What is Innovation in the Non-English Languages?

Pankaj Sekhsaria

doi:10.17351/ests2023.1375

Pankaj Sekhsaria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1375

Abstract

The paper focuses on the issue of translation and transformation of language and meaning with a focus on the word and the concept ‘innovation’ What for example are the different transformations that take place between innovation in English and similar words and concepts in Hindi, the most widely spoken language in India? The paper concludes by emphasising the need for more engagement with innovation in the non-English languages because these are more representative of the lived realities and challenges faced by communities in their respective contexts and geographies.

References

Data Availability

Data published in this issue can be accessed in STS Infrastructures at: https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4ds3n.

References

Cappelli, Peter, Harbir Singh, Jitendra V. Singh, et al. 2011. The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press.

Datta, Prosenjit. 2010. “The Dividends of Innovation.” In A Case Study Special on Innovation: Making Aspirations Count, edited by Prosenjit Datta, First Edition. New Delhi: BusinessWorld.

Giridharadas, Anand. 2010. “A Winning Formula for Hard Economic Times.” The New York Times, July 23, 2010. Accessed December 6, 2023.

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/world/asia/24iht-currents.html.

India Census—Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2011. https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/.

Irwin, Alan. 2023. “STS and Innovation: Borderlands, Regenerations and Critical Engagements.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(2): 41–56.

https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1363.

Jolly, Mohanjit. 2009. “The Jugaad Country.” VCCircle: Blog, November 16, 2009. Accessed December 6, 2023.

https://www.vccircle.com/jugaad-country/.

Krishnan, Rishikesha T. 2010. From Jugaad to Systematic Innovation: The Challenge for India. Bangalore: The Utprerak Foundation.

Mint. 2012. “The Missing Revolution,” LiveMint: Blog, February 27, 2012. Accessed December 6, 2023.

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/bsehor3GV50kyadMEByMWK/Ourview--The-missing-revolution.html.

Philip, Kavita, Lily Irani, and Paul Dourish. 2012. “Postcolonial Computing: A Tactical Survey.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 37(1): 3–29.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243910389594.

Press Information Bureau (PIB). 2021. “India Scores 46th Rank in the Global Innovation Index 2021.” Press Release. New Delhi: Press Information Bureau, Government of India. September 20, 2021. Accessed December 6, 2023.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1756465.

Prahalad, Coimbatore Krishnarao, and Raghunath Anant Mashelkar. 2010. “Innovation’s Holy Grail.” Harvard Business Review, July-August issue.

https://hbr.org/2010/07/innovations-holy-grail.

Purie, Aroon. 2010. “Editorial.” India Today, April 26, 2010. Currently unavailable online.

Radjou, Navi, Jaideep Prabhu, and Simone Ahuja. 2012. Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rangaswamy, Nimmi, and Nithya Sambasivan. 2011. “Cutting Chai, Jugaad and Here Pheri: Towards UbiComp for a Global Community.” Personal Ubiquitous Computing 15(6): 553–64.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-010-0349-x.

Sekhsaria, Pankaj. 2019. Instrumental Lives: An Intimate Biography of an Indian Laboratory. London: Routledge.

⸻. 2020. Nanoscale: Society’s Deep Impact on Science, Technology and Innovation in India. New Delhi: Authors Upfront.

Varma, Pavan K. 2004. Being Indian: The Truth about Why the 21st Century Will Be India’s. New Delhi: Penguin Books.