Frugal innovation and digital platforms

This chapter focuses on one of the central concepts in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4th IR) - digital platforms - and its aim is twofold. First, the authors have used an extensive desktop research strategy to explore how digital platforms are used by top-down and bottom-up frugal innovators. The results show that retail platforms are used to trade frugal products and spare parts. Social media platforms offer videos and posts to increase awareness regarding frugal innovations. Funding platforms are important to bottom-up frugal innovators in search of funding for their innovation processes and avenues for bringing innovations to the market. The main finding on innovation platforms is that while these are primarily geared towards high-end innovations, they also contain examples of firms searching for frugal innovators as external partners, and of humanitarian aid agencies and MNEs to find frugal innovators partners to address ‘grand challenges’. Secondly, we identify follow-up research themes on frugal innovations and digital platforms, and launch a broader research agenda on frugal innovation in the era of the 4th IR.