“This book gets us on the right track when thinking of innovation for social and planetary wellbeing. Drawing on case studies particularly from Southeast Asia, it grounds our thinking on what is resilient, redistributive, and regenerative beyond the staid binaries of the local and global, and low and high tech. This is an important and granular work for those invested in going beyond the usual soundbites of inclusive innovation. It immerses readers in concrete strategies of co-participation and decision-making with those most affected by the global challenges that are upon us. “

Payal Arora, Erasmus University Professor, and Author of the Next Billion Users

 

"Imagine the movie Lord of the Rings, the whole trilogy, but told from the perspective of the dwarfs! Or spend a moment thinking about mothers across the world. Yours and mine, quietly toiling away at work and at home to make sure our families overcome the myriad daily hurdles and seemingly impossible long-term challenges. That is what keeps us all going. That is the secret to our continued success as a global civilization but also, what keeps the human race from imploding in the blink of an eye.

 

And that is what this book is. Nothing ostentatious, but a mere acknowledgement of the universal, enlightened mission and cause that brings people together from all walks of life, all over the planet, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, belief, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc., to address social and environmental challenges and bring about positive change in their own lives.

 

Like our moms, the unsung heroes of inclusive innovation don't seek to be celebrated. They just want what's best for their families. By extension, collectively, they just want what's best for the world. As this book so vividly illustrates through personal stories, ultimately, that is what inclusive innovation is all about too. And how we can all chip in is by acknowledging them and helping to 'spread the work' so that they can influence policy in a way that, at best, is more conducive, and at least, doesn't get in the way of ordinary people trying to make their lives just a little bit better."

Ishtiaque Hussain, a2i Africa, Kigali, Rwanda

 

The book's central focus is on "inclusive innovation", and the authors provide a useful framework for navigating and implementing this concept. Fundamentally, inclusive innovation is a methodology/mindset for ensuring that solutions for development challenges are built with local stakeholders - e.g. by and for the "problem-owners" - and that they take a holistic approach to understanding impact. Adopting this formula can maximize impact and sustainability over the long-run, particularly when working in vulnerable communities. Suffice to say, defining "who" you engage in the design process, and "how" you integrate them, is an important, yet often overlooked, indicator of potential outcomes.

 

Jamil Wyne, George Washington University Adjunct Professor, Climate Change and Systems Thinking

 

The past decades have revealed to us that 'innovation as usual' leaves our most critical and complex social and environmental challenges unaddressed. A different kind of innovation is needed. One that works with problem-holders in responding to their contextualized needs and aims specifically at addressing these wicked problems more holistically. This book contributes to the formation of a new kind of inclusive innovation. It illustrates several examples of this practice around the world today and works as a good view into a more purposeful kind of innovation that the world needs at this time.

 

Joss Colchester, Systems Innovation Hub

 

"A refreshingly grounded view on innovation, away from innovator heroes and ephemeral unicorns. This analytically rich book takes us through the origins of “inclusive innovation” and subsequently defines the concept as innovation by and for the problem-owners, innovation for both social and environmental good and last innovation that can take place everywhere. The large number of case studies on inclusive innovation from South East Asia, are a much needed academic contribution to enhance understanding of these tech-savvy and dynamic economies and the inclusive innovation processes emerging bottom-up to mitigate social and environmental challenges. This is an important book."
Dr. Sidsel Grimstad, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle, Australia

 

"This book serves as a great toolkit that will guide both the grassroots innovation or community supporters and the actual beneficiaries of the work itself. It gives a realist view of gaps, successes and case studies that can be adopted and adapted per place setting to support changemakers to thrive."

Thabiso Blak Mashaba, These Hands Botswana

 

“Inclusive Innovation is an excellent reading for development practitioners seeking to support initiatives to develop and apply novel products or processes that will improve the lives and livelihoods of marginalized individuals and groups.

The book’s framework to advance inclusive innovation identifies constituent elements that are pragmatic and actionable. Particularly refreshing was the authors’ effort to redefine “problem-owners” (i.e., the individuals, local communities, regions, and sectors experiencing challenges that need innovation) as “problem-solvers”, and their reminder that “innovations from grassroots" are distinct from “innovations for grassroots,” in terms of their frugality, inclusivity, and sustainability. In that sense, inclusivity is not a nice-to-have for innovative solutions, but rather a key foundation to ensure that these solutions can take root and thrive. In my experience this is very true: many innovations in developing countries fail, not necessarily because they are technically defective, but because they aren’t well-tailored to the realities on the ground.

“Inclusive Innovation” is also very timely in how it extends inclusion beyond social impacts alone and accounts for ecological challenges, which is a point often forgotten. Social and environmental impact are two sides of the same coin – and inclusion that restricts itself to social impact is an inclusion that builds on shaky ground. This message is very pertinent to climate initiatives as well, which often suffer from the opposite problem: an over-focus on environmental challenges in detriment of social inclusion.

Overall, I recommend this book to any development practitioner seeking a good framework (and plenty of examples) to ensure that its development activities to support innovative solutions are also inclusive."

Manuel Bueno, Director of Climate Finance, Abt Associates

 

"As is my habit I scrawled things on paper that impressed or interested me as I read. The STEM app and programme for girls 13-18 really touched me, as did the quotation from one of the AIOZ team in Vietnam who said he “joined because he found academics too theoretical.” That certainly echoes my experience and that of many people I have talked with over the years. Too many academics don’t want to get out into the world and learn from regular non-academic people. Too many academics and other experts are simply shopping solutions they already have. They have solutions looking for problems whereas many people have problems and need solutions. Your book is an excellent guide to finding, monitoring and executing the search for problems or needs and then the solutions. Your plea for cross-fertilization hits the target square on; too many are afraid to enter into the valley of cross-fertilization...

 

It was so refreshing to read that things should be “by, for, and of” society. I have heard similar sentiments expressed by members of the blind community. And yes, indeed, there needs to be bridges between policy and practice as well as awareness of the dangers; yes, the well intentioned might be easily sucked under, or in, by those with different ideas on what should be happening beneath splendid looking intentions and surface indicators.

 

You close with a Call to Action which is a splendid way to end. But even before coming to that I kept asking myself “What next?”. As I read Inclusive Innovation I could not help but think of the next book or books."

Dr. Norman R. Ball, Director (retired), Centre for Society, Technology and Values, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.