Inclusive Innovation in the South

MARIANO FRESSOLI; HERNÁN THOMAS

Bloomington

Workshop; STS in Latin America: Beyond Imported Magic Workshop; 2012

Indiana University

In recent years, the relation between innovation and social development has again become a topic of academic debate and public policies in the region. Several international institutions such as the IDRC, IDB, and UNDP started to develop approaches on innovation and social inclusion. In the same fashion, national R&D institutions from Argentina, Brazil and other countries in Latin America are currently discussing a new agenda of research and intervention on this issue. However, it is still not clear what 'inclusive development' means exactly, what is the difference between new approaches and historical social movements, and how it is possible to develop frameworks suitable for Latin American conditions. The welcomed revitalization of this debate and the urgency to adopt foreign models of intervention compel us to check new theoretical frameworks. This paper explores three different theoretical approaches - one historic and two current - of technologies for social inclusion. These are: the historic movement of appropriate technologies, the perspective of Bottom of the pyramid by C. K. Prahalad and the Grassroots innovation approach by A. Gupta. In particular, it will analyze the visions and strategies they put forward, the actual and potential strategic alliances they encourage, the perspectives of socio-technical change and social inclusion they promote, and their contributions for new strategies of intervention