Sri Lanka, May 1 -- There are productive universities that don't have a structure, have no organised faculty or are recognised in any ranking system. These have no massive endowments backed by wealthy entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and no huge reputations that attract students.

But these hubs of innovation are all over the place. Sometimes they struggle to survive, but contribute more to research and development processes than the most heavily-funded universities with instant name recognition.

Grassroots innovations may have been far more transformative in the history of invention, than organised and funded research. But grassroots researchers who are ordinary people coming up with innovations mostly out of necessity, are scoffed at...