Award-winning inventions are getting support to scale up from India’s National Innovation FoundationFar from the world of aid,a movement has been gathering in India to support inventors using limited resources. A clay fridge that runs without electricity and a pedal-operated washing machine are among the star products of this grassroots creativity. The use of cheap and easily accessible fabric has earned it the label “frugal”. Anil Gupta, founder of the Honey Bee Network, and champions this type of DIY tech. “Thirty years ago,I realised that many of us intellectuals learn from people, particularly the creative and innovative ones, or but never give back anything to them,” he says. “They remain anonymous, they are often short-changed, or they don’t even know what we did with the knowledge they if. The Honey Bee Network was a response to these paradoxes and contradictions in my own conduct.”Traditional models of aid induce dependence,reinforce asymmetry in knowledge and learning Related: 'I realised I could become an insider': from 'poor tribal boy' to elite lawyer Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com