Inclusive Innovation Research Articles

Social Innovation for Sustainability and Social Inclusion

Companies are realising now that business is not only about selling products to rich consumers but also to serve the underserved bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) markets. Serving these customers calls for innovative methods. This had led to reinventing business models to expand the nature of their businesses from mere commercial motives to social ones as well; the understanding that businesses succeed if they go beyond their mandate of making profits. The future rests on three paradigm shifts taking place in BOP approaches: innovation, transformation of companies into social enterprises and technological advancements that bring products closer to BOP consumers. That is to say, companies today re-invent their business models and their very approach of doing business. Such companies stand a greater chance of success and long-term survival. This article describes the concepts of social business, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. We illustrate the concepts with mini case studies or examples of several companies that have achieved innovation in products, business models or processes to serve BOP markets. We describe efforts that solve problems of consumers who are disadvantaged because of distance, education or purchasing power. If this ‘social innovation’ betters the life of consumers, it could result in sustainability and inclusive development. The world is slowly realising that the existing business models that place importance on relentless pursuit of profits are causing immense damage to our society and environment. The objectives of business must change. Milton Friedman’s famous saying, ‘the sole purpose of a business is to generate profits for its shareholders’ is no longer accepted today as businesses find that they must cater to social objectives as well. This article describes that this can well be achieved, as illustrated by several companies who achieve both—financial profits and social good. Drawing from examples of successful initiatives, new business models are being created that provide affordable products and services for disadvantaged consumers. We have taken elements from the business models of these companies to figure out what the future looks like. These companies, we find, found solutions through an action-oriented mindset to solve long-standing problems. Firms that embrace experimentation and rapid prototyping stand to win huge new markets and profits. They invest in distribution and training of local resources, develop innovative products and processes, involve stakeholders and above all, build a social purpose in their objectives. Social innovation and social entrepreneurship shift the focus of governments and companies towards neglected or BOP consumers who are otherwise unapproachable. Examples of social innovation show that it touches the lives of millions of people, empowers them and leads to sustainability. Investments in social innovation that are both sustainable and socially inclusive are the need of the hour.

Quality assessment, inclusive community development, and collective learning: An institutional perspective from Germany.

This article reviews the German discourse on quality of life, quality assurance, and outcome measurement in services for persons with intellectual disabilities. Following institutional assumptions of path dependencies in organizational development, it is argued that concepts such as quality assurance must be understood in the context of the national support system development. For the Federal Republic of Germany, it can be noted that previous approaches to quality assurance of services based on measurement and evaluation tools have not been the drivers of innovation for inclusion. The driving forces behind reforms in the field of disability originated from the three angles of the social service structure (people with disabilities, statutory welfare agencies, and service providers). Policies of key actors were not part of a consistent reform strategy. However, the main elements of the inclusive philosophies of the disability rights movement became hegemonial and led to national legislation that prioritizes person-centered support arrangements in inclusive settings. With regard to governance arrangements in Germany and the idiosyncrasies of local disability fields, it is suggested that there should be a conceptualization of quality assurance in a multilevel approach as “local quality dialogues for collective learning.”

Assisted network governance: An inclusive innovation to mitigate extreme water scarcity

We study a local innovation of natural resource governance in Chile in times of extreme water scarcity. Through the issuance of a scarcity decree, the government obliges local water user associations (WUAs) to reach viable water redistribution agreements in order to avoid being overruled by the state. In the Aconcagua River, the government together with the WUAs created the Executive Committee, where only the WUAs have a vote, but private and public stakeholders participate in the process of negotiating water use agreements. Grounded on thematic coding of the detailed minutes of over 80 committee meetings since its inception, we examine the workings of a new local model of Assisted Network Governance (ANG). Based on content and social network analysis of over 1,000 directed interactions among committee members, we find that ANG, as an element of broader hybrid governance, has not only produced viable agreements for immediate water redistribution, but has also facilitated longer-term system improvements by building mutual understanding, resolving conflicts, and mobilizing external resources to improve infrastructure. We conclude that ANG helps accomplish common objectives in the field of natural resources under conditions of extreme water scarcity.

