Affordable Education Devices

Three terms which first need a bit of detailing before we proceed. We will consider a country like India to build upon these terms.

Affordable - what is affordability? A large percentage of the population earns less than $ 1 every day. And then there are world's richest men and women staying in the same country. Afforability has different connotations across the entire spectrum of population. The rich can afford anything under the sky. The poor can't afford anything, unless provided for by the Government. The middle class, of which the numbers are swelling constantly, determine the affordability pattern in India.

Education - what is education? The Government of India took a big step forward when the Right to Education Bill was adopted recently. Education has always been a central theme in most of the Indian homes. Nearly 30% of the incomes are spent on an average by Indian households for the purpose of education. People really do spend a lot, compared to other countries. But who is really spending? It is again the middle class and the upper class in the financial strata of the country. The poor again have to be provided free education to bring them into the ambit of inclusive growth. I hail the leadership in the government to creatively pursue this course aggressively. An educated youth in the lower financial strata will determine the path of this country - for they would be in pretty large numbers. The more knowledgeable they are, the more profound would be the development of the country.

Devices - what devices? Mobile phones created the voice communication revolution in India, as in many other developing countries. Staying easily connected provided many new opportunities to the citizens. A cobbler in my neighbourhood could increase his turnover by nearly three times. He is old and cannot move much. So, he employed a youth and provided him with a mobile phone. Everyone in the neighbourhood is so used to home delivery. They call up this young gentleman who in turn would pedal around to pick up the repair items. The old cobbler has been able to provide employment to a young man and also increase his income. There are innumerable stories like this across the country. But does a mobile phone provide a mechanism to enhance knowledege, education and skills? Not beyond very simple terms. For that a set of specific devices are required.

Before stepping into my next writing, I want to hear from my fellow bloggers on what they feel is the right mix of devices for creating an affordable education environment.

Trained experts to take technology from labs to factories

A new set of entrepreneur creators is on the way. Not one, but two hundred of them. It's like motivational experts who help pull-in innovation on one side and then create success on the other side. The creation of this bridge is definitely a welcome development.

Most of the public sector entities involved in basic research or even application research areas didn't know where to go with their innovations. Just clinging onto the IP didn't help anyone. It also didn't motivate the IP creators to continue to generate more. And obviously, successful entrepreneurs’ who do not have their own R&D setups aren't clued in to innovative ideas or products. With the unleashing of the labs into the public domain, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has taken the first baby steps into the open world.

I am sure this will delight the research community and even more so, we will be able to see some interesting technologies, products and services getting built for the benefit of everyone.

Innovation for an upturned pyramid

Luck usually traverses the shortest and the smartest route. It took me many a days to finally get going on this second article on my blog after realizing at least twice that technology can play truant when you don't want it to. The 'autosave' feature on this site helped save blanks after I had literally typed out my entire thought. The usual 'cut and paste' feature that every application loves providing was being used by me during this process. To ensure I am grammatically sound, I wanted to check my writing in the offline word application. Bizarre as it may sound, the effect was loss of entire data and of my thoughts which had poured into these pages.

Nevertheless, all is well that ends well. It was probably a blessing in disguise, as it allowed me to infer on my actions and retrofit these thought processes into the plausible reason why there is so much of less innovation for the bottom of the pyramid.

The highest percentage of innovation happens for activities or products which can usually impact the tip of the pyramid. That is for obvious reasons. Enterprises continue to build focus on technologies which can provide them the highest returns in the shortest possible time. Why would anyone 'waste' their 'luck' on economically unviable projects?

To capitalize on the idea of 'value of innovation' there are two approaches an enterprise follows - large volumes of low cost products providing large top lines which in turn drive large profits, or else low volumes of high margin products driving large profits. The resultant in both the cases is 'large profits'.
I meet some innovators, who term themselves as 'social entrepreneurs' and who intend doing well for the bottom of the pyramid. They are usually lost in the melee after a while and wind themselves up in larger organizations that look out for business drivers with a wide variety of social understanding. The zeal of social responsibility usually ends up in working for profitability for someone else. There are a few who do not loose patience. They are 'creatures of the outer world' - I hear this phrase meted out to them in unequivocal manner by the very protagonists who speak one language and subscribe to another to lead their lives. But these patient entrepreneurs, who struggle to keep their two ends meet on a perpetual basis, are the real heroes of this pyramidal world. These are the people who have the capability to turn the pyramid upside-down and drive innovation relative to the need of the new-found 'tip' of the pyramid. This 'tip' is such a huge market opportunity that every business entity then clamours to reach out to this new found Nero.

I would love to see the pyramid turned upside down many a times, repeated at regular intervals. The telecom revolution did create one such upside-down effect. The effect is seen in many a ways in countries like India. Though I haven't yet seen anyone pointing to the general election results this time and equating them to the rural telecom revolution, but I strongly believe of a new-found communication channel which created transparency of sorts in rural India this time. The citizens did make a conscious decision and didn't follow the usual path they always do. And I am sure the political parties will wake up to understand that they need to turn the pyramid upside-down and support the growth of innovation. Unless the bottom isn't seen at the top, there will be few who will work for them. Lest this momentum be lost, innovators should steadfastly work towards reaping benefits of impacting the lives of a multitude of human beings not just in India but across the globe.