In the new architecture, while the existing B20 Engagement Group continues its focus on corporations, the Startup20 takes on the policy issues concerning the global startup ecosystem, with the necessary linkages between the two groups. (Representational/File)
Startup20 Engagement Group, the only new group at the G20, is the first step in ‘ambidexterity’ – using the innovating capacity of startups along with stability and scale of corporations
Written by Chintan Vaishnav
Updated: February 16, 2023 07:21 IST
By agreeing to India’s proposal to create the Startup20 Engagement Group — the only new group — the Group of Twenty has turned itself into an ambidextrous institution, one where both large corporations and startups have an equal voice in taking the economies forward. In the new architecture, while the existing B20 Engagement Group continues its focus on corporations, the Startup20 takes on the policy issues concerning the global startup ecosystem, with the necessary linkages between the two groups.
The proposition is simple: Just as nature has designed the animal kingdom such that animals who wish to exploit their full capability must develop both sets of limbs, can we design economies with the capability to exploit both the stability and scale of large corporations and the agility and innovativeness of smaller startups?
It may be interesting to note that contemporary cultures have lost the emphasis on developing ambidexterity in individuals, which was once present when wars were fought between armies. For example, the ancient Greeks systematically developed ambidexterity in warriors by teaching them to be as proficient in fighting with their non-dominant limb as the dominant one.
A measure of how deeply they must have believed in developing ambidexterity is evident from their language Boustrophedon, where the script read from right-to-left, and right-to-left on alternate lines.
There is a similar emphasis in the Mahabharat. Arjun carries the epithet Savyasachi — one who is an equally capable archer with both arms, or simply, ambidextrous. In the present day and age, it is the arts and sports that contribute to developing ambidexterity.
In contemporary business literature, there is an active debate about ambidexterity, albeit limited to the capability of a single firm to simultaneously exploit what it is good at and explore new opportunities, despite limited resources. In contrast, the G20’s move to create Startup20 raises this argument to the level of nations, and collectively, the world.
Since there is no theory of ambidexterity of institutions at the global level, let me propose a three-part one: First, most problems that matter to the world require an entirely new solution paradigm than the ones we now deploy. Two, transitioning to such new paradigms will require innovating novel solutions and scaling them sustainably. Three, the quickest way to get there is to count on startups to innovate and corporates to scale them.
Let’s apply this theory to healthcare, a topic of global interest. There would be hardly any disagreement about the need for a paradigm that is radically more inclusive, efficient and affordable compared to the one we are in.
Consider the most pertinent issue of the day — access to Covid-19 vaccination. As per ourworldindata.org, a site maintained by Oxford University and quoted by the WHO in its World Health Statistics, 69.4 per cent of the world has received at least one vaccine dosage; this number is only 26.4 per cent for low-income countries (data accessed at 6 pm on February 11). This is not a new pattern. It is similar to any disease prevalent globally. The point is that even in the direst times, the challenge of equitable access to healthcare isn’t going to be solved automatically by the paradigm that gave rise to it. We need to rethink healthcare access.
What is interesting is that the rates of vaccination are not uniformly low across all low-and- middle-income countries. While countries like Burundi, Haiti and Madagascar have a single-digit percentage of their population vaccinated others like Vietnam, Samoa and Bangladesh have vaccination rates above 80 per cent — higher than the United States.
Even in a large nation like India, over 70 per cent of people are vaccinated, which is a rate similar to much smaller and wealthier European nations. How did this happen? The India story is very clear: This was possible through a combination of frantic innovation and rapid scaling-up.
During the pandemic, innovations happened at many levels, but the most notable was the development of the vaccine itself. Before Covid, the world had never developed a vaccine in less than a decade. In the case of Covid-19, this happened in less than a year. Vaccine development was led worldwide by firms that worked like startups, regardless of how endowed they may have been.
In India, Bharat Biotech developed Covaxin, while other leading vaccines came from Biontech, Moderna, and Oxford University. The innovations were later scaled up globally by innovators collaborating with large corporations, as was the case with Pfizer partnering with Biontech, or AstraZeneca with Oxford. Thus, we successfully leveraged ambidexterity during the pandemic.
The question is: Do such patterns work in normal times? Indeed, but because they happen over longer time frames we don’t have the luxury of observing them easily. Take any sector that has changed significantly in your lifetime — for example, communications. As you went from landline phones to internet calling, who was innovating? It was upstarts like Skype and WhatsApp, just to name the dominant players. While the upstarts themselves scaled, who provided the access to internet calling at scale? It was the large corporations providing wired or wireless services. The ambidexterity was present, though as a market-led progression.
Arguably, some of our toughest challenges such as containing the global temperature rise, and ensuring food and energy security cannot be addressed effectively without innovating at scale. Can we be more deliberate while leveraging global ambidexterity to solve such problems systematically? Well, if we deploy the G20’s new architecture of B20 and Startup20 well, we sure can!
Vaishnav is Chair, Startup20 Engagement Group, G20, and Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog
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