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"Fourth International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at/ for/ from/ with Grassroots (ICCIG 4)
Celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi" |
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"Creative and innovative voices from across the globe were brought together to enrich the ecosystem of inclusive and empathetic innovations.
ICCIG brings research, policy and institutional learning to a common platform to pool insights from local as well as global play fields of ideas, institutions and initiatives. The
conference covered six major themes of grassroots innovations: Technological, Cultural, Institutional, Educational, Public Policy and Incubation and Entrepreneurship. There were two special sessions on the Golden Triangle linking Innovations, Investment and Enterprise and Public Policy for Inclusive Development. The event was a grand success due to the gratuitous support from the volunteers of Honey Bee Network, faculty and staff members of Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM Ahmedabad and the generous support from our sponsors.
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"Policy Workshop held on 27th January 2019 - a short summary.
The ICCIG provided a unique opportunity of cross-cultural and cross-regional learning about grassroots innovation movement spearheaded by the Honey Bee Network.
A one-day Regional Policy Workshop on Promoting Grassroots Innovations inaugurated by Dr. Mia Mikic (UNESCAP), along with the opening address by Professor Anil Gupta (Founder Honey Bee Network, SRISTI, and GIAN & NIF) and Professor Vijaya Sherry Chand, Chair, RJMCEI and JSW Centre for Public Policy was held prior to the three day long International Conference of Creativity and Innovation at/ for/ from/ with grassroots [ICCIG 4] on the 27th of January at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Dr. Mia Mikic in her opening address recognised the need for acknowledging regional diversity in the context of promoting grassroots innovations through policy support. Policy makers and social transformers from Nepal, Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Timor Letse, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India participated in the workshop. When innovations without being aided by the outside agencies come from the knowledge rich but economically poor sections of the society, they are called grassroots innovations. Grassroots innovations get wider currency only when they are diffused into the society. However, not all innovations diffuse widely, sometimes not even In the same village. It was pointed out that grassroots innovations must be evaluated and promoted in their own specific cultural context.
Children should be treated as a source of knowledge and innovation rather than mere vessels to pour and store information. They are not a sink for sermons, prof Gupta asserted but source of ideas. Dr. Vijaya Sherry Chand spoke about the importance of recognising individual efforts by teachers to foster a culture of innovation in learning and pedagogic practices.
Dr. Ketaki Bapat from the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister of India, shared her views about about the strengths and weaknesses of grassroots innovations promotion ecosystem currently present in India. She highlighted the need to identify the constraints around scalability in grassroots innovations. Dr. Krishnan Raghavan from the Asia Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology presented the achievements of his organisation in promoting technology-based innovations in the region.
KG Arunasena from the Ministry of Science, Technolog y and Research, Sri Lanka, emphasised on building synergies among grass roots innovations thereby creating a collaborative network at regional and sub-continental levels. Anthony C, Sales CESO, Philippines, put forth his idea of bridging the gap between innovation and incubation. Shahida Sultana, Innovation Officer from A2I, Bangladesh, suggested the creation of an idea bank or a register of innovations while discussing the importance of knowledge sharing for the purpose of commercialisation.
The workshop also involved group- activity by the delegates, on identifying the needs and possible solutions for developing grassroots innovations and promotion of ecosystem in their respective countries. Through such brainstorming, some important insights were derived - including the need to establish a regional network of educational institutions which can serve as laboratories for validating innovative prototypes. In addition to this, the need to develop an online platform for allowing interactions between innovators across borders was felt.
It was realised through discussions that grassroots innovations are a powerful tool of bringing equity in the society and promoting redistribution of wealth. The number of patents granted in India (1712 last year went to people/entities based in India and 12387 granted by India in total) vis-a- vis the rest of the world is significantly low. Globally, 1.4 million patents were granted of which 0.4 million were granted in China and 0.3 million in the US. It is important to develop a sense of respect towards local cultures, customs and languages while nurturing and identifying grassroots innovators. The innovations can only be developed through a policy which is sensitive to the context of local and regional diversity, focusing on ‘Samvedana’ or empathetic understanding of others’ problems as a cultural ethic for promoting grassroots innovations across all strata of society.
Panelists from different countries came out with the following ideas:
1) Developing a system of validation of prototypes for scaling up grassroots innovations through empanelment of educational institutions across countries.
2) To build a large team of curious knowledge seekers who can work to identify and document grassroots innovations. E.g.The Honey Bee Network.
3) Magnifying the grassroots innovations by increasing impact (reaching more people, having greater effect), scaling up (for impacting policy) and deep scaling (impacting downtrodden segments of the society through innovation).
4) Creation of social media platforms exclusively for connecting grassroots innovators across different countries.
5) Developing a cloud based international database of grassroots innovations/innovators which can be validated and diffused through partner institutions across the world.
6) Ensuring that innovation and creativity become part of the educational curriculum at all levels.
7) Grassroots innovations should be popularised at rural and tribal schools. The concept of innovation could be included in the educational curriculum in the form of a chapter in high school text books.
It is important to continue working on the concept of – Discover
-> Develop -> and Delivery of grassroots innovations. This can be made possible by combining policy process and identifying deserving grassroots innovators through developing a culture of respect towards them.
