Frugal innovation beyond emerging countries: the key role of developed countries

Resumen

Frugal innovation is no longer relevant only for emerging countries or for low-tech artifacts. The interest of countries developed by frugal innovation has been increasing in recent years, since it is an alternative of less use of natural and financial resources, however, it is not clear which is the role of developed countries in the advancement of frugal innovation. In this article, we examine the literature, technical reports and patents to propose some possible paths. Through qualitative methods such as semantic analysis, we argue that research for the modification of the technological matrix of products, processes and organizational arrangements and the development of a better understanding of the frugal entrepreneur may be key roles for developed countries to contribute to the development of frugal innovation.