Panorama archive · Education
World Inventor’s Day
Originally published
For most people born in the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond, it is a difficult feat to imagine the world without the comfort and development it has experienced due to the transformative inventions that a few humans have contributed. The list of contributions of inventions spans a wide array from health improvements and life-expectancy increase due to modern medicine, and communication technology which has made it possible for us to have access to a wealth of information that would be at our disposal whenever we feel the need to. Contrary to popular belief, inventors and invention do not sprout into existence out of thin air, but are rather the product of a complex interaction of various factors and players. Understanding this process and the interaction among the various players and factors it is composed of will help make it more efficient and will provide the necessary impetus that will ensure its continuance.
First, creating an environment in which students are encouraged to develop a sense of curiosity about the world and pursue the interests they happen to have contributes to the invention process. This can be done by designing an education system that encourages independent and creative thinking and does not take a teacher-centric approach to the learning process. The importance of this grows as students progress from one academic stage to the next. Educational philosophies such as Perrenialism, which prescribes teaching students how to reason through structured lessons and drills, and Essentialism, which emphasizes the teaching of certain intellectual and moral standards that are thought to produce valuable members of society, should gradually make way for others such as Progressivism and Reconstructionism which stress the importance of learning through experience, treat the learner as a problem solver and highlight the importance of social reform as a means of progress.
Second, future innovators need support to help transform their ideas into projects that can be carried to fruition to produce benefits for them and society in general. The main form of required support is financial and educational. Many people are held back from pursuing interesting ideas they have by financial constraints. Whether it be the cost associated with planning and designing a project they might have in mind or the opportunity cost they would have to incur due to having to devote their time and energy to something that might not be monetarily expedient. Fortunately, there are many sources that are capable of providing the needed help. These include, but are not limited to, the governments of many countries, private foundations, and Non-governmental organizations. But there are still many areas around the world that until recently have proven to be impervious to help due to lack of access to education and financial resources. This has been changing, however, with the rising role of transnational non-governmental organizations that are filling in the void left by resource-strapped governments in these countries. An example of this is the TakingItGlobal’s Sprout E-course which provides educational help to social innovators by taking them through a step-by-step process that facilitates the execution of their projects at no cost.
Third, governments and international organizations should cooperate in enacting laws and policies that provide innovators, especially in the field of public health, with the deserved financial reward that they have earned while ensuring that members of global society get to benefit from these new inventions. A case in point is the outcry over the exclusion of large swaths of South African society form access to anti-retroviral drugs that are used for treatment of HIV. This has been caused by excessive patenting that had resulted in a prohibitively high cost of 4000 $ US for second-line drugs. In the end, the South African government acquiesced to the demands of activists by making changes to its patenting laws the resulted in a gradual easing of the crisis. In this case the government deemed it necessary to push the balance point toward the societal end of the spectrum.
To conclude, supporting innovation around the world entails the fostering of open learning spaces where progressive education philosophies are used, the provision of financial and educational support for those who need it for their ideas to materialize into something tangible; and the enactment of laws that ensure societies benefit from innovations. After all, the impact of inventions on society is what makes them enduring.
[1] http://www.irinnews.org/report/94272/south-africa-...