Innovations for Impact: A Development Alternatives Experience 

Introduction

Innovation is the process of creating value and setting a new benchmark of performance by developing and applying solutions to meaningful problems. Innovation for impact, i4I, provides a lens for understanding and addressing underserved markets, and leveraging approaches focusing on the market for basic needs products and services. 

The Development Alternatives approach for achieving successful i4I results integrates multiple stages of the innovation cycle:

Innovation is a change that creates a new dimension of performance in products, techniques, finance, service delivery and business models.

Incubation for the market is the process of demonstrating the viability of the delivery model for basic needs products and services.

Implementation involves working with a spectrum of stakeholders who facilitate and reinforce the customer experience on the ground.

Influence is the mechanism that develops insights from on-ground action to facilitate policymaking.

Impact is the result of a reinforcing ecosystem of customers, financing mechanisms, producers and service providers who take the lead in deploying solutions at scale.

The entire process involves a multi-stakeholder approach to the commercialisation of innovative solutions by working with partners and experts at different stages and levels:

• Co-innovators, academic institutes and researchers ensure a steady flow of market-oriented ideas and innovations.

• Funders provide catalytic funds for the development and launch of innovations into the market.

• Internal and external subject matter and domain experts lend expertise to overcome challenges.
  A network of implementation partners assists in rolling out the business model on the ground.

• Social investors provide capital to validate business models and multiplication (speed and scale).

A selection of Development Alternatives innovations that have been adapted and widely adopted at scale are presented below.

Product Innovation – Basic needs products for affordable housing comprise TARA Micron roofing tiles, TARA Compressed Earth and Fly Ash Blocks and TARA Ferrocement roofing. Clean cooking solutions and water purification devices comprise TARA 101 cookstoves, Jal TARA water system and TARA Aquacheck water purification drops. TARA Akshar is a path-breaking computer-based literacy programme that makes adult women functionally literate in Hindi in 45 days.

Technology Innovation – The technology packages that are widely marketed in the national and international markets comprise TARA Balram, TARA Fly Ash Technology (entrepreneurs producing fly ash bricks), TARA Micron Technology (roofing tiles), TARA Papermek (recycled paper enterprise package), TARAurja solar mini-grids for rural communities and TARA Loom for handloom weaving community.

Value Innovation – The TARA Eco-kiln technology package was registered as a CDM project to access carbon credits from the World Bank Community Development Carbon Fund with benefits for brick entrepreneurs, brick workers and their families. The innovative technology package brought enhanced value to key stakeholders while benefitting the environment. The Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) has evinced the interest of large cement companies in India, Asia and Africa, with TARA providing the bridge to the market.

Development Alternatives has to its credit innovations in finance and policy to benefit technology-based enterprises. The UdayME platform is a one-stop solution for micro-entrepreneurs, with UdayME Enterprise Fund providing affordable access to credit to women and youth aspirants.

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