how do we learn from innovations by grassroots workers, children, tech students and professionals, four levels of learning, artefactual, metaphorical, heuristics, gestalt, fuve tensions such as autonomy vis a vis agency, open source standard of excellence, autopoesis model of innovation, honey bee network, grassroots innovations,

1. India redefined, reimagined, reignited:
A Perspective on Grassroots, Youthful Creativity and
Innovation
Minds on the margin are not marginal minds
anil gupta, IIMA, sristi.org
Honey Bee Network and NIF
anilgb@gmail.com -

2. Honey Bee Network
founded in 1987-1988
A nameless, faceless innovator or traditional knowledge
holder comes into contact with the Network and gets an identity,
voice, visibility and viability of its sustainable vision .

3.
Intellectual
capital
Social capital
Trust, reciprocity and third party sanctions
External regulation
Natural
capital
( commoditization of
resources, stored,
sold, exchanged,
Intellectual property
( that part of ic from the
commercial applications of which,
one can exclude others for a
given period of time)
Ethical Capital
( internal regulations)
Source: Gupta, 2001

4. Five tensions:
a)Autonomy and agency
b)Accuracy versus affordability
c)Blue print versus autopoiesis (blended, bundled and
bridged innovations)
d)Institution led -user adopted to user-created or cocreated and corporate adopted-reverse innovation
e)Symmetrical versus asymmetrical open innovation
models

5. Long tail of innovation (only a few
innovations achieve scale, a large number sell a few
pieces or in a few communities)
Room for
maneuver
Long nose
of
innovation:
Take long
time to
come into
market

6. Transformation is possible
Story of
:
five transformations
a)New Chemistry of sustainability equation: circular
economy:
b)From market led to market disruption: new forms of
alliances: TATA agrico and a small innovator, BUHLER, ST
Microelectronics, TATA Steel,
c) Frugal, friendly, flexible and futuristic heuristics
d) New models of learning from below: inverted model of
innovation-children invent, engg fabricate, companies
commercialise
e) New models of financing and co-creation – techpedia.in,
empathetic innovations

7. Dimensions of Inclusion
– Spaces
– Sectors
– Seasons: stable to fluctuating
– Social segments
– Skills and knowledge
Inclusive Innovation

8. •Less material
•Local material
•Repairable features
•Upgradable features
•Aspirational connect
•Sticking to essentials
•
Extreme affordability

9. H
Affordable
L
high
Accessible
low
h
available
L
Assumption is that products or services are known, people are aware, but
can they afford these, access these and if can access, can they avail them,

10. Material
Old
new
Old
method
New
old
Use or applications
New
Innovation: at least one of the three dimensions should be New

11. Frugality Imperatives
Material: frugality in quantity, replacement, maintenance, waste
recycling
Method: distributed, concentrated, iterative versus blue print, selfcorrecting, local repaired or repaired from outside, or blended
Application: low end, high end, diversified or specialized locally
modifieable or only experts can fix or make, robust versus sophisticated
application, makeshift or permanent,

12. Circular Economy
•Value chain redesign,
• reciprocal open innovation platform
Frugality is flexible
Frugality is friendly
Frugality is extremely
affordable

13. Four levels of learning
1) Artefactual
2) Analogic
3) Heuristic
4) Gestalt
- replication of similar design
- metaphor to inspire
- models of thinking
- configurational of factors
Gupta, 2012, Own compilation
Learning platforms
from concrete to abstract

14. Learning at four levels:
Higher the interlinkage,
greater
the depth,
diversity AND development

15. Mohammed Usman Hanif Patel, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, class two
Artefactual level

16. Self-Cleaning Molecular Material
Student Team : M. B. Avinash ,T. Govindaraju, Carsten Schmuck, Elisabeth
Verheggen
Supervisor Name: Dr T. Aravind Govindaraju; College Name: JNCASR
www.techpedia.in
Analogic level

17. Autopoiesis at grassroots for
inclusive development
creativity, compassion, communication and collaboration
anil
Honey Bee Network
www.Sristi.org/anilg anilg@sristi.org
creativity, compassion,
anilgb@gmail.com
communication and
www.nifindia.org
collaboration
Techpedia.in

