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About High Impact Frugal
Innovations In India
Why has frugal innovation emerged as
a distinctive strength of the Indian innovation system? While
frugal innovation is not the preserve of India, and a growing
community of analysts are tracking the development of the
phenomenon worldwide, a number of factors have aligned to create
the conditions for high–impact frugal innovation in India.
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A culture of ‘jugaad’ means the
unusual skill set and mindset required for frugal innovation are
abundant
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A huge market with a growing,
aspirational middle class creates the perfect conditions for frugal
innovation
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Not only is the Indian consumer base
growing, but it is also extremely price sensitive and willing to
experiment, sustaining demand for frugal innovation
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Extreme conditions and major gaps in
service provision stimulates demand for low – cost services in
health, education and energy
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Strengths in service and business
model innovation create an advantage in creative remodelling of
product – service ecosystems
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New sources of social finance are
lowering the cost of investing in frugal innovations
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An increasingly ‘inclusive’
innovation policy is developing the institutional conditions that
could drive high – impact frugal innovations
Ref: Report On, "Our frugal future:
lessons from India’s innovation system” prepared By Kirsten Bound
and Ian Thornton and published by Nesta (
http://www.nesta.org.uk ),
an independent charity with a mission to help people and
organisations bring great ideas to life. The Report explores the
policies, institutions and industries that are driving research
and innovation in India; to measure how India’s research strengths
are developing and to map how the geography of Indian research and
innovation is changing with a view to help UK policymakers,
businesses and universities better understand the opportunities
and challenges of engaging with Indian research and innovation and
how to strengthen their efforts to collaborate.
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