Case Information

Prototyping a Scalable Smart Village (B)
Darwin, Solomon , and Henry W. Chesbrough
Publication date: 10/1/2018, pages 1-28

The (A) case focuses on the development of a Smart Village in Mori, Andhra Pradesh (AP), India. The Chief Minister of the state, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has recently completed a series of visits to rural villages in his state of 60 million residents, 35 million of whom live in rural areas. CM Naidu seeks to create a new policy mechanism to address the many unmet needs of his constituents in AP. He decided to launch an experiment called Smart Villages. The case describes the many unmet needs of rural villagers in India, and also discusses some of the approaches that the Chief Minister had tried in an earlier period, before his party lost power. Back in office as Chief Minister, he is now motivated to try something new. In the (B) case, after a successful pilot in Mori, the learnings were extended to 472 Andhra Pradesh villages, commissioned by the Chief Minister Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, India. Over 500 village local ambassadors were trained by UC Berkeley-trained fellow to do house-to-house surveys for data collection and analysis. Various technologies were pivoted in selected villages using open innovation research to develop business models through co-innovation process, with input from people on ground, startups, large firms, and government. Many lessons were learned through this process for further study to perfect frameworks and scalable business models. Particular attention was given to critical areas for improved health, farming, cottage industries, artisan products and commercial innovation through scalable platforms and global access. Formidable challenges include: logistics, government programs, and geographical and cultural impediments.

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