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Honey bee publish details |
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NEWS & VIEWS |
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The Second International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots(ICCIG), China and India |
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The second ICCIG Conference was organised at Tianjin (Dec 3-4, 2012), China and Ahmedabad (Dec 7-8, 2012), India. The Conference aimed at gauging the state-of-the-art, reinforcing the Network’s values, and consolidating the lessons learned over the last 24 years.
The conference was formally inaugurated by Prof Zhang Jiaxing, the President of TUFE. He emphasised the fruitful association of SRISTI and TUFE since 2004. He talked about the need to mobilise students to participate in the innovation activity of GRI. He also discussed a common avenue platform for innovative solutions.
Prof Gupta emphasised that of the 70 countries outside India where HBN has set foot, the greatest support has come from China.
Over 65 delegates from different countries viz. India, China, South Africa, South Korea, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico and Germany took part in the conference. Innovators associated with the Network, Mansukhbhai Patel [Cotton s
tripping machine, Gujarat], Dipak Bharali [Magnetic bobbin for design making in handlooms, Assam] and C Mallesham [Asu making machine, Andhra Pradesh] were also present.
Many Chinese innovators, collaborators and policymakers actively engaged with the Indian and other international delegates. Some of the innovators featured in the Network’s publications like Chen Guangxing, Lv Shengzhan, Ding Wendou, and Li Rong Biao were also present at the event. Dignitaries from the Chinese academia, industry and polity expressed their views and concerns about grassroots innovators and methods for their inclusion. Many interesting projects by TUFE students were showcased. Some of these were not only novel but also had maturity and pragmatism of the kind associated with seasoned practitioners.
Li Jun, Director of Competition Department talked about a Science & Technology competition for innovation based activity. An exhibition displaying innovators of China, projects of TUFE students, posters of HBN, SRISTI & NIF, videos of Indian innovators and grassroots based products from HBN was also arranged. The attendees were made aware of the CHIN database of 3000 practices made by TUFE.
Dr. Yoslan Nur of UNESCO talked about the policy implications of integrating GRIs in the national innovation ecosystem. He reiterated how critical innovation is for poverty alleviation. He also talked about the threat of copying of simple low tech innovations – problem of IP, special fund support for GRI and NGO as a driver for promoting GRI. Prof. Roberto Rendon Medel from UNAM, Mexico, dwelled upon the various kinds of social networks in the context of grassroots innovation.
Prof Jose Vargas-Hernandez from Mexico highlighted the need for socio-cultural aspects to be involved in the development plan. He added that social capital needs protection and conservation. Soyeon Yang of the Hope Institute, South Korea, put forward ways to solve social problems by collaboration of various sectors.
Motomura Takuto, Founder Granma Inc., talked about ‘grassroots to Global (g2G)’ and how he was inspired by HBN’s work and vision.
Prof Anil K Gupta proposed a shodhyatra in Hunan province or central China to understand knowledge system.
Dr. Anand Prakash, Chief Secretary, Andaman & Nicobar, India spoke on the administrative actions taken by the government for protecting and promoting the traditional knowledge of the islanders.
Dr. Vinita Sharma from the Department of Science & Technology, India, threw light on various technological examples like micro-propagation of banana, a Rural Technology Park, honey hunter dress, etc. where DST has supported projects for inclusion and uplifting of grassroots, poor communities and women.
The Chinese section of ICCIG ended on a high note with innovators admitting to have gained better understanding of Prof Liyan Zhang and her team’s work in China and passionately demanding a stronger network there.
Twenty five years back HBN sowed seeds in India. Now green shoots are emerging in many pockets around the world.
In the second part of the Conference at IIM Ahmedabad, about 150 participants including innovators and teachers from different countries participated in the discussions over two days. The sessions started on a nostalgic note. Prof Kuldeep Mathur recounted his association with Prof Anil K Gupta and the early days of struggle which he and the other members and supporters of the Network went through to make the Honey Bee Network a thriving reality.
