"Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and ideas the source of innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress."

It is appropriate that Theodore Levitt, an American economist who popularised the term globalisation, provided the best single-line perspective on the primary fuel for the 21st century's flat world.

Innovation is that ephemeral, ancient human ability to spark change. It really began two million years ago when an ancestor of man called Homo habilis started fashioning implements from stone. It continues today in dramatically more complex form as we fashion computer circuits from sand, electricity from water and endless opportunities from thin air.

Ceaseless innovation so became a part of the first-world business ethos that it led to a Western domination of the world economy.

That is changing faster than we realise.

As the new century rolled in, a new India, symbolised by information technology and its possibilities, began the transition from back office to the front.

We, still, have software coolies, but we are, now, also much more than that.

Whether in automobiles, in chemicals, or in telecommunications, a new, new India is emerging with a palette of more colours, stronger and more vibrant.

As innovation rapidly settles in as a business concept, it's allowing previously timorous Indian companies to go global, and it's persuading previously imperious global companies to move more rapidly into India.

This special edition marks an intense joint editorial effort, the first between the Hindustan Times and our sister publication, Mint, to bring you stories of innovation from the new, new India.

Over the last four months, reporters from both newspapers scoured the nation's technology hubs, tapped the best business brains and sifted through hundreds of companies before arriving at a list of those that best represent India's new approach to innovation.

These are the untold stories of people and companies silently giving India a steely new cutting edge. We will take you into laboratories, offices and minds to understand how the emerging India works, from its ever-expanding ambitions to the personal dreams of those who make it happen.

This special edition is just the start. The stories will continue every Friday for the next six months in both newspapers.

"Made in India" also has its own website, featuring additional content such as interviews, podcasts, videos and slideshows.

Let's begin our journey.