The other social engineering

A few days ago Stanford University played host to the Ninth Annual Conference on Indian Economic Policy Reform.

A few days ago Stanford University played host to the Ninth Annual Conference on Indian Economic Policy Reform. In recent years this particular event has become an important landmark in an ever more crowded landscape of conferences where academics, industrialists and politicians gather to meet and chat about the troubles of this nation, and how to solve them. Yet preceding the star-studded conference itself was a smaller event I happened to attend 8212; a set of student presentations made to a small panel. I was struck by how they typified a nascent but rapidly growing phenomenon, visible particularly in entrepreneurial greenhouses such as Silicon Valley. For want of a better word, let8217;s call this 8216;social entrepreneurship8217;, a phrase that is rapidly infecting the jargon of both the management and development worlds.

At the heart of this concept is the idea that the problems of the developing world also provide opportunities for innovative entrepreneurial ventures that can both provide lasting solutions and be self-sustaining or even highly profitable. The sunny optimism of this view of the world often seems too good to be true but, on closer observation, is quite compelling. It8217;s also proving a seductive alternative for increasing numbers of Indian students abroad 8212; drawing them back home with the promise of an intellectual challenge, the freedom and potential wealth of starting your own venture, and the 8216;feel-good8217; job satisfaction of actually making a difference.

There are two forces at play, making this option more and more appealing. The first is the economic growth and vibrancy of India today and the relative stagnation of the economies of the West. The second comes from a redefinition of what it means to work at the 8216;cutting edge8217; of technology or management. This involves looking at the frontiers of technology and engineering as being not only about making products bigger, better and more feature-packed but just as much about making them smaller, faster, cheaper, simpler. Emerging from such a conception of 8216;cutting-edge8217; research is the recognition that it is crucial to design technological solutions that are robust, simple to use, inexpensive and reduced to their essentials. This does not apply only to engineering of course. There has also been an increasing recognition of the importance of coming up with innovative financial models and management systems. It is in that context that we have seen microcredit schemes, self-help groups, rental and community ownership models, small volume packaging emerging as part of the business plans of an increasing number of new ventures.

To get back to the conference with which I began this story. One of the student presentations was made by an ex-IITian with a PhD in electrical engineering. A well-trodden career path, often leading to a well-paid job in a foreign technology firm with potential for yet another novel about 8216;immigration and identity8217;. Except that this time the presentation was about a nascent company he co-founded. They call themselves Embrace Global, and their flagship product is an incubator for low birth weight babies that costs about 20 dollars and has been created for markets like rural India, where the modern alternative, costing 20,000 dollars, is utterly unaffordable. The incubator itself grew out of a course in Stanford University, called Design for Extreme Affordability. In consonance with the appropriate technology paradigm, the Embrace solution achieves essentially one thing 8212; temperature regulation. A modern incubator can do much more, but in a majority of cases the Embrace solution suffices. The engineering feat and creativity here are recognition that less can indeed be more 8212; especially when it saves you thousands of dollars.

Embrace Global is one example, but there are many others. D-Light design, also emerging out of a similar course at Stanford, seeks to bring low-cost LED lighting solutions to rural India. Invention Labs is a product design startup, founded by a group of alumni from IIT Madras, which focuses on developing innovative products designed specifically for Indian rural and urban markets. A popular student-run course at Stanford University, 8216;Brainstorming India8217;, introduces students from various parts of the world to these ideas, and has them work on projects with NGOs and social ventures in India.

These are all heartening stories but they also highlight a challenge for universities in India, particularly the IITs. Getting students interested in social entrepreneurship, low-cost design and the creation of technologies for the developing world will require a conscious attempt to present these areas as cutting-edge intellectual challenges, with the potential for both creating social change, and providing highly successful and rewarding careers. Successfully advertising all these aspects is a pre-requisite to capturing the interest of bright and ambitious students. Just as the best universities across the world are beginning to realise this, it8217;s important that our institutions at home do so as well.

The writer is doing PhD in energy and environment policy at Stanford University anant.sudarshangmail.com