The world needs a humanist vision

In this note I'll tackle the question of innovations in developing countries through an amazing and commendable initiative. It is the story of a former professor of physics at Oxford University, Joshua Silver, who has understood that the populations of developing countries get the same physiological needs than that of developed countries only with a different approach. The sight of people in the developing world decreases as fast as the sight of those who live in developed countries. Living in a developed country, I know how it takes time and costs money to get glasses. I also know both optometrists and opticians are the main interlocutors who take care of this need. The issue developing countries face is that there is not enough opticians because of economical purposes. Joshua Silver resolved this problem by thinking differently. He found a new approach based on a "tremendous glimpse of the obvious" as he called it: optometrists and opticians aren't necessary to provide glasses. For this, he designed adaptive eyeglasses which allows wearers to adjust them like they need!

The innovation is contained in the lenses which are fluid-filled and membrane-like. Wearers change the volume of fluid by figuring out with two syringes placed on each side of the spectacles which shapes the lenses. In this way, wearers modify the focus of the lenses for a better sight. After they are fixed accordingly, the membranes are sealed by twisting small screws and the syringes are removed. It is so simple that everybody can wear them after a short training. What will this basic invention change in the life of several thousands of people? All! For example, Silver met a 35 year old man who has worked as a tailor but who had to retire due to his deteriorated sight. Thanks to these glasses, he can work for the next 20 years. Finally, it’s a population who can live again.

In this project the core problem refers to the way the glasses can be sold. As a test, 30,000 pairs of spectacles have already been distributed in 15 countries. Silver plans to distribute one million of these pairs in India this year and 100 million pairs annually within a few years. It represents a huge market but not easy to reach. Currently, the glasses are being distributed by an NGO. By enrolling governments who are involved and the UN, it is the main model to adopt and it already worked. As an example, Procter & Gamble designed PUR a water purification solution. Despite of the 3 million people dying of sickness generated by a lack of drinking water there was nobody to buy PUR packets. So, P&G decided to sell them to NGO at the cost price (0,04$ for a packet). In 2006, 57 million had been sold in comparison to the 3 million with the commercial approach. P&G gives value to this market, integrating it in its Corporate Social Responsibility practices.

In any case, Silver isn’t taking any profit yet and I don’t think he will in the future. Like Joshua Silver and Muhammad Yunus, the world needs more visionaries who come up with new products suitable for developing countries which would make the world more conscious of life outside of their own.