[MUSIC] We are here today to learn about what subsistence marketplaces are, and the role that rapid prototyping tools such as 3D printers have in that particular marketplace. And we are fortunate to have with us Professor Madhu Viswanathan, who's been at Illinois for over 20 years now. And he leads several initiatives at the college, and one of the most important ones, being the subsistent marketplaces initiative. His research area is two fold, so one is in terms of research methodology, and then he focuses a lot of his time on subsistent marketplaces places that's wrong. His bio is about two pages long, so we'll add some resources to this video to give you a background on his expertise. But we're going to focus on and have him share thoughts on how his work in marketplaces where he's working with low income and low literacy users to teach them how to be smarter consumers. And perhaps also look at becoming producers. And we'll get his thoughts on how 3D printing plays a role in his initiative. So, thank you professor for being with us, it's a pleasure to have you and share your thoughts. Tell us about your background. >> Thank you I'm really honored to be here, I think this is a great learning experience your putting together. And I really appreciate the work that you have done in terms of bringing 3D printing and the make a lab into the colleges, as well. I've been here forever, and almost two decades ago, I started thinking about looking at low-income, low electric consumers. Who are really not the focus often in business school research. They tend to lie across resource and literacy barriers. And I started some of my work right here in the US, but slowly moved to India, and now to several other countries as well. We call our stream the subsistence market places approach because we take a part of them approach. We want to get and the need macro and mid level approach is to try to understand how people live, what their life circumstances are, how they engage as consumers, as entrepreneurs, and so on. We want to understand how they think, how they relate, how they make, all of those different things. So, that's where we started. And the 3D printing has been a very central part, particularly in recent times. Our social enterprise is organized around the notion of marketplace literacy. So, if somebody has low income, in order to participate in the marketplace, you now they need a number of things. They need financial resources. They need access to marketplaces to buy and to sell. And finally, they need this third thing that I call Marketplace Literacy. Which is skills, self confidence, and awareness of rights. And as we started looking into this, we realized that there are programs that teach people what to buy or what to sell. Such as a specific livelihood, but there are very few programs that focus on how and almost no program, perhaps no program I knew of, that focuses on why that is giving people a deeper understanding of the marketplace. So, that's part of what we've been doing elsewhere, and we have deployed it widely through a teacherless multimedia approach and so on. And then I got the opportunity to work with you right here in the state of Illinois. And we started this program where we decided to combine marketplace literacy with macro literacy. For me, that piece is really important because it is a wonderful pedagogical tool. To teach marketplace literacy, as well as macro literacy, as you know, when we have a 3D printer in our class, and we make a comb, or we make some other product. Maybe it is something personalized, maybe it is a visiting card holder and so on. We are able to essentially concretize what we want to show our students. One of our slogans has always been to concretize, localize, and socialize our education. That's how we try to get across to a low literate, low income people. So by socialize, I mean leverage the social relations that every human being is correct. They don't need an education in order to be good at relating to other human beings. In fact, in many ways, they are better than us, I would argue. Concretize really make it come to live in front of them, and localizers use local examples. So, we would produce something like this in our pilot classes. And what we would do is we would essentially have people say where you buy this comb, and what are you looking for in it? What are you giving up, what are you getting? Compare it to the ultimate test. So, they're able to bring out the consumer skills aspect, and they're able to bring out this concept of value, when we make something right in front of them. And the next thing they'll say is, okay, now you make something. And this is, of course, a curriculum that's evolved by working with you. And we try to get them to make something. And right away, it's very intuitive to them that what can be made here can be personalized. It can be customized and so on. And so, they come up with some wonderful ideas, whether it's number plates that are personalized for an automobile, or it's something where you want to make replicas of things you want to remember. And so on. And then we say, okay, now you made this build the business around it. And so, we're able to really connect the make little see in the 3D printing to entrepreneurial literacy. And that, to me, is just amazing. I cannot think of a better hook, I cannot think of a better pedagogical tool. So currently, as you know, you work very hard to just we have a marketplace maker space in Southern Illinois. We have activity in Chicago as well, and we now are using 3D printing and a 3D printer and so on in Argentina, with our programs as well. So slowly, we would like to use this as a method even in a remote area, perhaps in Tanzania with the tribal community. We would like to use it in rural parts of India and so on. We feel it's a power pedagogical tool. Along the way, we have not only created a curriculum for marketplace literacy, but I think we have also created a curriculum for macro literacy. So, how do we go about that? Very bottom up. So, we say, what do you make at home? Could be a cup of tea and so on. What goes into it, what do you get out of it? Well then, let's look at something that is produced in a factory, how do you make that? And then we come to 3D printing and say, well, now you can make something yourself. One other thing I would say with is it's really the low income, low literate settings that we're working, whether it's a unique key for 3D printing. Why? They don't have access to markets, and very often, they need to make one or two of something. >> Yeah. >> And so, I really