Grassroots innovation involves movements and networks of academics, activists and practitioners who seek to experiment with alternative forms of knowledge creation and processes for innovation. These alternatives harness local ingenuity directed towards local development. Emerging economies such as India and in South America are currently and historically the sites for notable and internationally visible, though understudied, attempts at alternative innovation. Meanwhile, the UK and Europe conjure a post-industrial, wealthy nation setting, and offers a contrasting location where activist...

Innovation is increasingly invoked by policy elites and business leaders as vital for tackling global challenges like sustainable development. Often overlooked, however, is the fact that networks of community groups, activists, and researchers have been innovating grassroots solutions for social justice and environmental sustainability for decades. Unencumbered by disciplinary boundaries, policy silos, or institutional logics, these 'grassroots innovation movements' identify issues and questions neglected by formal science, technology and innovation organizations. Grassroots solutions...