Frugal Engineering- Doing More With Less

Frugal Engineering
Doing More With Less...

Frugal Innovation
Or
Frugal Engineering
• Frugal innovation or frugal engineering is the
process of reducing the complexity and cost of a good
and its production.
• Usually this refers to removing nonessential features
from a durable good, such as a car or phone, in order
to sell it in developing countries.

Frugal Innovation
Or
Frugal Engineering

Frugal Innovation
• As a process frugal innovation discovers new
business models, reconfigures value chains, and
redesigns products to serve users who face
extreme affordability constraints, in a scalable and
sustainable manner.
• It involves either overcoming or tapping institutional
voids and resource constraints to create more
inclusive markets.
• Simply, frugal innovation provides functional
solutions through few resources for the many who
have little means.

Frugal Innovation Or Frugal Engineering
• The general practice is to innovate for the top of the
pyramid as there lies the greatest purchasing power
with eventual trickle down effects.
• As such most design in Western markets relies on a ‘top
down’ approach, targetting first the richer clientelle.
• Western practises use traditional (archaic) business
and distribution models, rely on abundant resources
(non-sustainable), incur costly product design and
development, and result in high manufacturing costs
which makes many science and technology
innovations unaffordable for the bottom of the
pyramid consumers.

The general practice is to innovate
for the top of the pyramid

Frugal Innovation
Or
Frugal Engineering
• In contrast, frugal innovation as is practised in
emerging markets purposefully targets the
bottom and then makes its way up to other
levels to benefit all users.
• There is potential to demonstrate that this is a new
kind of innovation process which leverages
institutional voids and resource constraints,
debunks heavy R&D investment claims, and
achieves profitability from BOP consumers.

Frugal Innovation
Or
Frugal Engineering
• There are several dimensions to it not just
limited to cost, but the main theme is
simplification in all aspects of process and end
result.

Frugal Innovation in Healthcare
• Escalating healthcare costs due in part to the
explosion of chronic diseases expected to
account for 20% worlds GDP by 2020.
• To rein in these costs and deliver better care at
lower cost, their is urgently needs to adopt
frugal medical practices from resource-
constrained regions like China, India, and
Africa.

Spectacles Revolution
Joshua Silver
• Professor Joshua D. Silver is a UK physicist
whose discoveries have included a new way to
change the curvature of lenses, with significant
application for the low-cost manufacture of
corrective lenses and adjustable spectacles,
especially in low-income countries.
• Professor Silver is currently the chief executive
of the Centre for Vision in the Developing
World.

• Joshua Silver is liaising with the World Bank on a
revolutionary project to distribute spectacles to
200 million children in developing countries.
• "All users have to do is look at a reading chart
and adjust the glasses until they can see letters
clearly," said Professor Joshua Silver,
• We can send them to schools where teachers can
direct pupils to set their spectacles to suit each
one's vision. It is as simple as that."

• Silver estimates that more than a billion adults
in developing nations have poor eyesight. This
seriously limits their education and employment
prospects.
• He is now working with the World Bank and
the Dow Corning Corporation – which makes
the silicone materials used in his revolutionary
glasses – to supply 200 million pairs of self-
adjusting spectacles to schoolchildren in Africa
and Asia.

• While studying mirrors, Silver discovered a
new way to change the curvature of lenses.
• He applied this to create a new form of
liquid-filled corrective lens, that could be
easily adjusted by the wearer to correct the
vision of over 90% of people requiring
correction.

• This is particularly useful for people in developing
countries where specially trained optometrists are
not available.
• In 1996 he formed a company, Adaptive Eye care, to
develop these adaptive ophthalmic lenses in partnership
with the UK Government's Department for
International Development, for distribution in
developing countries. The company has developed
prototype adaptive spectacles (called AdSpecs ) that
can correct both far-sighted and near-sighted people,
and these spectacles have been trialled in several
countries in Africa and Asia. So far 30,000 of Silver's
lenses have been distributed in 15 countries.

