Filed under: base of pyramid, finance, sustainable products, technology | Tags: base of pyramid, electricity, emerging markets, rural electrification, solar, sustainable technology, technology transfer
The solar industry is booming, yet its leaders have completely bypassed their largest potential market: the 1.6 billion people without access to electricity worldwide. I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Eckhart at Solar Power International in LA last week, at a panel on emerging markets with the Alliance for Rural Electrification, SolarWorld, and the American Council for Renewable Energy. When asked about the industry’s ignorance of emerging markets, Eckhart replied, “This is a scandal for our industry”. Less than one percent of global production of solar panels are installed in developing countries, yet the potential markets here could prove to be the world’s largest solar markets by 2020.
Filed under: base of pyramid, biomimicry, innovation, technology | Tags: base of pyramid, biomimicry, cleantech, emerging markets, technology
Cornell’s Stuart Hart claims that ‘disruptive innovations are best incubated outside of the mainstream market’. Hart feels that underserved markets, where the infrastructure has not been built out, offer a clean slate and ideal testing ground for companies to develop “disruptive” clean technologies. A new solar infrastructure, for instance, would disrupt the coal mining industry and coal-fired power plants.
By driving innovation from the underserved spaces at the base of the pyramid, companies can avoid the inertia, stranded assets, and customer un-learning problems they face in developed markets. With over two billion people in the world without access to electricity, what better markets to launch distributed generation and renewable energy industries?
“If we are really successful with this, eventually the sustainable innovations that take root in the BoP will trickle up to the top of the pyramid.”
