Is there a link between poverty and innovation?

In these parts we have a word for ingenuity-we call it okuyiya. In some circles though,

It is also looked at in a rather negative manner. It can be related to what happens when

a lack of resources meets and good measure of skill. What you have here though is lack of

resources with limited measure of skill (and training).

 

The result is a blend between Mac Giver and Junk Yard wars. In the former, the guy based on experience can fix anything.

He is therefore able to get out of all sorts of fixes using his hands and his training. The latter

is really about a bunch of guys who are thrust into a yard with old, used parts. They have to compete

with other crews to create all sorts of neat new tools from old scrap.

 

In the third world, most of what we create is done in less than pleasant circumstances.

In some cases we have to contend with old used computers which are thrust on our continent

from well meaning donors. Because main stream creators are no longer creating software

For older implementations, we are turning to open source systems. But that is limiting

innovation and creativity to hardware and software that runs it.

 

The best example for this is the guy who turned an old tyre rim into a cooking

stove by welding three pieces of metal at the top and using the hollow section for

charcoal. The other is the guy who found an old cooker and used its outside stable frame

for roasting purposes. He simply chose to add charcoal in the frame both to trap the smoke

as well as to do the task of cooking.

 

So when I last shared my ideas about innovation and poverty, I upset quite

a few people. For them the whole idea behind poverty is absolutely abhorrent.

One definition of Economics is “the study of the use of

limited resources for the achievement of alternative ends”(Macroeconomic Theory

Second Edition)

Maybe the objection was with the choice of words. The point is, that you are doing

To be most creative when you face limits but everything you create has to be

Balanced with something that you have seen (Exposure) and something that you have learnt (Education).

 

Want to boost your creative space? Get rid of the clutter. Also think like a prisoner. Deliberately take steps

limit your movements and the spaces within which you can work and then watch as your creative juices kick in.