From anilg@iimahd.ernet.in Tue Jul 4 19:33:40 1995 Return-Path: Received: from mx5.u.washington.edu by lists.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW95.05/UW-NDC Revision: 2.33 ) id AA07340; Tue, 4 Jul 95 19:33:39 -0700 Received: from sangam.ncst.ernet.in by mx5.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW95.05/UW-NDC Revision: 2.31 ) id AA25158; Tue, 4 Jul 95 19:33:32 -0700 Received: from iimahd.UUCP (uucp@localhost) by sangam.ncst.ernet.in (8.6.12/8.6.6) with UUCP id CAA07602 for U.WASHINGTON.EDU!CONSBIO; Wed, 5 Jul 1995 02:48:55 +0530 Received: from anilg.iimahd by iimahd. (4.0/SMI-4.0) id AA00275; Wed, 5 Jul 95 02:12:25+050 Date: Wed, 5 Jul 95 02:12:25+050 From: anilg@iimahd.ernet.in (Prof. Anil Gupta) To: Pdh@u.washington.edu (P) Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CONFERENCE ON cREATIVITY AND iNNOVATION AT gRASSROOTS--FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT--PLEASE POST IT TO DIFFERENT BULLETIN BOARDS FOR WIDER SHARING AND PARTICPATION Cc: INDKNOW@u.washington.edu, Biodiv-L@ftpt.br (Biodiv-l) Message-Id: Subject: First announcement of International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots, at IIMA Ahmedabad --------- International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots Level Cosponsored by IIMA, SRISTI, ISEE and IASCP December 1996 Centre for Management in Agriculture Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad The search for sustainable solutions to the problems created by input intensive technologies, declining institutions of common property resource management and weakening links between formal and informal knowledge systems is drawing global attention to wards the local innovations. Research at the Institute over last six years has generated a very rich understanding of the process of creativity and innovation at grassroots level. But many questions still remain unanswered. The influence of worldview of the innovators as well as their contextual conditions in trigger- ing innovations has to be clearly delineated. The inability of formal educational system to draw upon the excellence in ecologi- cal knowledge among children seems to add to the problem of drop out because of other socio-economic factors. The knowledge erosion was never so severe as in this generation. And yet several studies are showing the importance of studying indigenous schemes of classification of soils, waves, clouds, winds, etc., to make sense of the variability in natural systems. This conference is a response to various challenges. There are four major dimensions of the proposed conference: A: Innovations Institutional Innovations Technological Innovations Socio-cultural Innovations B: Education Linkage between formal and informal knowledge systems Pedagogic and curricular innovations C: Compensating Creativity Intellectual property right regimes Non-material forms of individual and collective compensation Ethical issues in accessing people's knowledge about biodi- versity and other resource use strategies D: Market based incentives for commercialization of sustainable technologies Certification of organic products Development of green markets Consumer awareness Social consciousness about non-sustainable prodcuts and services The Conference will thus focus on: 1.Formal and informal knowledge systems and possible bridges between them, comparison of learning strategies in each system. 2.Educational Innovations for triggering and reinforcing experi- mental ethic among children and adults 3.Ecological entrepreneurship 4.Intellectual property rights of grassroots innovators 5.Innovations in farm and non-farm sector by farmers, artisans and small workshop owners 6.Trade, marketing and certification of organic foods and related products developed by low-external input farmers through use of sustainable technologies 7.Database development and networking around the indigenous / local innovations 8.Institutional innovations for sustainable natural resource management, Biodiversity Conservation, In situ and ex situ germ plasm conservation, On farm research, farmers' risk adjustments through innovative strategies 9.Public policies for supporting local innovations for sustain- able development 10.Rethinking agricultural and non-farm extension system to link formal and informal science 11.Natural science research on innovations by farmers, artisans 12.Compensating Creativity: Contracts between industry and local communities for tapping local knowledge about biodiversity and other resources, etc. The idea is that all aspects of the creativity and innovation in the context of sustainable development in general and of rural society in particular are discussed. Organization: A local organizing committee will be formed including colleagues from IIMA and some other national and International institutions. An international organizing committee will also be set up to generate wider support and seek advice for the success of the conference. Co-sponsorship Centre for Management in Agriculture in collaboration with SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technolo- gies and Institutions) is organizing this conference. Sponsor- ship of the conference by some other international societies/institutions is also likely. International Society of Ecological Economics, Intt Association for study of Common Properties have alreday agreed to co-sponsor the conference. Contact address: Prof.Anil K Gupta, Editor, Honey bee and Coordinator, SRISTI c/o Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad - 380 015, India, Phone No: 407241 (O), 469079 (R), Fax: 91-79-6427896, Email:anilg@iimahd.ernet.in Please sned your suggestions for organizing sessions, chairing workshops, presenting papers, posters, bringing innovators/innovations by people, WE also welcome ideas for possible suppport for third world participants to the conference. Please post this announcement to various other relevant bulletin boards .