18. Just
70
Euro
Low Cost Wind mill
Stronger, durable version,
900 euro, saves diesel
Mehtar Hussain and Mushtaq Ahmad, Assam
worth 700 euro in one
season of salt making
Over 35 units installed in salt farming regions
of Gujarat to improve livelihood of poor salt
farmers
New heuristics:
Maximizing output per unit of time and smoothening the flow are not always sustainable
Innovation by Mehtar Husain and Mushtaq Ahmed from Assam to Gujarat

19. Heuristic level
Uniform flow versus flow in spurts
Is
maximisation of output always good?

20. GESTALT LEVEL
CREATING open source PUBLIC STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

21. Meghalaya
Technology is
like words,
institutions are
like grammar
and culture is like
thesaurus
GESTALT level
Three pillars of
sustainability

22. The President of India honours grassroots innovators, launches
National Innovation Clubs and hosts an innovation exhibition at the
President’s house; NIF becomes an Institute of Department of
Science and Technology
Initiative to Institutionalisation

23. The former President awards children innovators every year at the
IGNITE Award function by NIF at IIMA
Initiative to Institutionalisation

24. National Innovation Clubs
•Search: Celebrating the decade of innovation
by scouting and mapping the creativity and
innovations in the hinterland
•Spread: Disseminating/Cross-pollinating
innovations across spaces, social segments
and sectors
•Sense or Benchmark: Identifying the roots of
persistent problems and the mindsets that
trigger their continued tolerance in society to
solve problems
•Celebrate: Recognising achievers in different
social spheres

25. Few Variations of
Bullet Santi / Handio

26. Fortune at the Top
of the
Ethical and Innovation
Pyramid
Scooter based washing machine
Service at your door step
Sheikh Jahangir, Jalgaon, Maharshtra
Scooter mounted flour mill

27. Being short of material resources, it is
inevitable that the Poor optimize
mental resources (imagination )
resulting in extremely affordable, frugal
and accessible
innovations
Md Rojadeen: Champaran, Bihar
cooker for coffee,
anywhere !!!!!!!!
frothy espresso

28. Bicyle Refrigerator For Rural Areas
Student/ Author : Sagar Chandrakant Gadkar, Amol Raghunath Kachare, Sanjay
Shivaji Kachare, Suyog Hanmant Jadhav
Guided By : Prof. S. A. Khot
College : Padmabhushan Vasantraodada Patil Institute of technology, Budhgaon,
Sangli
It is a 50 lit capacity, refrigerator which is powered by a rear wheel of bicycle. To
achieve the required rpm of compressor we provide a larger pulley of dia 20 inch on
rear wheel shaft through which pulley we run the compressor and achieved the
required output. Steady paddling of bicycle at 14 km/hr. for 30 minutes at an
ambient temperature of 35 C, brings down the temperature in box to 8 C.

29. Andhra Pradesh
Meghalaya
Energy – new heuristics
Do we harvest it efficiently?
Can our mothers from the
North East and Southern
India teach us some thing
new?
Mizoram

30. Arnab, West Bengal
Frontiers of frugality

31. Mohammed Usman Hanif Patel, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, class two
Frontiers of frugality

32. • a portal by SRISTI (sristi.org) pooling
167,000 engineering projects by 400k
students from over 600 institutions
• engaging with youth
www.techpedia.in

33. Shanu Sharma, Vardan, IITK

34. Image, Speech Recognition
and Speech Synthesis
for people with hearing and speaking disabilities
Saurabh Saket and Rahul Ranjan
Bhutta College of Engineering & Technology, Ludhiana

35. Exhaust pipe
cools drivers
cabin, Pune
Lpg gas based refrigerator
Chintan, Mayank,
Biren Mehsana
Hot water from fridge
Dhruv Mehsana
Has any big company given you a fridge that also provides hot water,
keeps food warm and consumes less electricity?

