Innovations likely to earn $1.1 bn annually for Tata Group

Tata Group has announced a 15-fold growth in innovations at its companies in the past ten years and expects the top 60 innovations to deliver an estimated financial benefit of $1.1 billion annually.

The additional revenue because of the innovations will be $984 million and the cost savings will be $116 million. The group had invested $2.6 billion in research and development in 2013/14, which translated into 2.5 per cent of its overall turnover.

Tata Innovista, a group-wide programme held annually by the Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF), received 1,580 projects under the Promising Innovations category this year, as compared to 101 in 2006, when Tata Innovista was started.

The Promising Innovations category recognises innovations that have been successfully implemented during the year. The top 60 innovations are also expected to touch the lives of 35 million people globally over a 5-year period.

In the New Products category, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) for 'New Discovery Sport Pedestrian Airbag System' and Metahelix Life Sciences for 'MC 13, a Seed in Bold Rice Segment' shared the honours.

In the New Service category, the award was given to TCS' 'iON Digital Evaluation'. TCS' 'Robotic Process Automation', Tata International's 'Reactive filler for leather from hazardous waste' and Titan's 'Seamless - Journey towards world-class' won the awards in the Core Processes category.

A total of 75 Tata companies from 18 countries submitted their projects in Tata Innovista 2015. S. Padmanabhan, Executive Chairman, Tata Quality Management Services (TQMS), Tata Sons, said, "Over the past decade, Tata Innovista has visibly enabled a culture of innovation and risk-taking in the group.

The fact that across its four categories Tata Innovista 2015 saw over 2,700 projects coming from 75 Tata companies spread across 18 countries bears testimony to this growing culture." He added that this year, over 130 projects were collaborative.

Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Group Chief Technology Officer, Tata Sons, said, "Technology differentiated innovation will position the Tata group for future growth... Given the group's ability to scale to market needs and recent advancements in technology, it is a great time to be an innovator at the Tata group."