BEYOND STARTUPS AND PATENTS A new lens on innovation

Innovation has long been measured by the number of patents filed, startups launched and unicorns celebrated. But, as the world grapples with systemic challenges, from climate change to digital inequality, these metrics feel increasingly narrow. Corporate India and global enterprises are overdue for a mindset shift. The startup-counting model, while useful for tracking entrepreneurial energy, often sidelines the quieter, more meaningful breakthroughs happening within large organisations: employee-led ideas, cross-functional problem-solving, and solutions born from lived experience rather than investor decks.

Translational impact, where ideas move from labs and boardrooms into communities, deserves equal weight. So does societal value: innovations that foster inclusion, sustainability and emotional resonance. The question is no longer 'How many?' but 'How meaningful?' This redefinition calls for a new vocabulary. Innovation must be qualified, not just quantified. It must be seen as a cultural force, not just a commercial one. Corporate Citizen spoke to eminent industry leaders to get their perspective on the possible paradigm shift in evaluating the growth matrix in the world of startups

Awareness is the first step towards survival and growth

—VIKASH JHA,
Founder,100X Venture Hub

When I look around, I see most innovation conversations stuck on patents or how many startups got launched. Honestly, I’ve never filed a patent myself, but I’ve seen founders and teams build things that changed lives without ever being counted. Innovation isn’t about ticking boxes.

Filing ten patents doesn’t mean you’ve solved a real problem. Launching a hundred startups doesn’t guarantee impact. What really matters is, did the idea transform into something people use? Did it make life easier, faster or better? That’s exactly why I started 100X Venture Hub. It’s not a patent office or a startup counter, it’s a platform where ideas, founders and professionals, get visibility along with awareness and credibility.

Many brilliant innovations die quietly, not because they lacked value, but because people never saw them. With our Spot system, we give innovators and brands a place to be noticed, trusted and remembered. And, in today’s noisy world, awareness is the first step to survival and growth.

So yes, corporate India and global leaders must move beyond patents and vanity counts. The real scoreboard should measure translational impact, societal value, and how ideas spread into people’s lives. Innovation is not in numbers, it’s in outcomes that truly matter.

It’s time to shift the narrative from counting startups to creating societal impact

—PRASENJIT ROY,
Business Transformation Thought Leader, NTT Data India

Yes, they should. Innovation cannot be reduced to counting patents filed or startups incubated. While these remain useful indicators, they often reflect activity rather than true impact. For corporate India and global enterprises, the time has come to embrace broader, outcome-driven metrics. True innovation should be measured by how effectively ideas move from labs to lives, solving real-world problems and enhancing quality of life.

A framework should prioritise translational impact—how effectively ideas are converted into scalable solutions.

Employee-led innovation—many Indian corporate houses have embraced it. This fosters a culture of intrapreneurship and unlocks bottom-up creativity. This embedded initiative solves real problems, fosters agility and continuous improvement, and creates a sense of ownership among teams.

Societal value—organisations are now tracking sustainability outcomes, inclusivity and community upliftment, lever aging technology for the good of society. This aligns innovation with purpose and redefines their role as responsible corporate citizens.

These dimensions not only drive long-term business resilience but also build trust and relevance in the markets they operate. It’s time to shift the narrative from counting startups to creating meaningful and measurable societal impact.

Success should not be defined only by financial returns but also by social impact

— ASHA SUBRAMANIAN,
Global CHRO, Subex

Since inception, innovation has often been measured by the number of startups created, patents filed or technologies that shook the market. These figures are easy to count, but in chasing them we have over looked the true essence of innovation. Real innovation is not what sits on paper, but what changes lives and how many lives are touched. Take for example a patent for solar panels that never reached rooftops. However clever the idea, it fails its purpose. A startup chasing valuations yet ignoring real world problems creates only noise, not value. True innovation is transformative. It is seen when children in rural areas gain access to digital classrooms, connecting them to the wider world. It is seen in clean energy projects cutting emissions, or in telemedicine bringing healthcare to remote villages.

