Inequality and innovation are both rising issues on the international development agenda. Their intersection is inclusive innovation; defined as the inclusion within some aspect of innovation of groups who are currently marginalised. This is a topic of increasing interest and activity. Large firms have been working to deliver innovative goods and services for base-of-the-pyramid consumers: the c.3 billion who live on less than US$2 per day. Within poor communities, an influx of new technology, finance and capabilities has spurred more localised innovation. A variety of different models have been identified by which this activity is organised and implemented, such as inclusive innovation clusters, grassroots innovation, frugal innovation, innovation platforms, and inclusive user-producer interactions. This book explores the operation, conceptualisation and impact of these models, and analyses the nature of inclusive innovation practice and research. It will be of interest to researchers, policy-makers, strategists and other practitioners associated with these new forms of innovation. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation and Development.

Innovation has the potential to address a number of development challenges such as combating poverty and delivering health services, but all too often technological progress has failed to consider the needs of the poor, and has actually served to increase inequalities, rather than sharing out the benefits of new technologies and economic growth. Inclusive Innovation for Development outlines a theory of justice in innovation, arguing that principles of equity, recognition and participation can guide the direction of contemporary innovation systems towards equalising social relations in the production of knowledge and innovation, and meeting the basic needs of the poor. The book first explores why inclusivity in innovation matters, and how the justice framework can be used to support inclusive innovation. The book then goes on to outline a ‘needs-based’ approach to innovation and development and explains how its principles can be generated through public action. Finally, it asks how we can effectively evaluate inclusive innovation. Drawing on cases from Africa, Latin America and South Asia, this book theorises innovation and justice in political terms, arguing that inclusive innovation is not just a practical necessity but a moral obligation. This book's novel approach to innovation for development will be useful for upper-level students and scholars of development studies, politics, and innovation studies, as well as to local, national and international policy-makers and practitioners dealing with international development and inclusive innovation policies and programmes.

"Innovation offers potential: to cure diseases, to better connect people, and to make the way we live and work more efficient and enjoyable. At the same time, innovation can fuel inequality, decimate livelihoods, and harm mental health. This book contends that inclusive innovation - innovation motivated by environmental and social aims - is able to uplift the benefits of innovation while reducing its harms. The book provides accessible engagement with inclusive innovation happening at the grassroots level through to policy arenas, with a focus on the South-East Asian region. Focusing on fundamental questions underpinning innovation, in terms of how, what and where, it argues that inclusive innovation has social processes and low-tech solutions as essential means of driving innovation, and that environmental concerns must be considered alongside societal aims. The book's understanding of inclusive innovation posits that marginalized or underrepresented innovators are empowered to include themselves by solving a problem that they are experiencing. The first in-depth exploration of efforts underway to assuage inequality from policy, private sector, and grassroots perspectives, this book will interest researchers in the areas of innovation studies, political economy, and development studies"--

Innovation is increasingly invoked by policy elites and business leaders as vital for tackling global challenges like sustainable development. Often overlooked, however, is the fact that networks of community groups, activists, and researchers have been innovating grassroots solutions for social justice and environmental sustainability for decades. Unencumbered by disciplinary boundaries, policy silos, or institutional logics, these ‘grassroots innovation movements’ identify issues and questions neglected by formal science, technology and innovation organizations. Grassroots solutions arise in unconventional settings through unusual combinations of people, ideas and tools. This book examines six diverse grassroots innovation movements in India, South America and Europe, situating them in their particular dynamic historical contexts. Analysis explains why each movement frames innovation and development differently, resulting in a variety of strategies. The book explores the spaces where each of these movements have grown, or attempted to do so. It critically examines the pathways they have developed for grassroots innovation and the challenges and limitations confronting their approaches. With mounting pressure for social justice in an increasingly unequal world, policy makers are exploring how to foster more inclusive innovation. In this context grassroots experiences take on added significance. This book provides timely and relevant ideas, analysis and recommendations for activists, policy-makers, students and scholars interested in encounters between innovation, development and social movements.

The Handbook of Inclusive and Social Innovation: The Role of Organizations, Markets and Communities offers a comprehensive review of research on inclusive innovation to address systemic and structural issues – the “Grand Challenges” of our time. With 27 contributions from 57 scholars, the Handbook provides frameworks and insights by summarising current research, and highlights emerging practices and scalable solutions. The contributions highlight a call to action and place social impact at the heart of theory and practice. It will be an invaluable resource for academics, practitioners, and policymakers who champion social inclusion and emphasize innovative approaches to addressing sustainable development goals.

This book analyzes the current trends in the production, dissemination, and use of knowledge which contribute to social inequalities, especially in the Global South. The aim of the text is to explore the possibilities of active involvement by universities in the democratization of knowledge - a process by which people will be able to more easily acquire and utilize knowledge, as well as the results and benefits of research and development. Combining higher education, research, and knowledge utilization is what universities should be doing. When they efficiently contribute to overcoming inequality and underdevelopment, they may be considered developmental universities. They should not function in solitude with privileged elites alone, but in the context of "inclusive innovation systems."

The innovation systems (IS) approach emerged as a theoretical framework in the industrialized world in the mid-1990s to explain innovation and growth in the developed world. This Handbook is the first attempt to adapt the IS approach to developing countries from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint. The Handbook brings eminent scholars in economics, innovation and development studies together with promising young researchers to review the literature and push theoretical boundaries. They critically review the IS approach and its adequacy for developing countries, discuss the relationship between IS and development, and address the question of how it should be adapted to the realities of developing nations. Spanning national, sectoral and regional innovation systems across Asia, Latin America and Africa, and written by the world s leading scholars within the field, this comprehensive Handbook will strongly appeal to academics, researchers and students with an interest in innovation and technology in developing countries.