grassroots innovations into mainstream innovation processes. We then look at how,
in contrast, grassroots innovators can sometimes be less pliant and fit into mainstream agendas, and instead mobilize and press for transformations to mainstream
inno vation processes. This leads to questions about power and struggles for democracy in innovation processes, before we return the question of how green
transformations emerge from below.
Grassroots innovation: between policy fixes and political
mobilization
Grassroots innovators have been present at all the high-level summits devoted to
the environment and development. They were at the ‘hog farm’ at Stockholm in
1972 and in 2012 were at Rio+20 at the Cúpola dos Povos in Flamengo Park.
Displays at these events exhibited practical examples of how human needs could
be defined and met more sustainably. Whether through their decentralized
renewable energy designs, agroecological practices, eco-housing techniques, water
and sanitation services, community workshops and remanufacturing facilities,
complementary currencies, fair trade and solidarity economy arrangements, or a
myriad of other initiatives, these grassroots innovations present practical anticipations
of more sustainable societies (Ely et al., 2013). In the context of this book, we
might say they suggest green transformations from below.
Grassroots ingenuity
Some approaches towards grassroots innovation frame activity as a reservoir of
ingenuity to be supported and tapped into. At its most precise and circumscribed,
grassroots innovation is defined as a process generating creative solutions to
development challenges arising within local communities, through the knowledge
and inventive activities of individuals or groups in those communities. Social
movements and policy institutions can help cultivate this activity by scouting
for grassroots ingenuity and supporting innovators in the development of their
initia tives. Development support can involve the provision of financial, technical
and marketing resources. It can bring the innovator into contact with more con -
ventional development and technology institutions, where expertise helps formalize
the innovation into a form that can diffuse more readily or transform it into a scaledup form. Arrangements are made for the original innovator to benefit from this
process – for example, through some form of intellectual property provision.
Assistance is provided for meeting regulatory or commercial standards requirements.
Examples of grassroots innovation of this kind include the thousands of examples
documented by the Honey Bee Network and associated Society for Research and
Initiatives for Technologies and Institutions, and Grassroots Innovation Augmen -
tation Network in India, now supported by government through the National
Innovation Foundation. Specific innovations include agroecological approaches
104 Adrian Smith and Adrian Ely
in contrast, grassroots innovators can sometimes be less pliant and fit into mainstream agendas, and instead mobilize and press for transformations to mainstream
inno vation processes. This leads to questions about power and struggles for democracy in innovation processes, before we return the question of how green
transformations emerge from below.
Grassroots innovation: between policy fixes and political
mobilization
Grassroots innovators have been present at all the high-level summits devoted to
the environment and development. They were at the ‘hog farm’ at Stockholm in
1972 and in 2012 were at Rio+20 at the Cúpola dos Povos in Flamengo Park.
Displays at these events exhibited practical examples of how human needs could
be defined and met more sustainably. Whether through their decentralized
renewable energy designs, agroecological practices, eco-housing techniques, water
and sanitation services, community workshops and remanufacturing facilities,
complementary currencies, fair trade and solidarity economy arrangements, or a
myriad of other initiatives, these grassroots innovations present practical anticipations
of more sustainable societies (Ely et al., 2013). In the context of this book, we
might say they suggest green transformations from below.
Grassroots ingenuity
Some approaches towards grassroots innovation frame activity as a reservoir of
ingenuity to be supported and tapped into. At its most precise and circumscribed,
grassroots innovation is defined as a process generating creative solutions to
development challenges arising within local communities, through the knowledge
and inventive activities of individuals or groups in those communities. Social
movements and policy institutions can help cultivate this activity by scouting
for grassroots ingenuity and supporting innovators in the development of their
initia tives. Development support can involve the provision of financial, technical
and marketing resources. It can bring the innovator into contact with more con -
ventional development and technology institutions, where expertise helps formalize
the innovation into a form that can diffuse more readily or transform it into a scaledup form. Arrangements are made for the original innovator to benefit from this
process – for example, through some form of intellectual property provision.
Assistance is provided for meeting regulatory or commercial standards requirements.
Examples of grassroots innovation of this kind include the thousands of examples
documented by the Honey Bee Network and associated Society for Research and
Initiatives for Technologies and Institutions, and Grassroots Innovation Augmen -
tation Network in India, now supported by government through the National
Innovation Foundation. Specific innovations include agroecological approaches
104 Adrian Smith and Adrian Ely