Labour saving African kitchen appliances: Market opportunity for product design and social innovation
After watching their Mamas spending hours over an open fire, sweating over the daily dish of ugali or nsima or fufu – the African kitchen’s favourite carbohydrate – inventors and innovators across the continent are taking the initiative to ease her burden with nifty, new kitchen appliances. While culinary details differ from region to region […]
The curious case of Google’s Beba Pay: a mobile payment app that users refuse to adopt
This week, news from Nairobi, that hotbed of mobile money innovation, opened up a Pandora’s box of reflections on payment plans, service design issues and the challenge of technology adoption in the mass markets of the African informal economy. None of these are ‘bad’ things in their own right, but taken together, they have resulted […]
Reach Beyond: the CHI 25th Anniversary Conference in San Jose, May 2007
Today I realize that I had been struck dumb by the myriads of visions dancing in front of my eyes when I went up on stage to share the Closing Plenary at the CHI2007 conference back in San Jose, CA in the first week of May 2007. May 3rd, 2007 in San Jose CA Photo […]
The pros and cons of Kenya’s role as technology pioneer and East African frontier market
Rural Kenyan schoolhouse, somewhere near Kisii, March 2012 Only two years have passed since the publication of the Emerging Africa series of articles for Dirk Knemeyer’s GoInvo blog starting in February 2011. Since then I’ve had a much closer look at Kenya’s current state of the art when it comes to internet diffusion, renewable energy […]
Innovations in transport business models across Europe
Spotted outside the Zuid Park Business Center in Amsterdam, this is a taxi stand cum charging station for electric vehicles. And its not the only one, as I saw the same taxis waiting at Schiphol airport. They were asking half the price of a regular taxi for the trip to the center of town. In […]
Strategic Alliances can be an effective method of promoting innovation
Hybrid Organizations as a Strategy for Supporting New Product Development is the title of a research paper by Alison Rieple, Adrian Haberberg, and Jon Gander of the University of Westminster. A summary of their findings: This article focuses on strategic alliances, in which one firm (normally a large, multi-product corporation) obtains critical product-development resources, such […]
Bridging the gap: boundary spanners in the informal economy
My recent diversion into exploring the increasing visibility of the informal economy in the developed world has been providing much food for thought on the perceived boundary between the formal and the informal. More so, than in Europe, does the need exist among the most economically challenged across the still developing world for ways and […]
Senegalese research on innovation processes in their informal ICT sector
I came across some excellent research by Dr Almamy Konte and Mariama Ndong of Senegal. While I’m sure the original working paper in French must be far better than this drafted English translation, their key points are nonetheless something to make us sit up and listen, particularly with regards to innovation in the informal economy. […]
M-PESA and the service innovation framework (extract)
A former student of mine just mailed me this article “Extracting Key Lessons in Service Innovation” (pdf) by S.Wooder and S. Baker, recently published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, January 2012 edition. Here is the abstract of the article: This paper describes how Sagentia—working with Vodafone, Safaricom, and other organizations—played a significant role […]
Opportunity spaces vs ideas – business development for the BoP markets
Ideas or concepts are not the same as opportunity spaces or gaps in a particular market. Exploratory user research can identify opportunities for innovation, that is, either unmet needs or gaps in the existing ecosystem which could be filled by a product or service with the intent to create and provide value. On the other […]