Contested autonomy in “smart” and “inclusive” innovation: test-driving transportation technology and policy in Pittsburgh

ABSTRACT This article examines a period of experimentation in transportation technology and policy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the city transitioned from a finalist position in an interurban “smart city” competition to an autonomous vehicle research venture with Uber. Drawing upon analysis of policy documents, review of press accounts, and interviews with local stakeholders, I focus specifically on the contestation that emerged from the efforts of city leaders to advance an ideal of “inclusive innovation” throughout this phase of Pittsburgh’s development agenda. I argue that the experimental ethos of smart city approaches compounded by the economic imperatives of entrepreneurial urbanism challenged attempts to connect the city’s innovation agenda to inclusive development goals and introduced tensions over local autonomy at multiple stages of the process. The Pittsburgh case poses broader implications for efforts to promote equitable development within technocratic and entrepreneurial smart city programs.

Relating inclusive innovations to Indigenous and local knowledge: a conceptual framework

Relating inclusive innovations to Indigenous and local knowledge: a conceptual framework

Drivers of Selection and Retention of Underrepresented Groups in Technology Entrepreneurship

Technological innovation is an important driver of value creation for firms, economies, and society. Research, however, is beginning to suggest that its potential might not be fully realized due to a lack of diversity in the skilled individuals involved (Nager, Hart, Ezell, & Atkinson, 2016; Fechner & Shapanka, 2018; Sampson, 2020). This panel brings together leading scholars for a discussion on inclusive innovation in the domain of technology entrepreneurship. It discusses some current research and initiatives that lend insight to some of the unique experiences, challenges, and trends among underrepresented groups (URGs) in technology entrepreneurship.

International Inclusive Innovation of Entrepreneurial Firms

Although inclusive innovation has been regarded as a process according to prior studies, this complex process remains relatively under-researched, particularly when the process is successfully completed by entrepreneurial firms from emerging economies. This paper therefore seeks to explore, from a holistically dynamic view, how inclusive innovation process of entrepreneurial firms evolves in the “Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) markets. Based on the multi-dimensional details of a Chinese entrepreneurial firms conducting inclusive innovation in African BOP market, this exploratory case study suggests that inclusive innovation information management consists of three important consecutive stages: BOP market gap identification, market cultivation, and intensive market developing. We also unexpectedly reveal that the key capabilities in these three stages are distinctive.

Labour productivity: The forgotten yield gap

Crop yields and labour productivity have increased markedly over the past 70 years. In agriculturally advanced countries, increases in labour productivity – that is, increases in the economic output per unit of labour input – have been several-fold greater than corresponding increases in yield. The gap in labour productivity between the Global North and the Global South is now much greater than the yield gap. This large labour productivity gap, unless remedied, will: (i) condemn many farmers in the Global South to live in poverty; and (ii) make them less competitive and force them to follow the well-established trend of exiting farming altogether, which (iii) will contribute to greater dependence on imported food in many countries.Despite this situation, agricultural development agencies tend to emphasise biological yield per unit area to satisfy the increasing demand for more nutritious and varied food products. Policies are skewed towards low-cost food for urbanites, often with benign neglect of the welfare of the rural populace, particularly the women who produce the food.We suggest R&D policies should pay more attention to enhanced labour productivity, while not neglecting increased yield, to meet the dual needs of food for the overall population and prosperity in rural areas. Many technology-based interventions exist to increase labour productivity, nevertheless, single technological fixes are unlikely to bring about major changes. Furthermore, the adoption of new technologies and novel enterprises required to increase labour productivity, particularly those related to high value crops for farmers with limited access to land, depends on an inclusive innovation systems approach. Policies are needed that support the development of new enterprises, soft infrastructure, a stronger industrial base and inclusive partnerships with education providers such as universities, research centres, secondary and tertiary education facilities. This is not to say that producers in the Global South should follow the Global North, rather that policy should focus on interventions that improve labour productivity of both women and men tailored to enhance ongoing development within the local context.

