Breaking the Innovation Barrier... What remains to be done?

The articles this week for me were about "breaking the sound barrier." In the 1940s, there had been speculation that it was impossible for planes to break the sound barrier, that the fuselage and body would fall apart and the pilot would die. In 1947, Charles "Chuck" Yaeger flew his plane at 670 miles per hour, 11 miles per hour faster than the speed of sound. He broke the barrier, made the impossible possible, and is thus revered and celebrated; no doubt the showpiece of innovation and perseverance in many self-esteem and goal-setting workshops.

That is one realization that has struck me in the past few weeks in this class: the stories behind social innovations are always ones that break records, achieve the impossible, or turn the status quo on its head. It is no wonder then, that so many young people are drawn to this discipline; as young engines of change, they see change processes or innovations as the key to growth and the way forward.

On a more concrete point, the various achievements (Danone with yoghurt, Adidas with shoes, D.Light with light, etc...) in the articles this week made me wonder: what barriers remain to be broken? If we have effectively turned the consumer pyramid on its head (i.e. made products affordable for the BOP) for so many industries, what other industries stand to profit from this movement. Let's make a tally.

Successful rethinking of the pyramid (target: BOP)

• F&B: Danone makes 10 cent yoghurts for Bangladeshis, Plumpy Nut makes nutritious peanut butter for babies in food-scarce African regions
• Mobiles: SafariCom, Cell Phone Ladies, etc..
• Clothing/Apparel: Adidas makes $1 sandals
• Finance: Grameen Bank's successful MFI model
• Appliances: Haier and their clothes and vegetable washing machines
• Automobile: Tata Nano

Some innovations target the middle class. For example, AirAsia is responsible for bringing leisure travel and affordable plane flight to millions of middle-class Asians who could not afford these luxuries before.

Markets/Industries still to conquer:

• Luxury goods: for obvious reasons, it is hard to make "BOP luxury" (although the AirAsia example above contradicts this somewhat). 
• Cleaning products: I buy new Swiffer recharge wipes every month and they are expensive. How can neat freaks on $1 budgets keep their surroundings clean?
• Meat products: Test tube meat may soon strike this off the list.
• Office supplies: although there are open-source software that are free to use and a good replacement for the Microsoft Office suite
• Paper and pencils: these are items that are often lacking or absent in 3rd world classrooms. How do we make affordable paper and writing utensils?
• Entertainment: often overlooked but absolutely essential to human life. How can people living in developing regions have fun for cheap?

Writing this blog has been insightful. There are still a lot of innovations to innovate. My question: Can you think of any solutions for the above problems?