Pradip Sarmah

Press Release: New Delhi, February 09, 2010

Today, Ashoka and The Lemelson Foundation organized a media briefing in the capital as a part of their Tech4Society initiative to recognize and showcase the innovations of two remarkable inventor-entrepreneurs – Hilmi Quraishi and Pradip Sarmah. The agenda of the briefing was The Indian Inventor Entrepreneurs and their contribution towards Sustainable Development.

The first-of-its kind Initiative with support from Microsoft® strives to bring greater attention to the importance of technological innovation in driving global development and highlight effective strategies for cultivating the next generation of inventor-entrepreneurs and scaling their world-changing ideas. The media briefing saw them discussing best practices, demonstrating their inventions and sharing their vision for the future, driven by the combination of invention and innovation.

Hilmi Quraishi and Pradip Sarmah have been chosen for their unique and cutting edge uses of technology, education, capital and support as tools for community development, policy setting and poverty alleviation.

One of my favorite subjects under the technology branch is how the intersection of anthropological research methods, like user studies, and engineering is being used to for social good. Like the work of Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow Pradip Sarmah--he observed two challenges for Rickshaw drivers in Rural India: 1) Rickshaws are typically very heavy, and 2) they are expensive.  He put 1 and 2 together and brought in a team of designers to come up with a light-weight, inexpensive version of the originals.  He even went a step further and created a lending system so that these Rickshaw drivers could own the vehicles and be self-sufficient.  Learn more about Pradip's work here. And if you are hungry for more Design and Social Change stories be sure to visit: Ideo, Design for the other 90%, Engineers without Borders.