think there's a tremendous potential. I think we are just scratching the surface right now. >> And of course, 3D printers are a little bit expensive. So, do you really see that this can have impact? In low income, where people can't afford these, how do you think this will grow in that particular market? >> That's a very good question, I guess in a couple of ways, one, it's a great educational tool, as we discussed, it's a great hope to get young people involved in technology. And it could even be a doorway to them saying, I'm going to learn more about digital technology. >> Okay. >> And so on. And there's so much talent often caught in the system that it's just not letting them come out of it. In many ways around the world. And I think, today, with this kind of technology, it would be very empowering. So, that's one side of it, the educational side. The other side perhaps is more of a service model, where there is an entrepreneur who essentially runs a lab perhaps, and allows people to do small scale manufacturing for themselves and so on. That could be another model, where it's like a kiosk model perhaps. And that way, I think people can get access, they can get guidance. But I can tell you you've interacted with some of these people as well. The self-help groups of them and the excitement, the determination saying we will work on it if you show us. That you see across the world from the low income people. I wish that we could make it work on a grander scale soon. Certainly, we have to be patient, and I think it's working in a few places now, and we've tried to grow that. But I would certainly say that I saw this model. Servisication of something like this makes a lot of sense. It's a little bit like, even in places where there's one person with a smart phone or a diagnostic device. If that person could essentially be the entrepreneur who was able to empower others, that may be a way to go. >> Given that the cost of these printers are coming down, and if kits are available, the price point gets much lower. And you can have this one entrepreneur setting up a kiosk. And then providing service to a village or two or three villages. So, I think in terms of price, it's always going to come down. So, that might help as well. >> Yeah, and I just want to make a plug for our online courses as well. I think as you rightly pointed out, what you're doing here is you're giving them deep, technical know-how about the forward looking technology, but when you combine it with some of our other courses that will be offered, or are offered from the University of Illinois, it will be very good for our learners around the world to look at how they can build a business around it. >> Absolutely. >> In my case, with the subsistence marketplaces course, it's divided into understanding and designing solutions. And there is even a piece on market place literacy. And as I was listening to you already, I was thinking, how do I bring in this example so that it enriches the course, and then feeds off and then leads to your course as well? So, I think you're providing a very nice, technical knowledge that will go very well with our business courses. The wonderful thing about this is there is actually the potential for access for the entire value chain, digital making. So, in many ways, it's the making piece that could become accessible, but it's also the distributing piece that can be accessible in the Internet. But there are different ways in which you can sell these products. It's also got other uses, for example, it may be a way the I prototype something. And then I find a different way to manufacture the share and so on. And so, this is where in marketplace literacy and macro literacy, we like to post it as, here's the technology, you have access to this lab, hypothetically. Now, start think about a business idea, think about an idea, think about a product, make it, and then build a business around it. I mean, that should be a very good exercise. And we are finding some success with people learning and getting a lot out of it. >> Could you share maybe one nice example that you've seen in the field labs that you've set up? >> I think one of the best examples are the ones where people were thinking of personalized number plates, but I'm really stunned by the ideas that people come up with. And they're very talented, but they intuitively get it. The moment they see the 3D printer, they get it that it has to have that personalized compliment. One of the things we'll challenge them on is why can't somebody else make it? Why can't I go buy it in a large store, and so on, and they'll bring in the personalized part. Then they'll start thinking, well, if it's the personalized part, how do I interact with the customer to get the dimensions? One of my favorites is certainly making replicas of things you want to remember. And I was thinking about, even for some of us, remember the Tooth Fairy story. We would collect teeth, right, for our children, and so on. And so, there are so many of those things where making replicas and giving it to grandparents. That was an idea that came. I didn't think of where that came from the class. There have been many other ideas, usually, it's personalized item like a jewel box and so on. And then that gets students thinking, well, it can't be manufactured large scale. Well, if it can't be, why? What's the value you're adding? Well, the value I'm adding is I know the customer. That doesn't mean I have to know the customer only locally. I can create this through the Internet, so that I know the customer and whatever. A skill, but I need to provide that personalization. So, that is one piece. The second piece of it does not only can I create that, now I can distribute it as well, I can deliver that value because of the Internet. So, it's really digital in the entire value chain. And it's wonderful that you are touching on it, and our specialization on marketing in the digital world is very much touching on it as well. >> Yeah. Well, thank you for taking the time. It was a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you very much I'm very excited with the things that you're leading. And this is a great time to be at Illinois, and it's a great time to reach out to learners around the world. Every time I see somebody now, may be somebody on a plane or it may be somebody, a tribal community, I think that they are our students too, and it's wonderful to see us reach out to the world. Thank you. >> Well, thank you for joining us for this video. We look forward to chatting with you again. >> Thank you very much. [MUSIC]
