Interactive Policy Research for Rural Innovation

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Interactive Policy Research for Rural Innovation

• International Conference on ST Policy Research
  and Statistical Indicators
• Colombo, 8-10 Nov 2006

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(No Transcript)
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Why should we know about how pro-poor rural
innovation takes place?

• Rural population 73 of Asia
• Poverty - a different legitimization for ST
• Exclusion from ST, market processes and other
  development goods
• Innovation the generation utilization of
  knowledge
• Demand changes in the ways of working of ST
  and policy making

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Project to test the hypothesis

• Coalition of researchers/policy makers/
  NGOs/others
• UNU/INTECH-CRISP-CPR-XIIM B -ACTS- innovation
  systems framework applied to explore cases of
  rural innovation --fisheries, rural energy,
  traditional health care, agro-processing, soil
  quality management, drip irrigation, integrated
  pest management, traditional weaving, etc. etc.

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What is RURAL INNOVATION?

• It is the processes that take place in rural
  areas when knowledge, technology or information
  is made available and is put to use in socially
  progressive and economically productive ways by a
  group of linked actors (organizations/individuals
• It demands the capacity to access, adapt and
  apply knowledge to specific contexts, and to
  learn and evolve continuously.

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The case of drying technologies

• TIDE - A Core Group supported by DST
• Grew out of ASTRA - IISc
• Founder ex- Executive Secretary KSCST
• Mission identification, assessment, adaptation,
  evaluation and dissemination of developmental
  technologies
• Process development of appropriate mechanisms to
  disseminate suitable technologies

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Energy Efficient Dryers

• According to TIDE, the main features are
• Used to dry horticultural and agricultural
  produce
• Available in varied capacities depending on the
  effective tray area and user requirement
• Possible to construct dryers of a wide range of
  capacity based on user requirements
• Requires less time and less fuel to dry the
  product (as compared to natural and open drying)
• Wide range of fuels can be used
• Lower space requirement and minimal installation
  time
• Durable with minimal maintenance
• Smoke does not come in contact with the produce
  thereby ensuring good quality of dried produce
• Uniform temperature profile resulting in good
  quality drying of product
• Can be used to dry industrial outputs also

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Types of Energy Efficient Dryers

• Cabinet Dryers
• Insitu Dryers
• Prefab Dryers
• Room Dryers
• Installation of dryer depends on context and user
  requirements
• Decided by the user with a group of organizations
  and individuals

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Cabinet Dryers used for small quantities

• Features of Insitu Dryers
• Constructed using tiled hollow blocks
• Fixed at one location
• More durable (in comparison to metal dryer)
• Features of Prefab Dryers
• Manufactured using Mild Steel and Stainless Steel
• Portable
• Minimal maintenance is required

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Dryers used for and used by

• For Drying - Arecanut, cardomom, coconut, fish,
  prawns, rubber sheets, adaother instant foods,
  tobacco, ginger, garlic, onion, curry leaf,
  tomatoes, fruits, statues, ---
• By small farmers, commercial enterprises,
  womens SHGs, industries, households, ---

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Transfer of Cabinet Dryer Drying protocols

• First attempt Failure
• Learn lessons
• Next attempt - successful

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Parasparam the Womens SHG

• TIDE eco-friendly technologies project
• Biomass waste- potential fuel
• Un- and under- employment
• Low entrepreneurial activity in villages
• Urban demand-dry fishlow salt-hygienic
• Poverty- awkward gender relationships
• Will a biomass based multi-purpose dryer lead to
  an eco-friendly enterprise here?

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The fish drying enterprise

• Parasparam installed the cabinet dryer in 2003
• Started fish drying sales December 2003
• Average 3 days employment per member
• Average profit of Rs.7500/- month for the group
• By 2004 May -manages all physical operations by
  itself.
• By 2004 October -does financial management too
• By 2004 August- submits a loan application (own
  land building Rs.2,10,000)
• By 2005 February loan sanctioned sales improve
• Ready to increase scale one brand name
  Sagarsree - for 5 micro enterprises.

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Can this be replicated?

• Successful
• Enterprises established growing
• Replicate biomass based dryers for fish drying
• TIDE awarded
• State Subsidies? Programmes?
• TIDE worried, ---
• Replicate what?
• --the technology?
• --the enterprise model?

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More examplesinnovation systems

• Tomato packaging H.P.
• Pineapple processing - Orissa
• Pomegranate production- marketing arid parts of
  Maharashtra
• Char dwellers Bangladesh
• Rainfed sorghum poultry feed A.P.
• Cassava processing Ghana
• Traditional health care India East Africa
• NONE ARE FIRMS/FIRM LEVEL TECHNOLOGIES

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Findings

• Lessons from this case of pro-poor innovation
• --ST is only one part of innovation
• --socially embedded processes
• --series of complementary changes
• Then, replicate these? How?

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Many actors constant interaction-different
domains

• Scientific research heat and mass transfer,
  materials research, food/fish processing
  research, gasifiers/stoves RD, biomass research,
  packaging technology and protocols,---
• Non-research actors technology development/
  diffusion, technology assessment, enterprise
  assessment, NGOs, Govt Departments, local
  traders, transporters, SHGs, banks, panchayats ---

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Message for ST Policy

• Innovation is not the conduct of science or
  generation of technology
• ST must have a commitment to pro-poor rural
  innovation in developing countries

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ST Policy and ST Indicators

• To plan/facilitate rural innovation
• Indicators of ST inputs investment, personnel,
  infrastructure
• Indicators of ST outputs publications,
  patents, other research results, technology
  adoption
• Indicators of ST processes in rural innovation
  ---
• ???

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From ST Policy to STI Policies and practices

• Conventional indicators are important
• Other indicators needed are

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1.Indicators of relative location

• Sector maps domains/actors in each domain
• See Figure 2

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2.Indicators of interactions/partnerships

• Collaborative interactions learning
• Competitive interactions learning
• See Table 1
• What are partnerships? Contracts? Networks? ??
• Organizational identity in partnerships
• Learning and change

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3. Indicators of Competencies

• Disciplinary competencies
• Learning competencies
• Collaboration skills
• Communication skills
• Policy/advocacy skills
• Accountability/attribution skills
• Other competencies

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4. Indicators of innovation potential

• Orchestrated systems (planned ST with social
  goals)
• Opportunity driven systems (produce what the
  market wants)
• ST organizations must have the capacity to be
  part of both types of innovation systems

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STI policies and practices

• Conventional (Mode 1) knowledge production is not
  enough
• New (Mode 2) innovation approaches the role of
  knowledge and knowledge producing institutions in
  innovation
• Inter- and intra- domain
• Do ST actors talk to rural development actors?
• What are the incentives for them to do so?

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ST I policy and indicators

• People, and their fungibility, multicompetence
  and capacity to connect with others form the
  critical resource in the STI policy.

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Interactive STI Policy Research

• How can policy makers learn this?
• Through small experiments picking up and
  institutionalizing lessons
• Prescriptive policy research doesnt help
  learning
• Urgency poverty
• The best of science in rural innovation
  coalitions