36. GOLDEN TRIANGLE for rewarding CREATIVITY
Leadership is
to take note of
ex ante and ex
post
transaction
costs and deal
with them
upfront,
If not, these are
transferred to the
weaker partner
Innovation
Enterprise
Investment

37. Milking machines
Innovator: Shri Raghava Gowda, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka
•
•
Manually
operated,
semi
automatic
and
automatic
machines for milking cows which
can milk cows using a set of
reciprocating vacuum pump and
suction assembly unit
Machine can milks 1.5 litre to 2
litres per minute.
Commercialization
•
Over 5000 pcs are sold
•
NIF signed MoU with Suntec Agri
Equipements Pvt Ltd, which will
sell 6000 pcs per annum through
their 55 Agrimart retail outlets and
600 dealer network spread across
the country.
•
The cost of machine is 15-25k

38. Biomass Gasification System
Innovator
:
Shri Rai Singh Dahiya, Jaipur, Rajasthan
• Unique gasification unit and filtering mechanism.
Producer gas is cooled by water jacket/heat exchanger,
cleaned by a grit filter and a baffle filter
• Gasification Efficiency 60 -70%, Thermal efficiency:
25% (tested by MNIT, Jaipur)
• Available in capacity 5 -100 kVA, single and three
phase - open and closed (sound proof design, having
canopy) as per the requirement of customer.
• GE helped in value addition.
Commercialization:
• Over 170 units have been sold in different parts of
country; received the single order of 100 units from
Meghalaya (over 60 million INR), 30 units already
delivered .
• Eight units have been exported to
South Africa, Kenya, Germany, Italy
and Singapore.
• Price (15 kVA): INR 550,000 and 650,000 with and
without canopy, respectively

39. Sugarcane bud chipper
Innovator: Mr. Roshan Lal Vishwakarma, Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh
•
•
The device includes a hemispheric knife
actuated by a hand operated lever, which
can chipped the buds of sugarcane.
The chipped buds can be shown directly in
the field or nurseries may be grown
Commercialization:
•NIF signed MoU with Tata Agrico
•Innovator will manufacture and Tata Agrico
will market the device through its outlets
•A batch of 1500 machines are delivered to
Tata’s and they have approved the Quality of
the product.

40. Marine Inboard diesel engine and Z Drive
Innovator: B. Mohanlal, Aleppey, Kerala
Reversible reduction gearbox
Manually tillable Z-drive system
The diesel engine directly couples with two reduction gears
through flange coupling with engine flywheel. The
innovativeness lies in the application of helical gears with inner
spline cut with dual sided jaw and dog clutch. This provides the
smooth running and better power transmission for the marine
diesel engine.
To go along with gear box for diesel engine, manually operated
Z drive system is developed, which is manually tiltable and can
be locked at 90 degrees while landing. It also has reduced the
loss of power through horizontal shaft power transmission and
result in smooth drive and better maneuverability.
NIF signed MoU with Matsyafed
Matsyafed gave an order of 100
machine sets – order value of about INR
68 Lakh.

41. Yuvan Long life
Setup with Ensigns Healthcare to manufacture and
market herbal teas based on community knowledge
• Herbal Tea for Diabetes. Herbal Tea for
Obesity.
• Herbal Tea for Anti – Ageing.
• Herbal Tea with anti –inflammatory properties.
•Herbal Tea with Anti – oxidant
properties
• Herbal Tea for Hypertension.

42. Making strategic breakthroughs
Domain characteristics
Technological platforms
Known
Known
incremental innovations,
adaptive trials, user-led
modifications. ,
incubation
Product Development,
Unknown
amplify the
form, features and
functions
Unknown
R & D with external
experts, new actors
and new arrangements
Paradigmatic
disruption, discontinuity and
non-parameteric
approaches , sanctuary
model

43. How to reward:
Portfolio of Incentives for Innovations
Forms of Incentives
Material
non material
material-individual
Ipr
Target
of
individual
Incentives
or
non
ipr
non-material-individual
based
awards
Awards
Recognition
Honour
Memorial
R and d grants
Endowments
collective
material-collective
non-material-collective
Trust funds
Policy changes
Venture and incubation
funds
Collective awards
Pedagogic changes

