Call for Papers

International conference on

Creativity and Innovation for a Self-reliant and Sustainable

Economy
16th and 17th December, 2016

Organized by IBS Business School, Kolkata

The symposium would like to address three major issues, namely (i) technological innovations
and creative processes in manufacturing and services, (ii) application of traditional knowledge to
meet the basic needs of a large section of the citizens, and (iii) exploration of a new philosophy
of doing business for a self-reliant and sustainable economy.

1. Since the last decade, more specifically during the third wave of information technology (IT)
revolution, we have witnessed tremendous changes in business models, value chain, organization
structure, organizational culture, etc. Probably this is going to unleash unprecedented
productivity growth in near future. Not only that, competitive advantage of some of the biggest
companies is going to be withered away. Umpteen numbers of David are going to challenge
the Goliaths. These changes will be backed up by technology. But question may be raised about
the outcome of these changes. Are these changes leading to a better world to live with? Steep rise
in labor productivity is not matched with rise in real wages leading to chronic supply demand
gap.

Paul Baran, in his path breaking thesis, 'The Political Economy of Growth' (1957), challenged
the views of the mainstream 'development economists' and argued that imperialism had
penetrated underdeveloped countries, destroyed their earlier social formation, ruined subsequent
development and created a 'lasting condition of dependency', for those countries, on the Western
developed nations. Baran's theory of 'lasting dependence' had influenced many other social
researchers to explain the widening gap between the Center and Periphery which is believed to
be a product of the dynamics of the imperialist world system1.

Economist Samir Amin, who immensely contributed to dependency and the world system
analysis, mentioned (1997) about five monopolies those helped the imperialist global capital to
retain their hegemony on the countries of the periphery. These are (i) technological monopoly,

1
Foster J B 2007, The Imperialist World System- Paul Barans Political Economy of Growth After Fifty
Years, The Monthly Review, Vol. 59, No1
(ii) monopolistic control over worldwide financial markets; (iii) monopolistic access to the
planet`s natural resources; (iv) monopolies on media and communication; (v) monopoly on the
weapon of mass destruction. In addition to these, the advanced industrial countries exercise their
power through the intermediary triad of the World Bank, IMF, and WTO. Thus, by creating
increased dependence of the under developed peripheral countries on the world market and
global finance, dominated by the western developed nations, the global capital has further eroded
the possibility of an independent nation state. Data on rich-poor country divide strengthens the
above observations. In 1820, the richest and the poorest countries were separated by a per capita
GDP difference of 3:1. By 1992, the ratio has risen to 72:12.

The situation has worsened further in recent times. The new Oxfam report (2015), shows that
the 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the worlds population. The
report calls for urgent action to deal with a trend showing that 1% of people own more wealth
than the other 99% combined.3 Globalization of capital has made the situation even worse for
countries like India. One Mumbai based newspaper has even claimed that Globalization has
turned India into a coolie economy.4

If development of national technology is considered as one of the important steps towards de-
colonization and self-reliance, India has not done much progress towards that. Compared to other
two Asian countries, namely China and South Korea, the situation is very dismal for India. The
numbers of patent applications by residents of the respective countries (Table 1) is a case in
point.

Table 1: Patent Applications, by Residents

Country 1996-2000 2011-2015

China 4,15,829 8,01,136
India 8,841 12,040
Korea (Rep) 1,38,034 1,64,074
Japan 2,87,580 2,65,989
UK 15,343 15,198
USA 2,47,750 2,85,098
Source: The World Bank, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IP.PAT.RESD

It is argued that Indian capitalism did not emerge as a result of the contradictions within Indian
society but as a result of the impact of the developed capitalism of a foreign country, on a
dependent pre-capitalist society. It is also said that the Indian bourgeoisie was divided into two

2
ibid
3
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/18/richest-62-billionaires-wealthy-half-world-
population-combined
4
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-globalisation-has-turned-india-into-a-coolie-economy-
2068902
societies - National and Comprador - a division made on the basis of the nature of the
relationship with the foreign imperialist capital.5

Now the question remains, where does the Indian IT industry, which draws the best technical
talents of the country, fits into these broad categories of comprador and national bourgeoisie. Are
Indian core industries suffering from the infamous Dutch Disease Syndrome6 due to
unrestrained virtual brain drain, from the country to serve the needs of the foreign companies?

2.In this simplistic analysis a large section of producers, namely, weavers, artisans et al, who for
centuries have lived in villages and produced goods with their mere local capital and traditional
technology7 to meet the basic needs of the millions of people, have been kept outside the
purview of the mainstream deliberations on national and comprador capital. Incidentally, most of
these small producers belong to indigenous tribes, religious minorities and low caste Hindus
who, for centuries, live in the margins/periphery. It is argued that the continuation of the British
model of administration and education have helped to push the traditional artisans further to the
periphery. Ideally, their knowledge could have been utilized for the real decolonization of
independent India. Instead, the European knowledge, propagated by the educated urban elites,
has marginalized them. One example would clarify the issue.