Promoting inclusive innovation for disabled people in four countries: who does what and why?

Disability policy is often characterized as comprising three different components: citizenship rights, labor market integration and social protection. In this study, we present a fourth component – disability-related innovation. Specifically we analyze two critical interrelated questions: what governments do to guide innovation in this area; and do patterns of greater government disability policy involvement in social-democratic welfare states apply in the case of innovation? Utilizing a qualitative comparison of Germany, Israel, Sweden and the United States, we find that while policy across all countries is at first glance decisively similar, the important differences that exist cannot be satisfactorily explained within the classical welfare state typology framework. Countries that are leaders in terms of social support for disabled people – Germany and Sweden – are not necessarily leaders in disability-related innovation. This is particularly noticeable in the case of programs for support of Assistive Technology development.

Role of Academic Initiatives for Technology Management at the Base of the Pyramid: Empirical Evidence From India

Technological interventions are adopted in emerging economies to enable sustainable development and empower marginalized communities at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). Emerging economies are becoming significant contributors in BoP development with the active initiatives from academia-driven organizations engaging in rural development. However, the technological development practice is fragmented and requires unified technology management practices to analyze salient features that lead to a sustainable rural transformation. This study adopts a case-study methodology and obtains primary and secondary data from two distinctive centers of an academia-born organization. The findings enfold three intrinsic characteristics of the technology development process targeted for the BoP sector: the emergence of demand-driven technology, inclusive innovation practices leading towards self-reliance and trends of sustainable green technology. The formative contribution of this research enriches the management of technologies at BoP by connecting the developer’s perspective for innovation practice inclined towards knowledge sharing, inclusiveness, empowerment and sustainable development, thus creating a roadmap for effective policy development focusing on the sustainability of BoP technologies in emerging economies.

Approaches to development of innovation culture as a tool for gaining competitive advantage

Today, to survive in business, organizations are compelled to compete with other organizations. Therefore, they have no choice unless to be innovative. Innovation is the application of new ideas of creativity that can be new products, new services, or a new way of doing things. Without innovation, new ways of doing business cannot emerge at all, and most organizations will be forever caught up in old services and old ways. The continuous and inclusive innovation enhancement, is, in fact, a kind of systematic exploration, the aim of which is to find new ways and means to react to environmental changes and pressures. Since repeated reactions aren’t effective in today's complex and changing environments. Therefore, companies should constantly search for new and novel ways of interaction in the environment, and, in turn, affect those interactions and changes. In developing a culture of innovation that can support an organization to implement and leverage the innovation process, good human resource management and knowledge sharing should be considered. First, we describe definitions of innovation, then innovation necessity, advantages, and barriers impeding it are examined. Finally, the innovation cycle, innovation process and strategies for creating and developing a culture of innovation will be examined.

Policy resistance to paradigm shifts: Inclusive growth and innovation in Canada

AbstractWe assess Canada's labour market policy mix in order to determine whether the inclusive growth and innovation agenda indicates that technological change has triggered a policy paradigm shift. Our analysis of four policy areas concerning labour market access indicates no paradigm shift has occurred. Instead, the agenda is an example of policy resistance: first‐ and second‐order policy changes (changes to policy settings) maintain the status quo of labour market arrangements. The result is a revised set of supply‐side policies unlikely to reorganize the labour market. Technological disruption and the COVID‐19 pandemic offer opportunities to reorganize Canada's labour market policies' current policy mix, but, even under the banner of inclusive innovation, this shift is unlikely to happen.