44. Mind to Market

45. Herbvate Skin Ointment
It is based on the knowledge of seven innovators from six
districts: Sabarkanth, Panchmahal, Dang, Mahsana, Patan
and Bhavnagar of Gujarat. Herbavate exhibits remarkable
properties against eczema and a variety of inflammatory
and infectious skin conditions.
Communities:
The innovators of Herbavate: 1. Amratbhai Shankarbhai
Rawal, Mehsana Gujarat. 2. Kunjubhai Kakadiyabhai
Bhoya, Dang Gujarat 3. Pujabhai Dabhi, Sabarkantha,
Gujarat 4. Karshanbhai Parmar, Sabarkantha Gujarat 5.
Laxmanbhai Pagi, Panchmahal, Gujarat 6. Lilabhai Rawal,
Patan Gujarat 7. Lakhabhai Becharbhai Khatana,
Bhavnagar Gujarat

46. Botanicals for Growth Promotion and Insect Pest Control in Agricultural Crops
Innovator: Bhikhaji Kaluji Solanki
Field Trial Results
•Results indicate that the herbal preparation significantly reduced the grasshopper and larval population
(H. armigera and Earias vittella ) in Okra plants.
• Fruit damage in Okra was also controlled by NIF-BKS, which was at par with Chlorpyriphos @ 0.05%.
• Increase of 14 to 69% in number of branches was recorded as compared to control.
• Increase of 8 to 44% in the yield was recorded, maximum @ 40ml/L.

47. Herbal preparation for controlling borers in vegetable crops
Innovator: Jokhu Shah
Field Trial Results
•NIF-JS (6ml) significantly reduced population of H.armigera as
compared to untreated control.
•A reduction of 52% in mealy bug was recorded as compared to
untreated control.
•Reduction in fruit damage was recorded with NIF-JS @ 7.5ml/L,
followed by 10ml/L dose which was better than the positive
control.
•Formulation also increased plant height @ 6 ml/L .
•NIF-JS showed moderate larvicidal effect against Spodoptera litura
and Helicoverpa armigera larvae under controlled conditions.

48. Herbal preparation for controlling pests in paddy, bajra and vegetable crops
Innovator: Kodarji Kaluji Pagi
Field Trial Results
• The trail was conducted on Okra in field conditions and data of plant
hoppers, larval (H.armigera and Earias vittella) population and fruit
damage was recorded.
•After 48 hours of spray there was significant reduction in the larval
population.
• Larval population/plant was 2.25 in untreated and 0.0 in NIF-KKP (25
ml/L) and Chlorpyriphos treated plants.
•The herbal preparation also caused reduction in fruit damage/plant as
compared to untreated control.

49. g2G
grassroots to global
Global GIAN – Building a Global Value
Chain for the Augmentation of Green
Grassroots Innovations

50. Grassroots innovations find global markets …..

51. Sales made internationally
1.
Coconut tree climber- USA (Florida, Massachussets, California,
Hawaii etc.) Australia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Mexico, West
Indies
2.
Pomegranate deseeder - Turkey, USA
3.
Garlic peeling machine - Pakistan
4.
Arecanut husker - Singapore
5.
Milking machine - Phillipines, Uganda, Ethiopia
6.
Resin grading machine - Peru
7.
Cassava peeling machine - Kenya
8.
Herbal growth promoters - Ghana

