Frugal innovation

About: Frugal innovation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 472 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9290 citations.

A Framework for the Improvement of Frugal Design Practices

Abstract: Current frugal design practice is focused on the cost reduction of the product. Despite advancements in the domain of frugal Innovation, it is not systematized to develop products for all sets of users, including marginalized society. Many design researchers and engineers now dedicate time and knowledge to producing practical solutions to enhance the quality of life of the marginal community. The approach currently being adopted restricts the development of products intended for all segments of the users. In this paper, cumulative frequency distribution analysis and the Relative Importance Index is used to identify the essential attributes, which contribute to delivering actual frugal products in terms of functionality, usability, performance, affordability, accessibility, aesthetics, and robustness. The framework is beneficial to eradicate the discriminatory effect of being labeled as “Jugaad” users.

Innovating for the Bottom of the Pyramid: Case Studies in Healthcare from India

Abstract: The much vaunted fortune at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) has proven hard to reach. This is because realizing the opportunities provided by the BoP market faces several challenges, ranging from affordability to a lack of human and physical infrastructure. This paper argues that overcoming these challenges to achieve “frugal innovation” requires design strategies which deploy new technologies and organizational approaches. To substantiate its argument, the paper presents case studies of four firms and their innovations in the health care domain. All the cases are from India, which has emerged an ideal location for developing products and services for the BoP market. India not only has the skills to propose new technological solutions, but also a market characterized by socioeconomic diversity to demand various organizational approaches. Two cases focus on diagnostic devices and products: one is a portable ophthalmic imaging device to reduce preventable blindness, while the other is a baby warmer to lower infant mortality by preventing hypothermia. The other two cases focus on health care delivery: one relies on telemedicine while the other relies on mobile telephony to provide access for hard-to-reach populations. All four cases describe the circumstances surrounding the design, development, and deployment of the products and services. The paper will point to the challenges the firms faced, even as they successfully designed for the BoP context. For diagnostic devices, the challenge of positioning a new offering in the diagnostic devices ecosystem, especially in terms of quality and cost, figures prominently. For service delivery, the challenge is to negotiate and manage the balance between the technological and human elements in servicing those needing care. Each case provides insight into the factors responsible for the sustainable deployment of these innovations, thus enabling a degree of extrapolation of lessons.

Have You Ever Seen the Void? Interest Groups Concerns Toward the Weakening Representational Role of Political Parties in European Countries

Abstract: 1. Product Innovation: Some Theoretical ConsiderationsInnovation seems to be a hot topic today, in all fields of activity. Product innovation, in particular, is considered to be a necessity on the highly competitive developed markets and for emerging markets offering tremendous growth opportunities alike.Extant literature on product innovation reveals a plethora of definitions. OECD defines the concept as 'A good or service that is new or significantly improved; this includes significant improvements in technical specifications, components and materials, software in the product, user friendliness or other functional characteristics'1.Several researchers even claim that this resulted in an ambiguity in the way terms were operationalized and utilized in the new product development literature (Garcia and Calantone, 2002). Early references to product innovativeness were made by Davidson (1976), Marquis (1969), Rothwell (1976). Although sometimes used interchangeably with 'product innovation', the term product innovativeness is most often used to measure the degree of newness of an innovation.The 'innovation' process represents the technological development of a product, plus the market introduction of the respective product. Henderson and Clark (1990) distinguished between four types of technological innovation: incremental innovation, modular innovation, radical innovation, and architectural innovation. They go further into the investigation product architectural innovation, whose essence is the reconfiguration of an established system to link together existing components in a new way. The research conducted by Lee and Na (1994) explored technical innovativeness, considering the radicalness of technical innovativeness as a contingency variable.Of course, not all product innovations prove successful. Often, researchers evoke famous product failures to show that marketing product innovations could be a lottery game: sometimes you win, other times you lose. Cooper (1979) conducted an extensive investigation of success and failure factors for industrial new products. He identified 3 factors that described the innovativeness of the venture: newness to the firm ("A project which takes the firm into new markets, new technologies etc."), product uniqueness ("A product which is truly unique; firm is first into the market with type of product"), and product uniqueness / superiority ("A product which has significant improvements over previous products making it unique and superior") (p. 98). Kleinschmidt and Cooper (1991) demonstrated that the relationship between product innovativeness and commercial success is U-shaped, meaning that both high and low innovativeness products are more likely to be more successful than those in-between.An extensive research on product innovativeness from the firm's perspective was conducted by Danneels et al. (1998). They tried to clarify the product innovativeness construct and examine its underlying dimensions; to examine the relation of product innovativeness with the decision to pursue or kill the project; and to examine the relationship between product innovativeness and product performance. The following five dimensions of product innovativeness were found to influence the decision to market the product and product performance: market familiarity, technological familiarity, marketing fit, technological fit, and new marketing activities.2. Emerging Markets' Challenges for Product InnovationOne may think that innovation flows in one direction, from the developed world into developing or emerging markets. This is also argued by the latest Innovation Union Scoreboard (EC, 2014) that presents the situation within the European Union. According to it, European countries fall into one of four categories with respect to innovation: innovation leaders (e.g. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland), innovation followers (e.g. Luxembourg, The Netherlands, UK), moderate innovators (e. …

Inovação a partir das informações de patentes: proposição de modelo Open Source de Extração de Informações de Patentes ( Patent Crawler ) Innovation from the patent information: proposition model Open Source Patent Information Extraction ( Crawler )

Abstract: This theoretical and empirical, quantitative and qualitative aims to propose the Patent Crawler model, from the extraction and use of patent information for use in innovation, considering the reverse reasoning to the protection of the invention, however, without reproach legal aspects of industrial property. Through propositions obtained in bibliographic research and action research, we noted the potential increase in absorptive capacity using the patenting information, both for product development, and to processes where you want to innovate, including frugal innovation.