Inclusive innovation in agricultural value chains: lessons from use of a systems approach in diverse settings

ABSTRACT Systems approaches are widely promoted for inclusive innovation, but their use and results are seldom evaluated. We assessed applications of the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA), which combines elements of innovation system and value chain approaches, in eight cases in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. We found that the PMCA performed best where the policy environment favoured value chain development, the chain offered significant potential for value addition, and the PMCA was implemented with high fidelity to its basic principles, and as part of a larger development effort. Facilitation was crucial for developing locally appropriate implementation procedures and engaging smallholders, commercial entrepreneurs, researchers, and other service providers throughout the PMCA application. By focusing on commercial innovation, the PMCA offered a strategic entry point for stimulating more systemic innovation. We conclude with six lessons on (1) how commercial innovation can trigger broader innovation; (2) the need to engage commercial entrepreneurs in innovation processes; (3) the importance of committed, motivated and capable facilitators; (4) the advantage of embedding the PMCA in a broader development effort; (5) how systems approaches can help R&D organizations respond better to market demands; and (6) the contributions of systems approaches to innovation capacity.

The Economics of the Frugal Direction of Technological Change: New Paradigm Frame, Induced Direction Models and Demand Side Approaches

Knowing that a large number of publications deal with Frugal Innovation (FI) we contribute to the literature by offering a large (and maybe better) understanding of this new type of inclusive innovation through the lens of the Economic Analysis of Innovation. We consider FI as depicting a new type and direction of technological change. Its specific trends are analysed using three different basic models of the Economics of Technological Change. We show that: 1) FI matches a new technological paradigm characterised by a decreasing technological complexity, 2) a new microeconomic frontier of innovation possibility stemming from the theory of the induced bias of technological change provides a relevant explanation of the firm’s decision faced with the choice between investing in FI and other types of innovation, 3) after presenting various approaches dealing with the linkages between innovation and demand the novelty of the direction of FI towards the demand appears distinctly.JEL Codes: ML2, O31, O31, O33

USE OF INNOVATIVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN E-COMMERCE AND DIGITAL ECONOMY

The article considers the use of modern innovative information technology (IT) in general in the digital economy and in e-commerce, as its most sensitive part. First of all, the paper shows that since the beginning of the XXI century one of the main trends in the economy and society in general is the penetration of innovative information technologies in various fields of human activity, which entails global digitalization of both economy and society as a whole. E-commerce, as part of the digital economy, has been shown to be a driving force in accelerating global economic development and creating new markets. E-commerce also opens up new opportunities for inclusive and sustainable innovation growth. It is argued that the rapid development of e-commerce became possible only after the percentage of global Internet penetration exceeded some critical level, which led to its availability to the general public. In turn, the emergence of more and more new users on the Internet, the widespread use of various social networks and the rapid growth of internet of things (IoT) has led to the data explosion and the emergence and spread of technology such as Big Data. The main advantages of using Big Data in modern analytics in comparison with traditional methods are considered in the work. The place and role of Big Data technologies and tools in the digitalization of the Ukrainian economy are analyzed. It is proved that the intensive development and spread of the use of Big Data in all spheres of modern society leads to the active use of innovative IT. Based on the analysis, the main areas of use of Big Data are identified, namely: credit scoring, segmented or personalized services, risk management, anti-fraud system and using blockchain technology. The use of these technologies, in turn, will minimize customer effort and increase the efficiency of B2B and B2C models in both the digital economy and e-commerce.

Observation: Setting the Foundation for Creativity and Innovation.

Observation: Setting the Foundation for Creativity and Innovation.

Nature and composition of rural innovation actor networks in South Africa: the case of agro-processing enterprises in the Mopani District

ABSTRACT Rural innovation processes are deeply embedded in actor networks, and their successes and failures are influenced by the nature and composition of such networks. While South Africa has adopted the National Systems of Innovation (NSI) framework since 1996, the participation of key recognised knowledge producers such as science councils and universities in rural innovation networks is underdetermined. Nevertheless, an explicit policy shift in the national strategy in 2019 toward socially inclusive and grassroots innovation calls for a more rigorous understanding of innovation in rural settings. As a contribution to this imperative, our study explores the nature and composition of rural actor networks of agro-processing enterprises in the Mopani District in the Limpopo Province. The analysis demonstrates that linkages between non-local actors, such as public agencies and large private firms, and local actors are often top-down and limited in strength. However, local linkages are characterised by locked-in, but free movements to search for new knowledge. We also find that previously overlooked actors, namely, civil society, play a crucial role in the innovation process. Consequently, we suggest that science, technology and innovation policy implementation should better integrate local conditions and capabilities, and judiciously combine external and internal resources in rural actor networks.

