More hereMost models of development are centered on what the poor don’t have rather than what they have. Some position the poor at the bottom of the economic pyramid, but this does not equate to a lack of knowledge, values and social networks. I prefer to see the poor as a provider than a market — with their limited material resources driving knowledge-intensive, informal innovation. Through providing incubation and development support, patent and intellectual-property-rights assistance, marketing advice and microventure funding, we seek to support the creativity that already exists at the grassroots.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Finding Innovation in Every Corner
In Design Observer Meena Kadri interviews Anil Gupta covered earlier:
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4 comments:
Aesthetically, these products may need a bit more work, but i guess we can't discount thier functionality and the ingenuity behind them
Good point this is where the essence of industrial design comes into play. India like Africa needs more industrial designers
I wonder though Emeka, how the West were able to, through time ensure that products were continually improved upon to make them more aesthetically pleasing? The telephone springs to mind. It wasn’t that long ago that cell phones looked like Bricks or flat screen TVs looked like monster metal/plastic boxes.
I’m sure competing manufacturers play a part with an eye on their bottom line and trends in unveiling cute products. However, (unlike the West) where there may not be enough industrial designers working in tandem with grass root manufactures I fear marketing some of these products, as functional as they may be, to an increasingly sophisticated African consumer may ultimately be a bit of a challenge.
One way they "the West" have been able to do this is through an Industrial Design culture. ID as an educational choice does not exist in Africa perhaps only in SA.India on the other hand has a very strong ID educational system see here for example http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/
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