I take pleasure in introducing three gentlemen who exemplify the spirit of innovation in rural India. These innovators demonstrated their ideas at the Rural Innovators event at Engineer 2007 - the national level symposium of NITK Surathkal.

Annasaheb Udgavi is a farmer from Sadalga village in Karnataka. Aged 80, he hasn't received any formal education and yet has a good grasp of basic science and engineering. He is highly enthusiastic and enjoys helping solve people's problems through his ideas. His Chandraprabha Water Gun (Rain gun) is an innovative sprinkler, which washes away white flies and Aphids from the tobacco plant. The sprinkler system is also useful in irrigating sugarcane.

Narasimha Bhandari, has only passed the SSLC exam (equivalent of X grade) and has worked in a hardware shop for several years. He now owns a small engineering outfit. His innovations include an areca nut dehusking machine, a tiller generator and an innovative wheel barrow for farmers. The innovator's automatic areca nut dehusking machine is four times as efficient as proficient labor.

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Discussions of base of the pyramid (BOP) markets have, until now, relied principally on business case studies and rough estimates of market size. On Monday, March 19, WRI and the NextBillion.net team (in conjunction with the IFC) will launch our publication, The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid. "The Next 4 Billion" uses household survey data to measure the empirical size and scope of BOP markets.

The launch event by invitation only and will include remarks from BOP experts including:

• C.K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
• Nariman Behravesh, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, Global Insight, Inc.
• Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute
• Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development and IFC Chief Economist
  

The event is by invitation only; all NextBillion.net readers are invited and encouraged to attend.  Details on the event can be found on the WRI web site.  Please contact us for invitation information.

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