Indians are good at applying ideas generated elsewhere: Infosys founder Narayana Murthy

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy said Indians are good at applying ideas and concepts generated elsewhere, adding that it will take time to invent new things.

“The reality of India is that at this point of time, by and large, we have upgraded ourselves to the orbit of applying ideas and concepts that are invented outside India and do some innovation and become experts. What India today is, is a nation that is ready to seize the ideas that have been generated elsewhere and use it for our own betterment. This is the first step. That’s a very good thing, what has happened”, Murthy said in an interview with Moneycontrol.

He was responding to a question on how India can catch up with the West when it comes to new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

Read the full interview here

“We too will be able to invent new things. It will happen. I am very positive it will happen. But it is a gradual process. It takes time. We have to be positive. We have to be enthusiastic,” he added.

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The 77-year-old tech veteran said the country needs to remove obstacles for its youngsters. “Because my own belief is that a youngster of today is at least 10-20 times smarter than what I was at their age.”

He said the progress, abundant access to information, and enthusiasm amongst the youngsters need to be cheered. “Let’s do whatever little we can do to provide them opportunities so that they too can indeed touch the sky,” Murthy said.

On May 15, the Infosys Science Foundation also said it has lowered the upper age limit for the Infosys Prize winners to 40 years from 50, “to reward potential and recognise the promise of future achievement.”

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