Mansukh bhai who was once a potter, unable to meet the financial needs of his family. He now employs more than 50 women from his village in Gujarat to manufacture and sell his innovation Mitti Cool. Similar is the story of a rickshaw puller Dharambir Kamboj, who returned to his village after meeting with an accident. He started organic farming of Aloe vera, Stilia and other medicinal plants. Finding no technique for processing his yields into useful products for higher value in the market, Dharambir built a cost-effective multipurpose food processing machine. Today, he supports more than 300 farmers to earn higher returns for their yields.

According to National Innovation Foundation, more than 3,00,000 grassroot innovators across India have been identified. Only a few of them are able to take their intervention at scale as technological entrepreneurship is rarely a solo endeavour. It requires strategic management of technology and services, nurturing of business & market and new financing ventures.

Rapid globalisation and digitisation has created new markets for Indian technologies. However, they remain beyond the reach of grassroots innovators who are often less familiar with the knowledge of digital marketing and lack resources to extend services to new markets. Moreover, level of digital literacy is also low amongst grassroots innovators that limits growth of their innovations. Today as we walk into post COVID stage, changes in supply chain scenario and focus towards resilient economies is creating a “new normal”, an ecosystem that inclines more towards digitisation. There is an eminent need for a mechanism in the form of support to grassroots innovators that can enable them to adapt to this dynamic frame and become more connected and digitally sound in the process.

A network-based platform is envisioned having the potential to take innovations at scale across the country and beyond. This platform will support the grassroot innovators to build upon existing tools to facilitate linkage to credits and market, impactful packaging of innovation to serve demands of a larger audience and have the necessary backing in terms of knowledge and advisory to overcome challenges of adoption at scale. Connecting different actors of an enterprise ecosystem from public to private institutions and aggregators can unlock drivers that inhibit growth of innovations. Technology that is designed with a human centric approach can build a win-win situation not only for the grassroot innovators but also for the entire ecosystem by creating more local jobs for all. This shift is likely to bring a transformative impact in rural as well as urban centres in the days to come. ■

Mayank Nautiyal
mnautiyal@devalt.org