• "It is incredibly easy. You don't need an optician,
just a little bit of basic instruction," said Silver.
"Our tests – which have ranged from trials with
pupils in rural schools in China to inner-city schools
in Boston – have found that more than 95% of
adolescents can handle these glasses quite easily and
set their own prescription without problem.
• "We call this process self-refraction, and it offers
enormous potential for use in the developing world. We
have already supplied 40,000 of these glasses to
individuals in 20 countries."

• Silver calls his flash of insight a "tremendous
glimpse of the obvious" - namely that opticians
weren't necessary to provide glasses.
• This is a crucial factor in the developing
world where trained specialists are
desperately in demand: in Britain there is
one optometrist for every 4,500 people, in
sub-Saharan Africa the ratio is 1:1,000,000.

Child Vision: Self-adjustable Glasses

• The implications of bringing glasses within
the reach of poor communities are
enormous, says the scientist.
• Literacy rates improve hugely, fishermen
are able to mend their nets, women to weave
clothing.

• Silver's spectacles have two disadvantages,
however. They cost around £15 a pair to
make. "We have to get that cost down if we
want to get these in numbers to children in
Africa or Asia," said Silver. "We are
working on that, and I expect we'll get the
price down to around £1 a pair. At that cost,
the plan to supply 200 million glasses
becomes practicable."

Silver also acknowledges
that his glasses – which
have thick, round rims –
are not particularly
attractive. "If we want
teenagers to wear them,
we will have to make
them less obtrusive and
more stylish.
In essence, we want to
make them look just like
standard glasses.

Manu Prakash: A pocketful of
inventions
• A bioengineer at Stanford University
wants to transform healthcare and
bring science to the masses, one frugal
invention at a time.

inventions
• In July, in a flooded rainforest in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Margaret
Fuller, a professor of human biology at Stanford and a pioneer in
stem cell research, photographed the head of a stick ant as
viewed through a microscope. In brushed gold, silver and black,
it looked like an artist’s depiction of a cosmic event.
• A couple of years before this, at the Hauz Khas reservoir in Delhi,
Aatish Bhatia, a physicist and science writer who works at Princeton
university’s Council on Science and Technology, imaged a water
flea—a Daphnia—under a microscope. It was a brilliant
purplish-blue, and had a sac full of eggs.
• In Hyderabad, N. Arun, a student in Class IX, was busy imaging
cells taken from his own cheek under a microscope. With great
wonder, he observed the cell walls, the cytoplasm and the
nucleus.

Manu Prakash: A Pocketful Of
Inventions

Manu Prakash: A Pocketful Of
Inventions
• Each of these explorers, working thousands of
kilometres apart, used not an ordinary
microscope, but one made of folded paper, a
micro-lens, and a cheap LED light source the size
of a small button.
• The instrument is made of materials that cost
less than a hundred rupees. It can fit into a
trouser pocket. Yet, it works just like a
conventional microscope that’s many times its
size and weight, and roughly a thousand times
its cost.

Manu Prakash: A 50-cent Microscope
That Folds Like Origami

• It’s called a Foldscope, and it was first made
in 2014 by Manu Prakash, an assistant
professor of Bioengineering at Stanford
University, and his then-student Jim Cybulski.
• Since then the Foldscope has travelled rapidly
around the world, in the hands of scientists,
medical workers, students and even people
outside the scientific community.

inventions

• What remains the same is how the Foldscope
is made, and its miraculous manufacturing
cost. More than fifty thousand Foldscopes are
in use today.

• While the Foldscope is being put through
multiple clinical and field trials for use as a
research and diagnostic tool, its founders are
more excited by deeper, more intangible goals.

Manu Prakash: A 50-cent Microscope That
Folds Like Origami
• “A very simple vision is, what happens when a
microscope becomes as common as a pencil?” says
Prakash. “Pencils are everywhere. And their presence
indicates something very profound—literacy.
• Microscopes are a way of access to science, and if
thousands and thousands of kids around the world
can pull out a microscope from their pockets, what
that can do is create a society that’s not just aware
of science, but truly engaged in it; not just from the
top down, but also from the bottom up.”

inventions
Prakash doesn’t go anywhere without a
Foldscope in his pocket

The Paperfuge: A 20-Cent Device That
Could Transform Health Care

• In 2013, when Prakash and his students were in
Uganda, they visited a clinic where they saw an
expensive medical centrifuge being used as a
doorstop. The centrifuge needed electricity to run,
but the clinic rarely received adequate supply.
• “I’ve seen this over and over again, in many parts
of the world,” says Prakash. “It’s like a graveyard.
Expensive medical equipment that lies unused
because there is no electricity.”

