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September 21, 2005
Innovation everywhere
Innovation isn't just the "next big thing" - to quote the mantra of the dot-com boom. It is everywhere and in many areas. Witness the examples from the recent Asian Innovation Awards, as reported in today's Wall Street Journal - "Necessity Meets Creativity":
Forget, for a moment, the idea that an innovation has to be something new, either in terms of the problem it solves or when it was invented.
Just ask Mohammad Saidullah, an Indian honey seller in his 60s, who has been peddling his amphibious bicycle around the flood-prone plains of Bihar -- and once or twice across the Ganges -- for the past 30 years.
It's not much to look at -- a sky-blue tangle of spokes, paddles and wooden floats -- but it has finally gotten some recognition. Discovered by an Indian organization called the Honey Bee network, which collects data on such initiatives via a web of students, nongovernment groups and volunteers, his contraption earned Mr. Saidullah a life-time achievement award in January from India's National Innovation Foundation. And now he's one of 12 finalists for this year's Asian Innovation Awards, presented by The Asian Wall Street Journal in association with Global Entrepolis@Singapore. The awards honor people and companies who improve quality of life or business productivity.
What is more remarkable is the staggering amount of innovation:
The Honey Bee project has discovered more than 50,000 innovations in the Indian backwoods, some of which have also made it to the AIA's final 12.
And that is just in India! You should read about the innovations from other Asian countries.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at September 21, 2005 07:08 PM
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