Frugal Innovation and Development Research

This article sets the scene for a special issue on why frugal innovations are increasingly
important for development research. While the top-down business and management literature on frugal
innovation has claimed developmental relevance, we give at least equal importance to much longerstanding bottom-up development studies discourses on grass-root innovation, bricolage, and livelihood
strategies. We argue that we need both literatures for a better understanding of how frugal innovations
relate to development. Accordingly, we position the articles in this special issue in the frugal innovation
and development debate. Finally, we discuss the relevance of a frugal innovation lens in how two major
global trends are impacting upon global development opportunities: the global diffusion of 3rd and 4th
Industrial Revolution digital technologies and global population dynamics. We consider these two trends
to be major entries for future research on frugal innovation and development.