Disruptive Technology

I guess I’ll get this party started.  There are a lot of points of intersection between social innovation and technology, but I’m particularly interested in low-end disruptive innovation, where a product begins being offered at a dramatically lower price point, thus making it accessible to the four billion people living at the bottom of the pyramid on less than $2 a day.

Changemakers held a competition for disruptive innovations in health and healthcare back in 2007, with some outstanding entries.

One of my favorites is Respira, a cheaper form of a spacer device that helps children with asthma take their medication.  "These devices allow young children to be treated at home, but are not common in most of the world because they are relatively expensive—in the range of $40," states the website of the Stanford Institute of Design, where the device was originally developed.  "Many health care systems cannot absorb this cost for every asthmatic child they treat."  Taking a cue from folding origami cranes, Respira's device is made out of paper and uses "a precise system of cuts and folds," leading to a product that can be brought to market for approximately 25 cents per unit, a cost reduction of more than 99%.  Furthermore, the device can be distributed as a flat sheet to be folded into a usable form on-site, so hundreds can be sent cheaply in a single mailer.

A child uses Respira's paper spacer

Another example of a potentially disruptive technology is the LifeStraw.  Heralded as a "Best Invention of 2005" by Time Magazine, the LifeStraw is a point of use water filter that “effectively removes waterborne viruses and bacteria.”  This is good news for the half of the world's poor plagued by waterborne diseases such as diphtheria, cholera and diarrhea.  Where as a low-end water filter at REI will cost you a minimum of fifty U.S. dollars, Vestergaard Frandsen -- LifeStraw's producer -- claims that it can bring its device to consumers for a few dollars per unit.  LifeStraws can also be donated in collaboration with Rotary for $6.50 per unit.
 

Children drinking from a LifeStraw Family water purifier 

There is the type of innovative work that the Ashoka - Lemelson partnership is trying to support with its cohort of Social Entrepreneurs in Technology and Innovation.  The Fellows, selected via a rigorous application process, represent top-tier change makers involved in the production of technological innovation, the creation of markets and an enabling environment for the dissemination of socially driven technologies, as well as those helping cultivate the next generation of inventors around the world.  You can meet the current star-studded class of inventor-entrepreneurs here, as well as nominate candidates to the Fellowship (yes, they're looking for more) here.