A quick roundup of base of the pyramid news and notes, including a few new publications that have made it on my to-read list:

The UN Development Program launched a new website highlighting its Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative, which Staff Writer Grace Augustine covered here. (Full disclosure: I sit on the Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative’s advisory board, though I take no responsibility for the site's painfully long Flash intro nor the nonsense background music. Memo to UNDP web developers – simpler is better.)

Once in, you'll find that the site features case studies, some of which will be familiar to long-time BoP watchers (Pesinet returns!); others are completely new to the sector. There are 46 cases to go through, which should keep even the most hardcore case reader occupied for a while. Be sure to bookmark the site as well, since the GIM will be releasing heat maps (basically, country-specific market research on BoP consumer patterns) and a strategy matrix.

Another new web site to check out and bookmark is iBOP-Asia. Run out of the Ateneo School of Government, the site will document a three-year study on Philippine entrepreneurs'efforts to serve the less-than-$2-a-day population. NextBillion.net Staff Writer (and soon to be Ashoka employee) Al Hammond attended the project’s launch earlier this month. Interesting note: the iBOP-Asia research is being stewarded by Tony La Vina, an Ashoka Fellow, Dean of the Ateneo School and a former colleague of mine at the World Resources Institute. Small world…

This is exactly the same question that was asked by the World Bank last year and I have recently had the chance to read their subsequent report “Unleashing India’s Innovation”.

All in all it was an interesting reading with a complete analysis of the main innovation levers in the country, although sometimes I felt it was much too vague in its recommendations.

India is becoming a global innovator for high-tech products and services. However, it is well-known that the country is underperforming relative to its real innovation potential. This is quite puzzling taking into account the fact that India's stock of scientists and engineers engaged in Research & Development (R&D) is among the largest in the world.

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