The Ahmedabad section of the conference deliberately allowed for interactive sessions. Discussions took place on topics of incentives to grassroots innovators, intellectual property protection, alternative models of incentives and attribution, structures of dynamic and static multilingual databases, strengthening online and offline platforms, identifying policy gaps, making innovation ecosystem more robust, respecting and promoting cultural creativity, education, and tools for promoting a creative pedagogy.
In his introductory speech, Prof. Kuldeep Mathur described the challenges faced by Honey Bee Network during the initial stages of the journey. Although there was a huge inventory of traditional knowledge and practices, the challenge was collecting the available information on innovations and documenting them into a database.
Dr. Susantha Goonatilake, President of Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, emphasised upon the importance of open source network in grassroots innovations. Amrutbhai Agrawat, Life Time Achievement Awardee, NIF, shared experiences of his journey with the Honey Bee Network from 1988 and appreciated the support and respect given to grassroots innovators by the Honey Bee Network.
Dr. Vipin Kumar, Chief Innovation Officer, NIF, stated that NIF has been maintaining a national register of more than 1,70,000 grassroots innovations and practices. International collaborations have been made through the grassroots to Global (g2G) program for technology transfer and the awareness building across the world for grassroots innovation. Prof. Anil K Gupta then stated the various policy gaps in the Honey Bee Network and possible ways to bridge them.
Dr. Sang E Lee from USAID expressed her organisation’s interest in helping grassroots innovators, who have developed innovative solutions to social problems, in terms of economic as well as technical support. She added that innovation is not only in the product or technology form but also the process or novel mechanism which led to the change in current practices for reducing drudgery. She said, the media, especially social media which now comprises many ICT initiatives, can play an important role in showcasing various innovations and help in its diffusion and possible commercialisation.
In the chair speech, Prof. M R Dixit, CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad, talked about the desirability of linking the formal and informal sector. Dr. Dinesh K. Abrol, NISTADS, cited the example of CSIR which has established a network of 18 laboratories to link the formal sector with the informal sector. Finally, Prof. Dixit added that the two sectors may not always give the expected results, a couple of examples showed that the link may not always yield the right results. However, it is important to open the eyes of the formal sector to the ingenuity of the informal sector. Prof. Sanjay Verma of IIM-A, Alexander Grots and K C Bhanoo together raised a very important point that technology today is reaching masses at a much faster pace compared to finance. Alexander Grots stated that ICT makes the innovation work. It needs to be assessed whether information technology has reached the grassroots to act as a proper medium of communication in India?
There was a session on cultural creativity chaired by Dr. Paul Shrivastava and Dr. Mallika Sarabhai. Paul emphasised on looking at the earth as a piece of art. Mallika performed a skit highlighting male chauvinism using a plot from mythology. The session was brought alive by puppetry and bhavai music.
Dr. Adrian Smith, SPRU and STEPS Centre, and Prof Shamnad Basheer, Chair Intellectual Property Law, NUJS talked about patents. Basheer described various types of patents and argued about the quality of patent applications!
The Ahmedabad Declaration was drafted taking into view ideas from Tianjin and Ahmedabad. The declaration can be viewed on the following link: http://iccig.wordpress.com/ahmedabad-declaration/
Collaboration between NIF and Tata Agrico
An MOU was signed on January 6, 2013 at the Tata Center, between the National Innovation Foundation-India and Tata Agrico to collaborate in the areas of agricultural implements. Dr Vipin Kumar (Chief Innovation Officer - NIF), T V S Shenoy (Chief Agrico Div.) , Dr Sumitesh Das (Chief Global Research Program) were present during the signing of the MOU along with the innovator of the sugar cane bud chipper Mr Roshan Lal Vishwakarma of Madhya Pradesh.
Renewal of technology transfer
GIAN West & NIF facilitated the renewal of technology transfer of Solar Natural Water Cooler of Arvindbhai Patel, Ahmedabad to M/s Khodke Agro Products Pvt. Ltd., Amrawati.
Under this the entrepreneur would
have exclusive manufacturing and marketing right in the state of Maharasthra.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 23(4) & 24(1) 36-38, 2013 |
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