I recently had the wonderful privilege of trekking through rural and tribal village in Gujarat India, in search of grassroots innovations invented by villagers themselves. This trek takes place twice every year and is conducted by an organization called Sristi, founded by world renowned Professor Anil Gupta from the Indian Institute of Management. The professor has participated in over 20 such walks throughout the years and is a major advocate for grassroots innovation and design.
The goal of the trek was twofold:
- To find grassroots innovations that could be harvested into marketable technologies
- To inspire green consciousness and innovative thinking
It was truly an eye opening experience. We traveled 100km through mountains, rivers, and farms meeting with local villagers to discuss their solutions to everyday challenges within their community. We also held several workshops a day to inspire innovative and sustainable consciousness, and to share village born solutions acquired during previous such walks. It seemed like we learned so much more than we taught. If you’re interested, I’ve posted a link to an interview I recently did for Pop! Tech, please feel free to leave your feedback and comments
http://www.poptech.org/blog/index.php/archives/4347
