Resilience Triggers Innovation

Adversity is the mother of Invention 

London was melting. Never before did London see the mercury rising to 40 Deg C. I am sure that 'the empire on which the sun never sets" must have wished that Sun should set much early on July 19^th-the hottest day in the history of the island nation. Temp in Spain too reached even 50 deg C.

Global warming is not showing any signs of global waning.

Keeping oneself balanced in such a situation is not easy. Tar roads are literally melting in Europe, and so too are roads to net zero. Trees and animals are trapped in wildfires in USA, Europe and Siberia, so also targets of Carbon neutrality. The yields of agricultural output and milk have reduced, and so also the resolve of the world leaders to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Droughts are creating a scarcity of water, and so too is the scarcity of climate action. Roads in Villages and cities are submerged by heavy rains in Asia, and so also the courage of the people.

Can we be 'resilient' to such happenings? We always look at 'resilience' as a system to live and manage amidst the changing situation. Living in scarcity, surviving the disaster, swimming in the floods, wading through inundated streets, managing to sleep with an empty stomach and tolerating loss and droughts, all are termed as 'resilience'.

I look at resilience as a systemic opportunity to innovate. Humanity as well as the flora and fauna of our ecosystem for millions of years have been consciously or unconsciously turning crises into opportunities and progressing through resilience. A recent example of the Covid-19 pandemic is the most fitting. It strengthened our health system and found new vaccines and medicines. Even old and forgotten natural medicines and treatments were brought back as part of our 'resilience' to face the crises. We innovated through resilience to survive the crises.

Can resilience be the subject of science and management that can be taught and practised in university campuses? Can we start research programmes on innovation to be resilient to climate change?

Smart Campus Cloud Network (sccnhub.com) is initiating such research and innovation movements on the university campus to build an army of resilient youth.

 Dr Rajendra Shende, 

Chairman - TERRE Policy Centre,

Former Director UNEP, IIT Alumni  

Coordinating lead author of IPCC.