CRIFT

Center for Research and Innovation in Frugal Technology Management (CRIFT)

The “Center for Research and Innovation in Frugal Technology Management” (CRIFT) at FORE School of Management, New Delhi is a first of its kind in India, focusing on researching, promoting, and implementing frugal innovations. CRIFT members work closely with many industries and institutions, collaborating across the globe to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of frugal innovations, seeking market-ready and commercially feasible frugal innovations.

Frugal innovations and technologies reduce complexity and total lifecycle costs, enhance functionality, and provide high user value and affordable solutions for relatively low-income customers. However, over time, this approach has cut across the borders of geography and industry, aiming to transcend the gap between developed and developing nations. Fortunately, frugal innovations can be developed by profit-driven businesses, social entrepreneurs, or NGOs, and by community members to address local constraints. The corporate world has developed an active interest in Frugal Innovation, given the need for evolving business practices and growing constraints.

In this context, CRIFT serves an important role in forming a body of knowledge for frugal innovation and technology, with the aim of bridging the gap between early innovation to mainstream implementation. Formed at the FORE School of Management, the Centre for Research and Innovation in Frugal Technology Management (CRIFT) aims to nourish the research and development of frugal approaches to innovation.

CRIFT serves an important role in forming a body of knowledge for frugal innovation and technology, with the aim of bridging the gap between early innovation to mainstream implementation. It aims to nourish the research and development of frugal approaches to innovation.

The center explores, develops, and shares knowledge of frugal innovation. The Center works toward being a multidisciplinary hub for developing, synthesizing, and sharing academic and practitioner knowledge on frugal innovation. We aim to use and share this knowledge to continue contributing to addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

CRIFT also works with the corporate sector, startup community, academic institutions, societal partners, government, etc. to combine academic research and more practical approaches with a range of disciplines and sources of expertise. The Center also aims at capturing the multidisciplinary character of frugal innovations and technologies.

Vision:

To Acquire Global Thought Leadership in Frugal Innovation

Mission:

• The Center will explore, develop, and share knowledge of frugal innovation. The proposed Center would be a multidisciplinary hub for developing, synthesizing, and sharing academic and practitioner knowledge on frugal innovation. We aim to use and share this knowledge to contribute to addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The Center will work with the corporate sector, startup community, academic institutions, societal partners, government, etc. to combine academic research and more practical approaches with a range of disciplines and sources of expertise. The Center aims at capturing the multidisciplinary character of frugal innovations and technologies.

Objectives:

• To research, generate, and disseminate knowledge on frugal innovation
• To evolve academic projects on frugal innovation to products and practices
• To facilitate the conversion of “ideas to action” and become a repository of “best practices”
• To act as an industry-academia interface on frugal innovation
• To integrate multiple perspectives, agglomerate approaches, and ideas on frugal innovation
• To organize workshops and roundtable discussions as a vantage point on the subject yearly
• Develop skill sets to make a positive impact on society

Scope for Collaborations:

• To create case studies/articles/commentaries on frugal innovation in India
• To carry out independent/collaborative/sponsored projects
• To conduct surveys, and participative, theory building, and empirical research
• To create a database of frugal innovations and enable future research projects
• To act as an enabler/aggregator to synergize collaboration across firms and people involved with limited focus on frugal/open innovation
• To organize workshops and training programs for value creation through frugal thinking
• To facilitate convergent thinking by organizing conferences, thematic discussions, and symposiums
• To invoke, sensitize, and propagate the principles of frugal innovation among students, media, and the public
• To comply with government policy reviews, from formulation to implementation

FORE International Conference on Frugal approach to Innovation (FICFAI):

FORE International Conference on Frugal Approach to Innovation (FICFAI) 2019, a two-day conference on December 13–14, 2019, was eighth in the series of annual international conferences hosted by FORE School of Management, New Delhi. This one of its kind of conference in India was spearheaded by the Centre for Research and Frugal Innovation Technology Management (CRIFT). FICFAI 2019 hosted eminent participants from across the globe – with the primary goal of exploring creating and disseminating knowledge on a “frugal approach to innovation” to enable real-world solutions. FICFAI 2019 conference theme could address the niche and appeal to scholars in the innovation domain. With around 35 invited speakers in plenary sessions in addition to academic presentations by scholars from the USA and Spain and institutes like IIT Kanpur, IIT Guwahati, EDII Ahmedabad, NID Ahmedabad and DU alike, FICFAI 2019 have contributed in modest capabilities towards contributing to the body of knowledge in understanding of “Frugal Innovation”.

FICFAI 2019 acted as a platform for like-minded organizations and research centers to come together for the cause of “frugal innovations”. FICFAI had Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa (CFIA), The Australasian Frugal Innovation Network (AFIN), and The Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI) Paris as the academic partners. FICFAI was associated with the InnoFrugal, Smart Village Movement (SVM), ICE&SDGs (Hyderabad), and Maker's Asylum as its knowledge partners; and PotHoleRaja, Sanshodhan, SunMoksha and CLEAN (Clean Energy Access Network) as its industry partners. The conference is being supported by YuKTI - Yogya Kalakriti ki Taknike (IIT Kanpur) and Center for Frugal Innovation (TIM/TUHH, Germany). Srijan Sanchar (Nagpur) has been a long-standing innovation partner to CRIFT.

To learn more, visit: http://fsm.ac.in/conference/ficfai-2019/

Rural to Frugal 2021:

CRIFT organized their annual flagship case study competition - “Rural to Frugal” in collaboration with KINISI and Frugal Company. KINISI is a sustainable mobility unit that provides electric mobility to all Auroville residents, volunteers, and visitors. The goal is for people to be able to travel around Auroville in comfort, silence, and without emitting any emissions. The case study given focused upon the problems faced by people living in rural areas (Auroville) and the participants had to apply their frugality acumen to provide a solution. The first two rounds included an online quiz and submission of the solution to the real-life case problem provided by Frugal Company and KINISI. The third and final round was the presentation round for the solution submitted in the 2nd round.

CRIFT was also honored to host our esteemed panel of judges comprising Mr. Abhinav Agarwal (Founder of Frugal Company), Mr. Debabrata Sahoo (Managing Director of Kinisi), and Prof. Abhoy Ojha (Professor – IIM Bangalore) who graced the occasion with their valuable presence and guidance and provided a great learning experience to all. Numerous teams from Top B-Schools and Universities participated in the competitions out of which the top 3 teams emerged victoriously.

Center Head: Prof. Anil Kumar Singh
Faculty Member: Prof. Mukul Joshi
Contact Us (Email ID): crift@fsm.ac.in

Events Calendar:

Team Members:

• Ananya Sehgal (Coordinator)

• Gautam Radhakrishna (Co-Coordinator)

• Anshul Natani (Member)

• Kartik Mohan Sinha (Member)

• Rishika (Member)

• Madhav Mehra (Member)

• Aman Nahata (Member)