Trends in innovation management research in India - an analysis of publications for the period 1991-2013

With increasing recognition of the importance of technological innovations in economic development, scholarship on innovation management – seeking to understand the context, process and management of technological innovations, as distinct from their purely scientific, engineering and technical aspects – has been steadily rising as well. This field of research has been instrumental in discovering important concepts that have subsequently informed innovation management in industry, public R&D and academia. In the past two decades, India has also significantly advanced the pace of technological innovations, as evident from patents filed out of the country. However, there is little understanding of whether research on innovation management in the country has also witnessed a similar trend. The present article seeks to address this gap. We looked at the abstracts and keywords of 58 articles related to technology and innovations in India published in 21 journals during the period 1991 – 2013. We conclude that the trend is not very encouraging. We discuss its implications and offer suggestions for future research.