Grassroots innovations and innovators: the case of Iran

ABSTRACT

Grassroots innovations (GIs) are considered alternative pathways of innovation that better match sustainable development goals. The study aims to better understand the nature of GIs in the context of a developing country, Iran. It introduces a novel dataset of GIs in Iran. It employs a descriptive analysis and K-mean cluster analysis on Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to investigate (1) the state of the art of GIs in the country, and if any patterns can be detected in the characteristics of GIs. The result indicates the majority of Iranian grassroots innovators are males living in urban areas. The provinces Fars and South-Khorasan accommodate together about 40% of the innovators, while Tehran (Iran’s capital) is ranked fourth after Hamadan Province. The study highlights the differences between the country’s GI and patent activities. The result of clustering analysis on MCA indicates the patterns of grassroots innovation in the context of Iran by detecting three clusters.

KEYWORDS:

• Grassroots innovation
• grassroots innovators
• Iran
• clustering analysis
• multiple correspondence analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In this paper, we only discussed the innovators and their characteristics. We will discuss other findings in a separate article.

2 The above results are the result of research that has been done. In this context, it is necessary to pay attention to the specific conditions, environment and context of each country, including historical, cultural and social. A comparative study of this issue with another country will lead to a better understanding of the issue and the results will have interesting.

3 Dezful is one of the oldest cities in the Khuzestan province that where the bridge located in the city dates back to 300 AD.