It is important to focus on a single window mechanism to reduce the transaction cost of scaling up for grassroots innovators. Incubation support will be needed for commercial and non-commercial diffusion. Incubation of grassroots innovations through a network of incubator institutions with a constant focus on industry and R&D linkage will also need to be looked at. A system to identify and decode necessity and develop a supply chain of information needs to be worked out.
Ultimate Policy Mission: There is a need to institutionalise the support structure of grassroots innovations through the establishment of an international body under UNESCAP or UN which can empanel partner innovations, help file patents, promote integration with industry, provide assistance in scaling up, developing diffusion, skill development and provide training for grassroots innovations at an international level. ICCIG 4 Day 1 – 28 JANUARY,
2019: The inaugural session at the RJM Auditorium, IIMA started with a soulful rendition of Gandhiji’s favourite bhajan ‘Vaishnav Jana To’ and charkha spinning practice on stage by the children of Gujarat Vidyapith. In his welcome address, Professor Anil Gupta remembered Gandhiji’s mantra for “Samvedna” on the 150th year of his birth anniversary. He said that Gandhiji was the first to crowd- source the improvement in spinning wheel in 1929 when he asked for improvised designs from the people. He also pointed out that the first three patents that were granted to Indian farmers were through GIAN and SRISTI in 2003.
Other dignitaries who were in attendance were Dr. R.S. Paroda, Professor Errol D’Souza (Director IIMA), Professor Vijay S Chand (RJMCEI, IIMA), Professor Vasant Gandhi, Professor Arun Agarwal (University of Michigan), Ms. MiaMikic, Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, Dr.
P. S. Goel, Mr. Siddharth Bhardwaj and Dr Vipin Kumar (Director, NIF).
Professor Vijay Sherry Chand in his speech, paid tribute to the great institution builder, Professor Ravi J Matthai. Professor Vasant Gandhi, chairperson, CMA, IIMA, mentioned that resources are limited in today’s world and it is the need of the hour to learn to get more from less. Professor Arun Agarwal mentioned that market processes are only one of the many instruments that societies have for addressing the need for resource redistribution.
Two farmer innovators, Sri Vallabhbhai Marvaniya from Junagadh, Gujarat and Sri Jagdish Parekh Sikar from Rajasthan, who had been conferred Padmashree Award by the Government of India in 2019 were felicitated in the conference.
Professor Errol D’ Souza emphasised the need for promoting grassroots innovations. He also pointed out that Gandhiji’s spirit of action without expectations of result-material action with spiritual detachment was an everlasting one. He said that IIMA, being a management institution (and not just a business school) engages with many sectors of the economy and policy practice. Promotion of grassroots innovations, therefore, forms an integral part of the IIMA portfolio. Innovations, especially at the grassroots level are an important way to ensure equity in society.
Dr Paroda, Chairman, TAAS, in his lecture pointed out that even though India is a country largely based on agriculture, we are yet to accord agriculture the kind of priority it deserves. He suggested setting up a 24 hour weather channel (like China) and agri-clinics at district and state levels to help the farmers. Dr. P S Goel, Chairperson, NIF, India, emphasised the need to transform our society into an innovation society. Dr. Mia Mikic (UNESCAP) expressed concerned about the prominent gender gap in education and research existing globally and the need for it to be mitigated. UNICEF representative Dr. Yasmin Haque told that time tested traditional knowledge is a requirement for new innovations.
Professor Amit Karna, chaired a session on prototype development, scaling up, international networking and marketing of grassroots innovations. Other panellists included Professor Zhand Liyan from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics and Professor Sunil Shukla (Director, EDI). Professor Dinesh Awasthi, Former Director, EDI, alluded to the fact that without proper market research, all business plans fail within 1000 days. Hence a clear understanding of the source of cash flow is important for successful entrepreneurship. Shri Sunil Chawla, Chief General Manager of NABARD emphasised on the need to harness the traditional knowledge practices of the tribals. While discussing the success of the micro-finance model in Bangladesh, he also presented an idea for the Indian farmers to have access to digital banking through Rupay Kissan Credit Cards.
The session on Integrating Women’s Knowledge, Creativity and Innovations in the Innovation Ecosystem was chaired by Ms. Laxmi Bhawani, UNICEF. Ms. Sandhya Seetharaman, Rural Technology Action Group (RUTAG), IITM stressed on multi institutional approach towards sustainable, menstrual health management through the use of biodegradable and reusable sanitary napkins. She also told that North- East Rural Livelihood Project supports enterprises revolving around Women Self-Help Groups.
Dr Kiranjot Sidhu, Educator, PAU, stressed on the need to analyse the capacity building structure vis-a-vis innovation promotion which is the most difficult task, if you disjoint Corporate Social Responsiblity from the Government organisations. Having worked on a project involving Self-help Groups and empowering women, she presented some policy recommendations. Ms. Mona Khandhar, Secretary, Rural Development, classified innovations as: Triangular, Revolutionary, Niche and Architectural. She commented that women are by nature innovative and thus funding them to become grassroots entrepreneurs would work wonders. Shri Kunal Singh Pawar, Rural development fellow, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, presented the objectives of his ongoing project on sustainable livelihood generation for tribal people and income generation of the womenfolk in the region.
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Honey Bee, 29(4) & 30(1) ,41-44, 2019 |
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