• The challenge was to create a centrifuge
that needs no power supply.
• Prakash started thinking about spinning toys.
He first started with yo-yos. The lab bought
every kind of yo-yo in the market and built
new ones to test. They were fast, but not at all
easy to use. A spinning top was subjected to
experiments. It took three years of playing
around before a solution was found.

• In early 2016, Saad Bhamla, a postdoctoral
scholar at the lab, and a graduate of Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, brought
in a home-made, button-and-thread, whirligig .
• Using the toy in front of a high-speed camera,
he found that it was spinning between 10,000
and 15,000 RPM, enticingly close to what was
needed for medical use. The team dove right in,
spending months studying the way the
whirligig worked, teasing out the math hidden
in the toy.

• “No one before us had tried to understand how
this toy works,” says Prakash. “We found that
the whirligig derives its power from a
phenomenon called ‘supercoiling’.
• Supercoiling has only been described really well
in DNA mechanics. So we actually used the same
math that’s been used to describe how DNA
supercoils to understand how a little toy works.
Our calculations show that we have the capacity
to go to a million RPM. Think about that. A
million RPM will easily break Mach 1.”

• The researchers now began building prototypes.
They experimented with various materials until
they found that to make the disc, the same thing
used for Foldscopes—polymer film-coated
waterproof paper, commonly used to make
currency—worked really well.
• Next, they devised sealed tubes that can hold
blood samples and be taped to the inside of the
discs without fear of contamination. Now the
Paperfuge, like the Foldscope, is being tested at
field trials in Madagascar.

The Paperfuge: A 20-Cent Device That Could
Transform Health Care

‘Waterless Bath’
• In 2011, a young South African
entrepreneur developed a product that
allowed people to have a bath without using
water. His reason? To get millions to
hygienically skip a bath once a week to save
the precious resource of water.

• Imagine taking a bath anywhere, at any
time, without using the traditional method
of water.
• Now it is possible, thanks to a young South
African entrepreneur who developed a product
that allows people who have limited access to
water to maintain their standards of
hygiene.

• Ludwick Marishane hails originally from
Motetema on the border of Limpopo and
Mpumalanga, a town located not too far from the
small Kwaggavoetpad Nature Reserve.
• His product, called DryBath, is a clear
germicidal and moisturising gel that’s applied
to skin in the manner of waterless hand
cleaners, although it has a sweet aroma rather
than the distinctive alcohol smell of the latter.

‘Doing the work of soap and water’
• DryBath does the work of water and soap and
it earned Marishane the 2011 Global Student
Entrepreneur of the Year Award, with a US$10
000 (about R86 000 then) prize to boot.
• The product has positive implications for millions
of people in Africa and other parts of the
developing world where lack of regular access to
clean water leads to reduced basic hygiene and a
lower quality of life.

• DryBath is manufactured by Western Cape-
based gel cosmetic specialists BioEarth Labs
for HeadBoy Industries, the company
started by Marishane to develop and
market the product.

Laziness leads to inspiration
• Marishane grew up in rural Limpopo, where as
a 17-year-old he was chatting one day with a
close friend, discussing typical teenage topics
and sunbathing in the winter sun.
• Full of imagination, the friend asked: “Why
can’t they invent something that you can just
apply to your skin so that you don’t have to
take a bath nor shower?”

• Marishane felt the same way, and that planted the seed that
would germinate into DryBath.
• “I came up with this idea all because I didn’t feel like taking a bath,”
he joked. Although he only had high school science knowledge,
Marishane got onto the internet via his mobile phone and researched
statistics on water access, as well as the composition and
manufacture of lotions and creams.
• He finally came up with a formula. Some months later and after
much experimentation, he held a bottle of DryBath in his hand and
went on to obtain a patent through his company.
• One 20ml DryBath sachet can do the work of one bath, and
Marishane claims it saves about 80 litres of water on average
with every use.