52. Product queries:
Sl no.
Innovation/product
Countires
1
Coconut/palm tree climbing device
USA, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Australia, Sri Lanka, Mexico,
Iran, West Indies
2
Entech oil expeller
USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Phillipines, Canada, Kenya,
Colombia, S. Africa, Switzerland, Poland, Indonesia, Belgium
3
Garlic peeling machine
Slovenia, USA, Turkey, Peru, Singapore, Iran , Venezuela,
Pakistan
4
Pomegranate deseeding machine
USA, Australia, Turkey, Venezuela, Hongkong, Israel,
Netherlands, Thailand, UAE, Iran, United Kingdom
5
Cassava peeling machine
Congo, USA, Benin, Nigeria, Kenya, UAE, Uganda
6
Aaruni tilting cart
Uganda
7
Coconut defibring machine
China
8
Coconut dehusker
Mexico, New Zealand, USA, Philippines, Bangladesh
9
Lemon cutting machine
S. Africa
10
Milking machine
Bangladesh, Uganda, Ecuador
11
Palm leaf mat weaving machine
Fiji
12
Rain Gun (Chandraprabha)
Sudan
13
Tea making machine
Bangladesh,
14
Tile making machine
Bangladesh, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Zambia
15
Trench digging machine
Pakistan
16
Zero head water turbine
Egypt
17
Arecanut dehusking machine
Chile

53. Culturally Alive India
www.sristi.org/cultural

54. Solar Operated Car http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=24
Eco-friendly vehicle http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=27
Bio-bike http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=34
Air-powered car http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=38
Green building design http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=178
Solar Water Heater http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=191
Rain Water Harvesting Umbrella http://techpedia.in/stu_project_detail.php?student_project_id=2
Electricity From Noise Polution http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=258
Bicyle Refrigerator For Rural Areas http://techpedia.in/project_detail.php?project_id=261

55. Bicycle based Innovations
Rider Induced bicycle
Mr. Kanak Das, Assam
Bamboo bicycle
Mr. Dodhi Pathak, Assam
Multipurpose Bicycle
Md. Kamruddin, Rajasthan
Bicycle based sprayer
Mr. Mansukhbhai Jagani, Gujarat
Bicycle with gear
Mr. Jayanti J Patel,Gujarat
Bicycle operated pump
Mr. Vikram Rathore, AP
Amphibious Bicycle
Mohd. Saidullah, Bihar
Bicycle based mobile spray pump
Subhas Vasantrao Jagtap, Maharastra
Bicycle based portable Pump
Mr. Nasiruddin Gayen, WB

56. Emerging Models of Innovation
a) Building upon what disadvantaged people
are rich in: inability to live with
problems unsolved – overcoming inertia
b) Empathetic innovation: samvedana se
srijansheelta, kho kho model of
innovation (innovation relay)
c) Going beyond long tail, long nose of
innovation to turbulent innovation

57. Emerging Models of Innovation
d) Inverted model of innovations: children invent,
engineers fabricate, and companies commercialize
e) Pooling of distributed ideas for innovation and
experimentation : uncommon from common
f) distributed mind management: www.techpedia.in transcending the limits of frugality
g) Moving blackboards: learning from unexpected
quarters

58. Should accuracy be
traded off with
affordability?
Should design overtake
durability
Should desires be
preferred over
deserving
ade-offs in
Tr
Inclusive
evelopme
D

59. Rethinking logistics for on the
Minds
sustainable future margin are
not marginal
minds
learning from grassroots
innovators
shall we join hands in learning from grassroots green innovators
fortune really lies at the
Top of the innovation,
anil k gupta value pyramid
ethical, and
anilg@sristi.org
thus, poor people are not at the bottom of all pyramids
anil k gupta
National Innovation Foundation, SRISTI, honey bee network, IIMA
www.sristi.org/anilg
www.nifindia.org

60. How did it happen:
The journey…..
The Honey Bee Network, an informal global social movement,
started in 1987-88,
SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH AND INITIATIVES FOR
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES AND INSTITUTIONS
(www.SRISTI.org) info@sristi.org
GRASSROOTS INNOVATION AUGMENTATION
NETWORK (www.GIAN.org)
NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATION
(www.NIFindia.org) info@nifindia.org
anilg@sristi.org

61. Creativity counts
Knowledge matters
Innovations transform
Incentives inspire
(not just individual, but also collective, not just
material, but also non-material)
Join the Honey Bee Network!
For rewarding indigenous creativity and innovation
www.techpedia.in, www.sristi.org, www.nif.org.in
anilgb@gmail.com