers, and public services
 Primary, secondary market considerations: higher value-added goods
and services relevant to global demand
 “Lifelong learning”: mobile platforms, online practices, “open
learning” tools, commercialization of innovation
 Mobility of people (across the “food and value chain”) is a measure of
readiness to compete in a dynamic (i.e. ever-changing) environment
• Policy concerns around commercialization: across the chain
 Developing capabilities, capacity, market adaptability for emerging and
established companies (SMEs, others)
 Is “high growth” the central concern for innovation management?

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From Larta-20 years and counting: Lessons Learned
• The success of innovation programs is highly dependent on
establishing deep and broad “networks of trust”, globally.
 This includes both informal and formal networks that take years to
develop.
• Sharing information and knowledge enhances efforts toward
cultivating innovation and competitiveness:
 Collaborative structures need to be convened
• Inter-ministry, stakeholders – citizens, associations of
entrepreneurs, researchers, large company managers and successful people
from Diaspora and locally.
• Feedback loops (continuing feedback from market and policy
sources) is critical to innovation programs – and competitiveness
 Engagement with global market intelligence (what is value-added activity?
What are our competitive strengths? What should we NOT do?).

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In conclusion
• A competitiveness strategy stars with a competitive analysis
 Do so only after you understand what you are up against
• Who are you “competing” with (profile, position, principle)?
 Do so only after you know that the indices you are looking to enhance
matter to your positioning as a country
• Is there a compelling (national) interest and/or critical mass and/or
consistent capability?
• Institute knowledge production as a key contributor to national
output
• Know that innovationcapacity is key to retention,sustainability
and competitiveness:
 Skilled people, growing enterprises, good opportunities
 Mobility enables adaptability but can also enable migration!
• And finally….

19. This is a slippery, body contact sport!

20. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did
do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
-- Mark Twain
Notable Quotable

21. © 2013 LartaInstitute. All Rights Reserved
Thank You
Rohit K. Shukla
Founder & CEO
Larta Institute
www.larta.org
rshukla@larta.org