There is a word in India called ‘Jugaad’.
It has been described in many ways – ‘Frugal innovation’, ‘resourcefulness’,
‘creative improvisation’, or as the Financial Times Lexicon put it :
Jugaad (a word taken from Hindi which
captures the meaning of finding a low-cost solution to any problem in an
intelligent way) is a new way to think constructively and differently about
innovation and strategy.
So how is jugaad related to user led
innovation? Because many, if not most, of the time it is the user that uses
‘jugaad’ to come up with a new idea, or to a solution to a problem, it is the
user that innovates to create something.
Research has shown that the jugaad spirit
is more alive in fast growing emerging economies like India, parts of Africa
and Latin America. It is believed that ‘jugaad’ is used more widely in these
countries as usually, jugaad is used to turn adversity, for example the lack of
natural and financial resources in India, into an opportunity for innovation.
They are usually bottom-up solutions.
Let’s focus on rural India – Here local
innovators have been developing ‘user led’ ideas for years. Rural Indians are
always innovating, and have always been innovating. Just looking at the agricultural
sector in India - farmers with low levels of formal education have transformed
or created new types of machines or new types or irrigation systems to suit
their needs. Young IT technicians have created mobile applications that relay
daily local market prices to farmers. Information sharing platforms for
agriculture, DIY manuals, SMS based agricultural services, satellite imagery
based weather predictions and crop responses, etc.
Mansukhbhai Jagani’s motorcycle-based
tractor is both cost effective — costing roughly $318, and fuel efficient — it
can plow an acre of land in 30 minutes with just two liters of fuel.
Other interesting innovations include the
pedal powered washing machine, the small scale eco friendly sanitary napkin machine,
rural fridges made from clay, mobile phone charging stations for areas with no
electricity, compost aerators, solar powered mosquito trap, smokeless stoves - list is endless.
Read more about Jugaad Innovation here:
What do you think?
That user led innovation and jugaad is
common practice in these areas is without doubt. The problem is that many of
these innovations happen at a very small scale, and often, are not caught by
regional and national radars. The challenge that lies ahead is for NGOs,
researchers and other institutions to be able to tap into this wealth of
innovations and to help to create awareness about these innovations – to scale
up and replicate to help more users benefit.
Grassroots innovation networks and
organisations such as the ‘the Honey Bee Network’, the Ashoka Foundation,
Centre for Science and Villages have been documenting such innovations, and
helping rural innovators develop their ideas and get credit for their
‘informal’ innovations. In 2013 the Government of India proposed to
initiate an ‘India Inclusive Innovation Fund’ by National Innovation Council
with a fund base of Rs.5,000 crore. This is a step in the right direction, and
will help create an ecosystem where such innovations will be sustainable and
scalable, an ecosystem where such rural innovators will thrive.Read more about Jugaad Innovation here:
What do you think?
online poll by Opinion Stage
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