By Prem Chand Yadava and Peter Knorringa
Introduction
Innovation is often linked to advancements in technology or institutional efforts. However, during times of crisis, a different origin of innovation emerges, rooted in community practices, collective action, and everyday resourcefulness. The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example of this phenomenon. During this unprecedented time of crisis, when formal systems struggled to respond to challenges, ordinary people stepped forward, not merely as consumers but as active contributors to societal well-being.
Such individuals are commonly referred to as prosumers. These prosumers' actions were significant during the COVID-19 pandemic in addressing society's urgent needs by producing and distributing resources and services. Their actions exemplified the principles of frugality, making the most of limited resources while prioritizing collective well-being. In doing so, prosumers contributed to the bottom-up legitimization of innovation. This phenomenon reflects the acceptance of new solutions that emerge from community endorsement rather than solely from institutional approval.
Prosumers in Action During the COVID-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic was marked by high levels of uncertainty, anxiety, and disruption of existing systems. The government imposed strict restrictions on movements that made daily life difficult, and people struggled to access essential services. In response, prosumers mobilised through digital platforms and local networks to support their communities in need.
These ordinary people shared and checked important information about hospital beds, oxygen, and medicines. They helped arrange food and other essential supplies, made masks and sanitizers, raised money, and connected people who needed help with those who could provide it. Many also offered emotional assistance through online talks and support groups. These activities demonstrate how innovation can emerge from collective ingenuity and frugal practices, where communities creatively utilise available resources to address pressing societal challenges.
Decision-Making Under Extreme Uncertainty: The Role of Heuristics
During crises, people face heightened uncertainty as anxiety and fear increase. In such situations, individuals rely on mental shortcuts, or heuristics, to make decisions quickly and efficiently. Rather than evaluating every piece of information in detail, prosumers assessed credibility and trust based on cues embedded within their social environments. For example, people who regularly shared correct and useful information started to be seen as trusted voices or informal experts. Others began to rely on their advice. In the same way, information coming from friends, family, or people from the same community was trusted more than messages from unknown or distant sources. When many people in the community supported or used a solution, it increased trust even more, as it showed that the solution was useful and reliable. These heuristic processes enabled prosumers to act decisively and coordinate collective responses, facilitating the rapid diffusion and acceptance of innovative practices during the pandemic.
Bottom-Up Legitimization of Innovation
The experiences of prosumers during the COVID-19 crisis highlight a significant shift in how innovations gain legitimacy. Traditionally, legitimacy has been associated with top-down mechanisms, such as government regulations, professional certifications, or corporate endorsements. While these mechanisms remain important, the pandemic demonstrated the growing significance – at least temporarily - of bottom-up legitimization, by ordinary people. Prosumers significantly contributed to this process by endorsing solutions through their use and experience, building trust within communities, and facilitating collective diffusion.
The main motivation of prosumers was to offer assistance during the crisis that enhanced perception of authenticity and credibility among community members. This is important to highlight as bottom-up legitimization does not replace top-down strategies; rather, it complements and interacts with them, reinforcing or, at times, challenging institutional narratives, particularly under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
Frugality as a Foundation for Community Innovation
The activities of prosumers also embody broader cultural and philosophical perspectives on frugality, a central theme of the Roots of Innovation blog series. Frugality extends beyond affordability, and also encompasses resourcefulness, solidarity, and forms of more sustainable living. During the pandemic, communities demonstrated how limited resources could be mobilized creatively to generate meaningful social impact, which demonstrates the significant way of offering solutions through frugal means during the crisis.
In this way, prosumers demonstrated how grounded and practical innovations can work in real life when mobilizing the limited available resources, applying local knowledges, and helping each other. Their actions highlight that innovation is not solely the domain of technological advancement but can also be deeply embedded in social relationships and cultural values that prioritize collective well-being.
Rethinking Innovation in a Post-Pandemic World
The prosumer activities during the crisis make us rethink how we understand entrepreneurship and innovation. Acceptance of new solutions is shaped not only by their affordability or functionality but also by the social processes through which communities endorse and legitimize them. Prosumer practices reflect that innovations becomes successful when they match people’s real needs, their values, and the trust they have in their communities. Recognizing the role of prosumers encourages policymakers, entrepreneurs, and organizations to engage more meaningfully with communities.
Overall, this shows that when we support local, community-led efforts that involve participatory practices, innovations can become more sustainable and benefit a wider range of people.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the roots of innovation often lie in the everyday practices of ordinary people. Prosumers, through their collective action and use of heuristics, played an important role in legitimizing innovative solutions from the ground up during the pandemic. Their efforts show that trust, authenticity, and community endorsement are key to the acceptance of innovation in a situation of extreme uncertainty.
As we rethink entrepreneurship in a post-pandemic world, the acceptance of innovation will not depend only on affordability or functionality, but also on how communities of prosumers endorse, adapt, promote, and legitimize it from the ground up. Bottom-up legitimization, grounded in frugality and collective well-being, complements institutional efforts and underscores the importance of viewing innovation as a shared societal endeavor.
About the Authors
Prem Chand Yadava is a science, technology and policy scholar. His work examines how innovation emerges from everyday practices, particularly in contexts marked by crisis, uncertainty and resource constraints. Combining insights from media studies and innovation scholarship, he is interested in the ways communities adapt, improvise, and create meaningful solutions during the times of crisis. He holds a PhD from Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His research interests include prosumers, heuristics, digital cultures, platformization, and frugal innovation.
Peter Knorringa is Professor of Private Sector & Development at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Director of the International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI). His research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship and small businesses, with a particular emphasis on frugal innovation - cost-effective, accessible solutions that create impact for resource-constrained communities. He combines academic insight with international practice, exploring value chains, networks, social capital, and governance in diverse global contexts, while fostering collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners