sapp pp

In Bangalore, India, the cost of a Western-style

hotel room is typically US$250 to $300 per night. But

the indiOne hotel charges $20. The indiOne is modern;

every room includes an attached bathroom, an LCD

television, a wireless broadband connection, a small

refrigerator, a coffeemaker, and a work area. The common

areas include a pleasant cafeteria, an ATM, a business

center, and a small gym. The hotel, which positions

itself as the provider of “smart basics” for the intelligent

traveler, is very profitable. Its gross margins were 65 percent

in 2005, compared with 30 to 40 percent for typical

luxury hotels. And the business model is scalable.

Ten such hotels are springing up this year in India, and

another 25 are planned. (IndiOne is a subsidiary of the

Indian Hotels Company, owners of the famous Taj

group of luxury hotels in India.)

Not far away, prototypes of a multiple-fuel stove for

the rural poor are being tested by a large multinational

corporation. The potential consumers of this stove typically

use cow dung and biomass (sticks and grass) for

cooking fuels. These fuels are inefficient, and the smoke

from indoor fires can be harmful. With the “combination

chula” (chula is the Hindi word for stove), a housewife

can switch from biomass to natural gas instantly,

depending on her budget and priorities (for example,

whether she is cooking dinner for family or making tea

for an unexpected guest). The cost of the combination

chula is less than 1,000 rupees (about US$20). If it succeeds

in India, it will be rolled out across multiple geographies,

with potentially immense impact on the quality

of life of people throughout the developing world.

Innovations like these are not just technological or

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