This morning, I read an Economist article on innovation in emerging economies that began by talking about the Tata Nano and frugal innovation. If you’re like me, you’re probably groaning at the thought of yet another piece that cites the same old tired example of the Nano to talk about either the failure or success of Indian innovation. But don’t worry, the article wasn’t just another for/against ‘Nano as innovation’ piece, and turned out to be about the fact that, despite the failure of the Nano (touted as the harbinger of Indian innovation to the global marketplace), frugal innovation is still here to stay.

The article, published in the ‘Schumpeter’ column of the Economist, talks about how “Multinationals are beginning to take ideas developed in (and for) the emerging world and deploy them in the West.” He takes several examples, including an infotainment system for cars called ‘Saras’, GE’s new portable ultrasound device, and Mahindra’s small tractors, to talk about how cost-effective, frugal solutions developed in places like India are being exported to and imbibed by large western corporations. All these examples, however, focus specifically on the Schumpeterian view of innovation, concentrated on business and technology innovation. However, as a comment from one of the readers stated, this definition of frugal innovation is too narrow. The reader, Yasser Bhatti, a doctorate student at the Said Business School at Oxford University, whose research is focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging economies, proposes an alternate view: Continue reading →