Workshops

What is frugal engineering, how does it lead to the creation of advanced frugal innovations, and what role do society and systemic actors play in their development? The workshop Frugal Engineering of Advanced Frugal Innovations addressed these issues. On February 9, presentations and discussions were heard with about 30 representatives of well-known Indo-German companies at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Among the main contributions were the presentations of Prof. Balkrishna Rao who spoke on Advanced Frugal Innovations and Frugal Engineering, and Julian Barnikol on Systemic Conditions for Advanced Frugal Innovations. As a result, participants were left with a clearer understanding of the development, necessary conditions and potentials of and for Advanced Frugal Innovations.



We would like to thank the Indian Institute of Technology Madras for their hospitality and the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce for their support in advance. We thank for the participation and the constructive discussion.

The first workshop on Advanced Frugal Innovation was held in Hannover from 28.09. to 29.09.2022 and was hosted by Prof. Ingo Liefner and ICCR Chair for Indian Studies Prof. Balkrishna Rao. The workshop took place in the premises of the Werkhof near Schneiderberg. Internationally leading scientists in the field of Frugal Innovation from Germany and the Netherlands, and representatives from the Faculties of Economic Geography, Mechanical and Civil Engineering, and Geodesy at LUH discussed the status and future of the research field. 

Different perspectives and new findings on Advanced Frugal Innovations and Frugal Innovations were presented and then constructively discussed. Bringing together these diverse disciplines of social sciences and engineering had a positive impact on the whole research field and beyond. Based on this workshop, further workshops to intensify the cooperation between the LUH and the IITM in particular and to advance the research field are planned. 

The workshop is an essential result of Prof. Balkrishna Rao's stay at the LUH, where he worked as ICCR Professor for Indian Studies at the Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography since June 2022. In addition to the workshop, his stay included various lectures, visits to companies, and the development of new research topics. In October 2022, he returned to the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai. We would like to thank for the support of the ICCR and Prof. Rao’s commitment, productive discussions, and joint research and learning.