In the drive for a fairer world, we have an — often-overlooked — asset: what 8 billion people around the world know about solving problems. Informal innovators and changemakers in the Global South are solving problems in their homes and their communities.

UNDP, via its Accelerator Labs Network, in partnership with Utrecht University (the Netherlands), the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), and MIT Sloan School of Management (USA) conducted the first in-depth study of informal innovation on the African continent spotlighting household innovators.

This joint research called “Making the Invisible Visible: Informal Innovation in South Africa” sheds light on the many informal innovators invisible to most organizations but whose knowledge could unlock progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. It uncovers the immense untapped potential of innovation of the men and women of South Africa. As the first inquiry into informal innovation using internationally comparable methods for household innovation, this research allows benchmarking across countries and helps fill a major research gap in understanding informal innovation in Africa.