Wilhite (2007),8 referring to his study on the traditional houses of Kerala (India), mentioned that
for centuries the houses and public buildings in Kerala were built mainly by caste based
craftsmen (Viswakarma caste, who did all types of carpentry work across the country). Their
building principle took account of local climate. In Kerala, artisans used woods, mud, un-burnt
bricks, bamboos, straw and leaves as building materials. These are all porous materials that allow
natural ventilation. So there was no need for artificial cooling. But in the mid-20th century, new
building regulations called for written proposals with drawings for new buildings. This
disfavored the artisans who lagged the skill of writing proposals for construction projects with
site plan and blue prints as per the newly framed municipality norms. In their place, technically
educated building contractors and consultants began to take-up construction jobs. The emphasis
shifted to cost management, use of unskilled labor and cheap fabricated materials. Along with
this new building industry, electrical appliances industry of air conditioners, refrigerators etc.
also flourished.

It seems there exists a disconnect between the traditional knowledge system, which had evolved
over years, and the post Renaissance European knowledge which has given birth to the
capitalistic production process. Academics tend to look on esoteric beliefs with contempt, but

5
Ghosh Suniti 2000, Indian Big Bourgeoisie, New Horizon Book Trust, Kolkata
6
wweconomicshelp.org/blog/11977/oil/dutch-disease/
7
Traditional technologies are not dependent on electricity.
8
Wilhite H 2007, Will Efficient Technologies Save the World, ECEEE, 2007, Summer Study.
are usually ignorant about the religious and philosophical traditions to which these terms refer, or
their relevance to intellectual history9 It is high time that we encouraged all kinds of creativity
and innovations with more open mind and try to bridge the existing gap between the traditional
and modern knowledge system for a sustainable future.

3. Capitalism is passing through a serious crisis.10. Markel (2014)11, in his paper, Is Capitalism
compatible with democracy?, has rightly said, capitalism is not democratic and democracy not
capitalist. Many countries are exploring a new philosophy of doing business. The idea of Third
Sector12 is getting prominence in the economic discourse. It is claimed that the Third Sector -
comprising of community groups, voluntary organizations, charities, social enterprises, co-
operatives and individual volunteers, makes a direct impact on the growth of economy, the
wellbeing of its citizens and the improvement of its public services13. It is claimed that it plays an
important role in helping the Government achieve the latters purpose of creating a more
successful independent nations, with opportunities for all to flourish, through achieving
sustainable economic development.

Conference Plan:

Venue: IBS Business School (IBS)

Plot # Y1, Block EP, Sector-V, Salt Lake,
Kolkata-700091. Phone: 033 2357-7125/6576/7,
Visit our Website : http://ibsindia.org/

16th December:
Inauguration and Keynote address: 5 pm, Sri Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Editor, The
Economic and Political Weekly will deliver the Keynote Address and Dr. Nitin Mauyra,
Scientist and Coordinator - NIF (National Innovation Foundation) Guwahati Cell, IIT
Guwahati, shall grace the occasion by being the 'Guest of Honour' of the evening..

Dinner: 8 pm onwards
17th December:
3 Parallel Technical Sessions: 10 am onwards

9
Hanegraaff Wouter J. 2012, Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture,
Cambridge University Press
10
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/04/will-hutton-capitalism
11
Markel W, 2014 Is Capitalism compatible with democracy? , Comparative Governance and Politics,
Vol. 8, no 2. Springer
12
https://www.nao.org.uk/successful-commissioning/introduction/what-are-civil-society-organisations-
and-their-benefits-for-commissioners/
13
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/15300/ResearchForum
Call for papers and participation:

The conference welcomes the presentation in different formats, like, exhibitions, posters and
research papers. Representatives of the traditional sector are specially invited to help the formal
sector to understand and appreciate their knowledge systems.

The policy makers and corporate leaders will find the conference as a unique platform for
engaging with dialogue and partnership between formal and informal sector of science,
technology, services and society.

Please submit abstracts to Prof Sujoy Kumar Dhar, sujay@ibsindia.org

Last date of submission for abstracts : October 31, 2016

Last date for submission of final papers: November 30, 2016

Please submit papers related to technological innovation: Prof Nirendu Konar,

nirendu.konar@ibsindia.org
Please submit papers related to traditional knowledge: Prof Samprit Chakrabarti,
samprit.chakrabarti@ibsindia.org
Please submit papers related to third sector and new business models: Prof Kumar
Satyaki Ray, satyakir@ibsindia.org

Those willing to be associated with the conference as a sponsor, co-sponsor, knowledge partner
or exhibitor, please write to Prof Durga Rani Sinha, durgas@ibsindia.org or Prof Uddipan
Nath, udnath@ibsindia.org

Accommodation: If you need any assistance to get accommodation in Kolkata, please contact
Mr. Jayant Kumar Jena, jayantakumar.jena@ibsindia.org

Registration fee: Rs 1500/- ($ 30) per participant

Virtual presentation: Arrangement for virtual presentation would be made, if requested, through
Skype.

Coordinator: Prof Dipankar Dey, PhD, ddey@ibsindia.org

Convener: Dr Ajay Pathak, Director, IBS Business School, Kolkata, ajayp@ibsindia.org

Publication of Conference papers: Outstanding conference papers will be published as an edited

book with ISBN number by a renowned publisher.

##* please circulate this copy to your colleagues.