{"id":556,"date":"2019-11-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gac.idexlab.com\/blog\/frugal-innovation\/"},"modified":"2025-04-08T09:20:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T09:20:53","slug":"frugal-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gac.idexlab.com\/?p=556","title":{"rendered":"Frugal Innovation: Definition and Practical Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

India invented the \u201cJugaad\u201d or “Frugal Innovation”<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Frugal Innovation: Meet Sam Pitroda<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Jugaad was popularized by Sam Pitroda, founder of C-DOT, who has developed and popularized telecommunications in India. Frugal innovation can be defined as \u201cthe commercialization, in the context of limited resources, of quality products and services that are affordable to the masses.\u201d This has been the principle applied by Sam Pitroda when developing the famous network of tens of millions of token-phones in the country. Nowadays, as leader of the National Innovation Council, he dedicates himself to making India the country of innovation by 2030. Get to know him with this interview from Euronews<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visionary? Maybe, but in any case his concept of frugal innovation had a great echo in developing countries as well as in developed countries facing a financial crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Indian ambition and worldwide opportunity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sam Pitroda\u2019s vision of frugal innovation is societal and it aims at reducing poverty, producing accessible innovations for the most impoverished and allowing the improvement their condition. He resumes it by  saying that \u201cthe great brains work too much on solving the problems of the rich\u201d and at the same time on designing new products that feed the overconsumption of rich countries. He preaches the development of innovative frugal projects with social impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opportunity perceived in developed countries is a little bit different. It\u2019s generally accepted that the ever increasing investments that are necessary to innovate are no longer sustainable. This happens particularly in a period of economical stagnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To sum up, three complaints are made regarding the structure of the Western innovation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too expensive<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Innovative companies spend colossal amounts (600 billions in 2011) in their R&D and innovation process, and those amounts increase mechanically as the processes become more complex and as the technologies are miniaturizing. And yet, the results are not always there, particularly when the need is badly understood or it\u2019s overrun by an innovation cycle that takes too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too \u201cprecluding\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

innovation rests upon a limited population (engineers, researchers) and aims at a reduced audience (limited high range markets). Whereas innovation could be inspired by a much larger population: employees, clients, suppliers and it could also aim at the \u201cnon-clients\u201d beyond the original target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too slow…<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

…because it relies on complex and restrictive processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the innovation process has to develop in three directions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n