Recently, I’ve been fascinated by the concept of leapfrogging. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
In recent years, however, an alternative theory of “leapfrog” development has been growing in popularity as the development community has searched for new ways to leverage technological progress to drive growth and help emerging economies avoid the so-called “middle-income trap.”
Leapfrogging occurs when a nation bypasses traditional stages of development to either jump directly to the latest technologies (stage-skipping) or explore an alternative path of technological development involving emerging technologies with new benefits and new opportunities (path-creating).
The best example of leapfrogging is “the mobile revolution, which put phones in the hands of millions of people while allowing developing nations to skip directly to mobile phones without the need to invest in landline infrastructure.”
What’s fascinating, however, is that leapfrogging often allows countries to create innovations that even wealthy nations haven’t arrived at. What can we learn from India in this realm?
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Ajay Bulusu had a great post on LinkedIn about some of the learnings that people could achieve from leapfrogging.
As he describes after 3 months of living in India there are 6:
Cheaper food delivery with a broader range of options
Discounts to incentivize purchasers
Subscription dining to pay for meals rather than dishes
Rise of cashless payments for smoother checkout
Incentives to continue purchasing
Wide adoption of online payment platforms.
These values are not limited to one country or another, but in fact can be applied across broader regions. Many of these same food delivery trends can be seen in southeast Asia, China, and even in the Middle East. Perhaps the best learning for wealthier nations is the fact that services for basic needs can always be optimized.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)