Innovation also thrives within organisations. When teams are encouraged to experiment, solve problems, improve processes, they release creativity, unlock potential and deliver impact far beyond balance sheets. Measuring innovation therefore demands a broader view. Success should not be defined only by financial returns but also by social impact, human ingenuity, and long-term benefit to society. When the focus shifts from vanity metrics to meaningful outcomes, innovation fulfils its true promise, which is to make a difference.

Success must be measured in terms of quality and impact

— DR. SUDHIR SRIVASTAVA,
Founder, Chairman & CEO, SS Innovations International

We believe that true innovation extends far beyond the number of patents filed or startups incubated. While these important markers serve as useful indicators of progress, they often fail to capture the real-world impact that defines meaningful innovation, accessibility and societal value. A thousand patents may never leave the laboratory, while one breakthrough when translated effectively, can change millions of lives. Similarly, the startup ecosystem is vital, but when reduced to a numbers game, it risks losing focus on sustainability, societal outcomes, and long-term translational relevance. Some of the most transformative ideas may not come from boardrooms but from employees working closest to real-world problems. Innovation must be measured in terms of quality and impact, not just quantity. For example, in healthcare, the number of patents filed around robotics or AI means little unless those innovations actually reach patients, improve accessibility or save lives. Our focus has been on creating a ‘Made in India, for the World’ surgical robotic system that democratises access to advanced healthcare. This is translational innovation, moving beyond intellectual property to real-world implementation. Our recent success in performing the world's first cardiac intercontinental robotic tele-surgery between India and France indicates how innovation can transcend borders and redefine possibilities in healthcare. These breakthroughs are not about celebrating a patent count, but about transforming patient care, empowering clinicians and enabling global reach.

Innovation is strongest when it is democratised

— MANISHA DASH,
Head-HR, APAC, Celigo

Effective innovation is about how those creations find their way into making real-world difference, enhancing lives, and generating value for society as a whole. Corporate India, and organisations globally, need to look beyond vanity metrics and towards a more comprehensive approach to measuring innovation. Patents and numbers of startups measure activity but not necessarily outcomes. From an HR viewpoint, the most underappreciated element of innovation is that of the employees' role. Daily, employees create ideas that enhance productivity, help streamline customer experience, or give rise to brand-new business segments. These bottom-up innovations tend to be incremental in nature but profoundly impactful. It is not about abandoning patents or startup incubation but of supplementing them with equally valuable dimensions like employee creativity, societal contribution, and material quality-of-life improvements. This requires joint effort from across HR, R&D, strategy, and leadership teams. Innovation is strongest when it is democratised.

Successful ideas are equal to Quality and Quantity!

— MOHIT KAMBOJ,
Group CEO, Aspect Global Ventures

With all the rat race around innovation, people often forget the deeper intention behind this beautiful word. Innovation has no boundaries in the way it can shape and improve lives. Of course, filing patents and launching start-ups reflects technical progress. The measure should not be quantity alone but quality. Is the business more sustainable and resilient? Are communities experiencing a better quality of life because of these innovations? These are the questions that reveal whether an idea is not only clever but consequential. Innovation is not always external—it often begins with everyday ideas from employees who understand problems. By building systems that encourage, track, and reward such contributions, companies can unlock a powerful engine of change from within. The future of innovation will not be defined by how much is created, but by how meaningfully it transforms lives and strengthens economies. At its core, innovation is not a race for numbers, it is a commitment to impact.

Real innovation is not always about radical invention

—RATISH PANDEY,
Business Coach & Founder, Ethique Advisory

Too often, the innovation conversation is reduced to numbers; how many patents were filed, how many startups were launched. But, those are at best, surface-level signals. Innovation is far more layered, and its real value lies in the impact it creates, not in the tally of filings or venture registrations. Real innovation is not always about radical invention. More often, it is about solving everyday problems in novel, scalable ways. Not every breakthrough translates into business success — for instance, Segway was technologically ahead of its time, but it floundered commercially. Why? It lacked a viable ecosystem and failed to win broad adoption. Businesses need broader metrics: create societal value, achieve market adoption, build ecosystems, and unlock employee-driven problem-solving. Innovation is neither pure art nor pure science, it is a bit of both. True innovation builds capacity, not bottlenecks. And, its real measure lies not in the novelty of creation, but in the durability of impact.