In April 2010, an article in The Economist described frugal innovation as "products that are stripped down to their taking the needs of poor consumers as the starting point". What this article did was to give a name to and conceptually articulate practices and approaches that have been in evidence for many years.
For instance, efficiency, economy and elegance were attributed to the scholarly discourse of Prof David Billington, who was a proponent of structural art at Princeton University, by his colleague Prof Michael, who said that "efficiency means minimal materials, economy means minimal cost and elegance means maximum expression". This would indeed be an apt description of frugality in a technical context. However, over the years, the scope of frugal innovation has expanded, covering products. businessmodelsand services.
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of the many definitions of "frugal innovation", the one given by Soni and Krishnan (2014) perhaps describes it comprehensively: "a resource scarce solution (ie, product, service, process, or business model) that is designed and implemented despite financial, technological, material or other resource constraints, whereby the final outcome is significantly cheaper than competitive offerings (if available) and is good enough to meet the basic needs of customers who would otherwise remain un(der) served".The Covid-19 pandemic prompted the adoption of new approaches for frugal innovations optimising the use of human capital and other resources.
From managing the pandemic through lockdowns and enforcement of work from-home (WFH) modalities, adopting digital technologies for daily needs to big data analysis and decision-making and controlling one of the most serious pandemics in living memory through rapid development of diagnostics, to drugs, vaccines and medical support system also reiterated the need for collaborative and open innovation scenarios.
Most frugal innovations originate while solving local and specific problems, using available skills and resources. The roles of science, technology experience, trial and errorare extremely important, and innovators either adopt one or a combination of these approaches. A seemingly simple innovation, which is built around a known technology or an existing practice, can sometimes change or expand the whole range of its application.
For example, though many scientists contributed towards the development of integrated circuits (ICs), a set of interconnected electronic components that are integrated on a tiny chip of a semiconducting material, Jack St Clair Kilby, an electrical engineer from Texas Instruments, is credited with the development of the first hybrid IC in 1958 and its commercialisation, which revolutionised the world of electronics.From audio, radio and optical devices to communication technology, medical instruments, implants, aircraft and spaceships, ICs are recognised as one of the most significant technological developments of the twenty-first century. By bringing down the size, cost and energy consumption drastically and the manifold increase in the efficiency and precision of electronic devices, such innovations resulted in greater reach of technologies for commercial and non commercial purposes.
In most cases, drastic cost reduction is achieved by using locally available resources, including trained human power, alternative processes, or by cutting down the frills and accessories that would not affect core functionality and efficiency.China has shown the power of home grown technologies. As predicted by venture capitalist Rebecca Fannin, China has established its tech supremacy in almost every sector with the power of frugal innovations, be it Tencent's WeChat messaging services, Haier home appliances or the Alibaba merchandising platform.
At the beginning of this decade, the primary purpose of all frugal innovations was affordable functionality. Innovations aimed at the BOP consumer were made to fulfil the needs and aspirations of a large segment of people having limited resources, Such frugal innovations were promoted on the merits of "how to do more with less", and were successful too.However, with all-round technological advancements taking place and rapid transformations happening worldwide, people's aspirations kept rising. As a result, expectations from frugal innovation are also expanding. Today's BOP consumers demand "better from less", for which Radjou and Prabhu recommend six principles that promise a path towards sustainable growth.
Since such innovation is meant to be "for all", these are broadly termed as "frugal technology". Depending on the complexity of problems and intricacies of innovations, these represent different levels of innovation and are known by many different names, such as reverse/inverse technology (innovations directed to achieve an end product by working it backwards), grassroots technology (innovations made and meant for the rural community), Gandhian innovations (aversion adapted for lesser cost), nano vation (a small but vital intervention), and of course jugaad ("quick-fixing" a problem using locally available resources and technology).
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