Invisible innovation: Integrating innovation by the poor into inclusive innovation framework

This paper argues that innovations by the development country poor in support of themselves or their communities go often invisible, as they tend to occur in the sphere of informal economy inadequately accounted for. This "invisibility" directs academics, business, and policy makers to focus on "visible" top-down innovation models in development context, possibly overlooking an important source for social and economic empowerment. This paper reviews empirical evidence and literature on innovation processes by the poor, and develops perspectives to improve the ability of existing BOP and "inclusive" innovation frameworks and policy strategies support them.