Inclusive and Frugal Innovation

This book discusses various initiatives of grassroot innovation in India. India is among the few countries where National Innovation System (NIS) includes not just R&D by formal private and public sector, but also innovations at grassroots level in the informal sector. This happened through various initiatives across the country and this book focuses on over the more than thirty seven year journey of a network called Honey Bee Network. This is a network of like-minded individuals, innovators, farmers, scholars, academicians, policy makers, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), having presence in more than one hundred and fifteen countries. The first chapter outlines the policy and institutional gaps that have to be bridged to promote green grassroots frugal innovations and traditional knowledge practices for inclusive development. The second chapter deals with the nature of innovations that contribute towards inclusive development. Institutional pathways for creating common and public goods for augmentation of private initiatives at different levels are identified in the third chapter. Various institutional innovations, such as SRISTI (1993, Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions), GIAN (1997, Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network) and NIF (2000, National Innovation Foundation), paved these pathways. In chapter four the process of reducing ex-ante and ex-post transaction cost of coordinating the expectations of innovators, investors and entrepreneurs is described. Chapter five includes the description of various policies and programmes that can empower knowledge-rich, economically-poor people. Indicators for the assessment of local and indigenous innovations are identified for monitoring the trajectory of inclusive innovation. The mobilisation of youth for various social transformation agendas is discussed in chapter six in the context of linking academia, industry and social development. The seventh chapter describes the institutionalisation of various HBN initiatives at global level with specific reference to the experience of China and Malaysia. Chapter eight summarises lessons of the Honey Bee Network, and the final chapter lists out the policy recommendations. The book is thus a great resource for all those working in the grassroots and frugal innovation sphere - researchers, NGOs, industries looking for CSR activities, policy makers, to name some.