Leveraging Indigenous Knowledge to Foster Developmental Entrepreneurship

Khanjan Mehta, Audrey Maretzki, Greg ZieglerThe Pennsylvania State University

Roadmap

• Introductions• What is Indigenous Knowledge?• Indigenous Knowledge & Entrepreneurship• Synergy between Indigenous & Academic

Knowledge: A social venture in Ethiopia• AcademIK Connections Video series

Intro: HESE @ Penn StateTeaching

• 13-credit ECE Certificate

• Fall semester:• Sensor and Controller System

Integration• Social Entrepreneurship

• Spring semester:• Projects in Community

Service Engineering• Design for Developing

Communities

Research• IJSLE: HESE

• eplum Assessment• Systems Thinking• Cultural Anthropology• Social networks, trust

and cellphones• Indigenous Knowledge

Systems and Sticky Info• Design Space Exploration• Changing the

Conversation• Global Jugaad Commons

Engagement• Mashavu• WishVast• Essential Design• iSPACES• HESE - India

• Invention 2 Venture Conference

• Milking the Rhino: ISS• Kochia Chronicles• AcademIK Connections• *K-12(Center for

Science in the Schools)

ICIK @ Penn State

• ICIK is the only global indigenous knowledge resource center in the US

• • INreach + OUTreach

• Four significant barriers to the use of indigenous knowledge by academics: – Geography– Rank– Discipline– Lack of Peer Support

Indigenous Knowledge

…is the accumulated experience, wisdom and know-how of a local environment that has been developed over many generations through careful observation, listening, experimentation and adaptation

Indigenous Knowledge

…is held by communities rather than individuals, and is embedded in community practices, rituals and relationships

Indigenous Knowledge

…is not frozen in time

Indigenous Knowledge

…is unique to a culture and based on the culture’s philosophic and cognitive system

Indigenous Knowledge

…is the basis for decision making pertaining to governance, food security, human and animal health, childhood development and education and natural resource management

Two little boys and their porridge

Indigenous Knowledge + Entrepreneurship

Farming Techniques

Fishing

Medicine

Honey as an antiseptic

Sticky Information

Info embodied in the people, places, structures

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Injera – the bread of Ethiopia

Greg ZieglerDepartment of Food Science341 Food Science Building

grz1@psu.edu

Geography

People/Culture

Injera

T’eff (Eragrostis tef (Zucc) Trotter)endemic, smallest cultivated grain, drought resistant.

Making Injera

Mix

Teff flour Water

Irsho

IrshoFerment 30-72 h @ RT 10% of fermented paste

Boil 2-5 min. (absit) 3X WaterFerment 1-2 h

Bake* 3-4 min. 1 side

*425-450ºF, 218-232ºC

Why remove the irsho, as it takes away a significant amount of protein and vitamins?

While protein content decreases and the profile of essential amino acids appears to worsen, the overall protein digestibility may be improved by the removal of antinutritional factors such as polyphenols and phytates.

Related projects

• Establish an entrepreneurial injera business in Ethiopia (currently using student teams).– Design of an injera making machine– Scale up and optimize fermentation process for

productivity and nutritional quality– Reformulate injera for cost and nutritional quality

• FD SC 497Z, Food Product and Process Design for African Markets

Bringing IK into the Classroom

www.youtube.com/hesepsu

AcademIK Connections 2.0

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Global Jugaad CommonsCross-pollinating concepts across cultures