Introduction to the special issue on “Grassroots and inclusive innovations: Conceptualizing synergies and complementarities”

• Main Authors: TAN, Wee Liang, GANGOPADHYAY, Partha, HAUPTMAN, Oscar
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: grassroots innovations; inclusive innovations; complementarity of concepts.; Strategic Management Policy; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6883; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7882/viewcontent/1_s2.0_S004016252031235X_main.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The paper provided a review of the state of the field of grassroots and inclusive innovations, suggested and proposed ways forward for research. It also provided a summary of the articles in the special issue and discussed their contributions. With the extant literature, and the modest contribution of the special issue, the paper postulates that grassroots innovation and inclusive innovation activities are complementary. One the one hand, the inclusive innovations actors and processes facilitate and accelerate grassroots innovation. On the other hand, the knowledge of local context and culture enables effective diffusion of external ideas. The paper also highlights the overlap between the concepts of social innovation or grassroots innovation with inclusive innovations. When the barriers between the local and limited loci of activity are broached, what was initially intended as social innovations or grassroots innovations, would naturally become inclusive innovations. The moment the innovation process begins, and the type of participants broadens, inclusivity commences. As innovation, by definition, is a process where the designed solution, which becomes the innovation when applied, social innovations and grassroots innovations invariably transform into inclusive innovations.