Industry Luminaries Shed Light on Importance of Creativity in India

BANGALORE, September 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Strong Adoption for Adobe Creative Cloud in India; Nearly 90% of Online Customers Choose Creative Cloud Over Traditional Boxed Software

Adobe India today organized a panel discussion centered on 'Spurring on the next creative evolution' to explore the confluence of creativity and technology in India. The panelists highlighted the state of creativity amongst start-ups, small businesses, creative and fine arts, product development and education in India today and shed light on key differentiators that could help bolster the country's creative economy. The company also highlighted the strong momentum for Creative Cloud in India, revealing that on the online store alone, nearly 90% of customers for its creative technology choose to buy Creative Cloud over more traditional boxed software options.

On the panel were Hisamichi Kinomoto, Vice President, Marketing for JAPAC region at Adobe; Ravi Gururaj, Chair of NASSCOM Product Council, Balakrishna Rao from Manipal Global Education Services, Arun Prakash Goyal - Senior VP, MPS Limited, Sridhar Iyengar, VP, Product Management, ManageEngine (a division of Zoho Corporation) and renowned theatre personality Arundathi Nag. The discussion was moderated by Umang Bedi, Managing Director, Adobe South Asia.

"It is important to understand creativity in different contexts, especially in a vibrant country like ours. This panel discussion was an enriching experience where we heard perspectives on how creativity cuts across arts, education, technology and entrepreneurship. I think it is crucial to ingrain creativity in our social fabric in order to learn, perform and excel across all facets of life," said Umang.

The panelists discussed the state of creativity, technology and businesses and what it means for India, a country with an entrepreneurial culture and whose economy thrives on start-ups and small businesses to a large extent. As per a recent study by Zinnov, with a total base of 48.8 million SMBs, India is expected to emerge as the largest SMB country globally. This segment will play a crucial role towards growing our economy and a fine interplay between technology, innovation and creativity can help spur this growth. They also shared their thoughts around the role of education in encouraging creativity and how in turn adoption of technology fuels creativity, with Adobe panelists saying that globally, thousands of enterprise and mid-market design, BFSI, IT & ITeS and manufacturing companies have moved to the Creative Cloud for their creative processes.

Addressing the panelists Ravi Gururaj, Chair of Nasscom Product Council said, "Product companies and startups are the future growth engines of India's economy and are set to contribute significantly to the overall innovation and growth. Creativity and technology when combined help small businesses grow and accelerate down the path of innovation and success."

Speaking at the panel Hisamichi Kinomoto said, "India is home to some of the most creative art forms and expressions. However, it is still sometimes not known to be an innovative economy. We need to find a way to liberate creativity only from art forms and ingrain it in the start-up ecosystem in the country. The results will then be nothing less than phenomenal."

Sharing his perspective on the need for creativity in the education sector, Balakrishna Rao said, "In today's context, 'relevance' is the key and many of our schools are in danger of simply becoming irrelevant to students and also employers due to outdated pedagogy and structural inflexibility in education. As the business environment gets fiercely competitive, companies increasingly require talent that is creative in their thinking as that is what will differentiate them from the rest. This creative thinking needs to be imbibed right early - when they are in school. This can only happen, when schools reinvent themselves in the digital age and also when educators start giving due importance to creative education and skill building instead of conventional teaching."

In a survey recently conducted by Adobe, 69% of Indian educators surveyed believe the current education system in India is not geared toward creativity. However, they 89% felt that technology and digital tools play an important role in fostering creativity among students. Encouraging idea generation (67%), promoting collaborative practices (62%), rewarding creative ideas (62%) and involving children in critical thinking skills (56%) and were identified among the top tools and techniques educators use to foster creativity.

The panel explored the topic of creativity across different outlets - society at large, product innovation, in education, with start-ups, across Asian countries. The theme that emerged clearly is there is a strong co-relation between creative thinking and outstanding outcomes.

Earlier this year Adobe launched Creative Cloud in India for individuals, teams and enterprises. Adobe Creative Cloud membership gives access to the very latest versions of all the Adobe professional creative desktop applications like Photoshop, Illustrator and more- plus makes new features and upgrades available as soon as they are released. For a sector that relies on remaining at the forefront of ever-changing trends and technologies, this is a critical element. For more details click here: http://www.adobe.com/in/products/creativecloud.html

Adobe India also spoke to some of India's leading creative professionals on what they have to say on Creativity in India. You can view it here: http://adobe.ly/17YdpLk‌

For updates and news about Adobe India follow us on http://www.facebook.com/AdobeIndia or @AdobeIndia on twitter.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com/in.

© 2013 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobes, the Adobe logo, are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Primary Media Contact: Bhawana Suri, [email protected], 91-9311978259

Secondary Media Contact: Advait Soman, [email protected], 91-9717106056