Innovation Management and Overall Business Performance: Exploratory Study in Chadian Context in the Two Logones

Studies on innovation management, carried out so far, have clearly revealed its importance for the performance of companies. However, its control of overall performance combining organizational, social, economic, societal, and environmental dimensions remains little explored. Even research on its model combining integrated innovation projects, to explain the overall performance is few. To understand the relevance of conducting inclusive innovation projects, a study of companies in the agri-food sector was carried out. We have deployed the mixed methodology. Data production was conducted through 11 semi-structured interviews and 90 surveys per survey. The deconstruction approach of innovation management, from organizational innovation to environmental innovation, was used. The results showed that organizational innovation plays a decisive role in organizational, financial, and overall performance. De, technological and social innovations increase economic performance and contribute to the improvement of overall performance. On the other hand, societal and environmental innovations are less relevant for organizational and financial performance. However, they play a decisive role in the management of climate change and the reputation of the organization with society. But, above all, it is the combination of the four types of innovation that constitutes better actions for the overall performance of the company. The article is useful for researchers who will find renewed definitions of each configuration of innovation projects, performances, proven items, and that prove to be more relevant. While managers and consultants will find new performance factors to effectively improve and enhance the implementation of innovation projects. This article is part of resource theory and performance theory and suggests that there is a differentiated relational contingency to each of the factors.

Decolonizing Assessment in Dance Education: Ubuntu as an Evaluative Framework in Indigenous African Dance Education Practices

ABSTRACT This article examines how the philosophy of Ubuntu is reflected in assessment and feedback provision systems of Indigenous dance education in African communities. In environments where urbanization, globalization, digitalization, and existing traces of colonialism are contesting Indigenous epistemologies, examining how communities value and leverage Indigenous philosophies to teach Indigenous dances is necessary. I draw on hermeneutic phenomenological stories and my participant observations to reveal that the complex assessment and feedback mechanisms support individual growth and community connections as a basis for knowledge production and holistic education. Manifested in music, community connection, embodied observations, community values and ethics, communal participation, and peer support, the assessment and feedback are engrained in mutuality, dialogue, connection, care, open-mindedness, moral maturity, inclusion, belonging, embodied participation, and individual innovation as ethos of interhuman relationships and relationality. Insights are provided on how dance practitioners can approach creating, performing, teaching, and sharing dance as community-building experiences and interhuman connections.

Building the Philippine Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem for Poverty Reduction and Economic Transformation

While the Philippine economy had at an average rate of 6.4 percent from 2010 to 2017, with manufacturing and services growing at 7.6 percent and 6.7 percent respectively, the performance of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry had an average growth of only 1.4 percent during the same period. Since most of the regions are dependent on agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, regional economic imbalances have continued to persist, along with poverty, unemployment, and underemployment. To sustain a high level and inclusive growth, the government has started to implement a growth model where a modern industrial sector plays a key role in generating investment and employment. This new industrial policy known as Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy or i3S, has innovation at its heart, and aims to grow and develop globally competitive and innovative industries with strong forward and backward linkages. The strategy focuses on three major areas: creating an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, removing obstacles to growth to build industry clusters, and strengthening domestic supply and value chains to deepen the country’s participation in global and regional value chains and networks. The strategies and recommendations include: (a) development of human capital towards innovation and entrepreneurship; (b) strong government-academe-industry linkages; (c) enabling program and policy environment to accelerate innovation; (d) an entrepreneurship culture and support programs for start-ups, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); (e) creation of funding & finance programs to incentivize innovation; and (f) growth and development of industry clusters. It is hoped that the Inclusive Filipinnovation and Entrepreneurship Roadmap will be able to activate innovation and entrepreneurship as the main levers to reduce if not completely eliminate poverty in the country.