Bridging the innovator-firm gap for commercialisation of grassroot innovationsd: drawing lessons from a study of a targetted technology financing scheme in India

Abstract

While some grassroot innovators in India have been found to freely distribute their sustainable development innovations without seeking commercial gain, a major predicament for many not-so-altruistic innovators can be their inability to either commercialize their innovations for profit on their own, or to find the appropriate and interested industrial firms to do so. This inability of innovators can emerge either from a lack of appropriate industrial firm contacts and knowledge for initiating commercial activity or a lack of financial resources or both. Information gaps in the process of commercialisation of grassroot innovations are sometimes met in an adhoc manner - either by accident or an extensive and expensive search process. Even when the informatioii gap is met, the lack of financial resources and the inability of the innovator or the industrial firm to take up the entire financial and technical risk of the project can considerably reduce the innovation's chances of reaching the market.