| Professor Anil K. Gupta |
Professor, Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Professor Gupta's research has included expanding global, national and local space for grassroots inventors and innovators to ensure recognition, respect and reward for them; protection of their Intellectual Property Rights; blending excellence in formal and informal science; ethical issues in conservation and prospecting of biodiversity; sustainable use of natural resources; organic farming; rural development and many other areas related to grassroots innovation and local community-based development.
He is the President of the SRISTI a voluntary organization and is the Co-ordinator of Honey Bee Network. He is also the Executive Vice-Chairperson of the National Innovation Foundation. His work with SRISTI received the Gold Medal from Far Eastern Economic Review in the 2000 Asian Innovation Awards.
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IIM-A - Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad |
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IIM-A (Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad) is one of the premier schools of management and business in the world.
IIM-A was established in 1961 as an autonomous Institution by the Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat and the Indian Industry. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, a noted scientist and industrialist, other Ahmedabad-based industrialists (led by Mr. Kasturbhai Lalbhai), and the Government of Gujarat (led by Dr. Jivaraj Mehta) played a major role in the creation of the Institute. IIM-A was registered as a society with a Board of Governors to oversee the functioning of the Institute. The Board has representatives from the Governments of India and Gujarat, the Industry, the IIM-A Society, the IIM-A faculty, etc.
IIM-A was conceived not to be purely a business school, but a school of management. It's mission is to professionalise Indian management through teaching, research, training, institution building and consulting. It also aims to professionalise some of the vital sectors of India's economy such as agriculture, education, health, transportation, population control, energy, and public administration.
| SRISTI - Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions |  |
| Honey Bee Network |  |
SRISTI is a non-governmental organisation setup to strengthen the creativity of grassroots inventors, innovators and ecopreneurs engaged in conserving biodiversity and developing eco-friendly solutions to local problems.
SRISTI was set up in 1993 to support and strengthen the Honey Bee Network - a voluntary informal network of creative people, policy makers, scientists, NGOs and other professionals interested in augmenting grassroots innovations. Some things the Honey Bee Network tries to do are:
- provide a peer groups of farmers, artisans, scientists, academics across language, culture and regional boundaries to nurture, critique and encourage innovative experimentation;
- break the nexus between the regions of high biodiversity and high poverty endowed with poor public as well as private infrastructure
- provide access to information that can help improve productivity without increasing cost using other farmers’ innovations.
- galvanize existing institutions and community structures to inspire and sustain the curiosity and spirit of younger generation to pursue the path of experimentation and excellence in local eco-enterprises and natural resource management
| GIAN- Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network |  |
GIAN aims at sustaining the spirit of innovation, encouraging experimentation and nurturing creativity at grassroots of knowledge rich economically poor people by converting their innovations into products. It makes a significant contribution in creating a knowledge network that can empower the innovators, recognize and augment contemporary innovations, and facilitate the diffusion of green grassroots innovations through commercial and non commercial public private and voluntary channels.
Gian's genesis came about when the Honey Bee Network felt that rewarding the grassroots people for their creativity should look beyond the mere recognition and documentation of their knowledge. It should also aim towards the commercialization of viable innovations, so that their benefits are disseminated over a broader spectrum of the society and the motivation to innovate further is sustained. To achieve this, it was felt that a nodal agency should be created that would not only upscale these innovations but would also act as a clearing house of ideas by facilitating interaction among innovators, entrepreneurs and investors.
In January 1997, an International Conference on Creativity and Innovations at Grassroots was held at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, organized by CMA at the Indian Institute of Management, and co sponsored by SRISTI, FAO, World Bank, NABARD etc. The idea to set up a Green Venture Promotion Fund was mooted at International Conference on Creativity and Innovations at Grassroots (ICCIG) so as to support the rural innovators to link themselves to formal systems of marketing, technical and financial services. Such a fund would also prepare business plans for the innovators and would support entrepreneurs.
The idea received unanimous appreciation in the conference. Thus, Gujarat Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN) was born.