Realistic Innovation

                One of the themes in this week’s readings is the idea of innovation coming from BoP markets instead of starting in wealthier companies and gradually disseminating amongst BoP countries. This isn’t a new idea for the course, considering early readings touched on frugal engineering and how one needs to create a project from the ground up instead of creating it for another market and replacing aspects to cater to another market, but this week’s readings took that concept that much further. The first example of this expansion of theme came from the article ‘Reverse Innovation’, which looked at how India’s growing market has caused GE to change their strategy and focus on BoP markets with India serving as a testing ground for products that will later be disseminated throughout BoP countries. By doing this GE is being mindful of what the market actually wants and needs instead of taking an approach that ignores the needs of that market. This is much different from Google’s approach with their Loon project as illustrated in African Entrepreneurs Deflate Google’s Internet Balloon Idea, where Google attempted to bring internet services to Africa in areas where they aren’t being utilized. While nobly-intentioned, Google has ignored what has really been keeping people from accessing the internet: a lack of computers. Google demonstrates the importance of understanding an environment and its constraints so a company can invest in a way that maximizes benefit for consumers instead of trying to force an approach because it works better in a different situation and location.

                3D printing is another technology that promises to bring a flood of innovation; however it is still important for proponents to consider the capabilities as well as constraints with this new technology. 3D printing is often confounded with magic, with claims being made about printing dinners in a matter of minutes, which is more indicative of the Star Trek replicator than anything based in reality. 3D printing is really only advanced as material sciences allows it to be and an in all honesty disgusting printed dinner would have to be made from a paste-like material(think McDonalds’ pink slime from their recent scandal). With that being said there’s a tremendous potential for the manufacture of all kinds of helpful and unique products like those mentioned in The Next Frontier for 3D Printing, however the article missed one important point about 3D printed prosthetics: that by making prostheses low-cost 3D printing has allowed children to receive prostheses which using past manufacturing techniques would be considered prohibitively expensive. There are several claims that soon 3D printers will print all products people purchase but anything like that is very far off. What we’ll likely see is product design coming from tinkerers with 3D printers and Raspberry Pi-like microcontrollers to create one-offs of products that can be later mass-produced if the market needs them. 3D printing provides anyone with modeling software and an understanding of design to make an attempt at the next revolutionary product themselves.