Getting the product out there
• Marishane first approached charity organisations for
support, but says he was turned back because of his age and
because of doubt that his concept would ever work. Back at
the drawing board, he put together a lengthy and detailed
proposal – all done on his trusty Nokia.
• With paper in hand, he approached the corporate world
in search of sponsors, endorsements and investors;since
then, he has struck up partnerships with WaterAid and
Oxfam.
• DryBath is now also manufactured commercially for
clients such as hotels, music festival organisers, major
global airlines – one of which is British Airways – and
governments for soldiers in the field.

Xikang
• XIKANG integrates the most useful resources
of regional medical centers and community
healthcare facilities through the combination
of health Internet of Things (IOT), health
cloud platforms and outstanding medical
resources. XIKANG is oriented to provide
families and individuals with full-lifecycle
healthcare services that even incorporate a
chronic disease prevention ecosystem.

Xikang Healthcare Watch
• As a compact yet powerful linkage between Xikang
Healthcare Management Platform and its users, Xikang
Healthcare Watch is a wrist watch with an inbuilt
computer that can collect body movement information
from users in order to provide healthy exercise plans and
healthcare management solutions.
• Xikang Healthcare Watch is an unprecedented innovative
product integrating diverse state-of-the-art IT technologies
such as IOT, cloud computing, GSM mobile communication
system and 3D sensor. Like a private health and exercise
advisor, it delivers personalized individual management
solutions with modern technologies in a professional and
effective manner.

Frugal Innovation in Education
• Khan Academy has upended the education
sector by offering free tutorials on multiple
subjects as short videos via YouTube. Yet,
over 5 billion people worldwide don’t have
internet access. So Khan Academy launched
KA Lite, an open-source software that
delivers its educational content without
internet connectivity.

KA Lite
• In India, Khan Academy partnered with
Foundation for Learning Equality and Central
Square Foundation to preload KA Lite on the
ultra-cheap Raspberry Pi microprocessor,
which can be deployed as a local server in a
school.
• Today, underprivileged students at Akanksha
Schools in Mumbai learn math with KA Lite by
accessing its content locally using low-cost tablets

Frugal Innovation in Energy
• M-KOPA, a home solar system that comes in a kit
containing a small solar panel, two LED lamps, an
LED flashlight, and a mobile phone charger.
• Although the entire kit costs $200, Kenyans can
purchase it with an initial deposit of $35 and pay off the
rest by making a daily micro-payment of 45 cents using
M-PESA. After paying for a full year, the system is
unlocked and the customer owns the product outright.
Adding 600 new customers a day, M-KOPA intends
to cross the million-unit mark by the end of 2017.
Thanks for these frugal off-the-grid energy
solutions, African households are leapfrogging from
candlelight to solar light.

Frugal Innovation in Housing
• In 2014, the Chinese company WinSun used a giant
3D printer to construct 10 houses in 24 hours.
WinSun claims its proprietary process can save up
to 60% of construction waste, cut production time
by up to 70%, and shave off 80% of labor costs.
Italy-based World’s Advanced Saving Project recently
upped the ante by unveiling the world’s largest 3D mud
printer, which combines advanced technology with
ancient construction techniques and abundantly
available cheap materials (mud and clay) to build ultra-
low-cost houses that are durable and sustainable.

Frugal Innovation in Finance
• Compte Nickel, a French startup that enables people
without a bank account to walk into a local mom-
and-pop store, subscribe to their service in just five
minutes, and get an international debit card and an
international bank account number.
• The service enables users to send/receive money with
their mobile phone and pay anywhere in the world
using their debit card—all at no extra cost. Compte
Nickel charges a flat annual maintenance fee of just 20
Euros (compared to 180 Euros charged by retail banks).
Adding 20,000 new customers a month and with a
97% customer satisfaction rate, Compte Nickel
expects to close 2016 with half a million clients.

Low Cost Doesn't Mean Low Tech – You
Can Be Frugal And Sophisticated
• Low cost doesn't mean low tech. On the contrary,
frugal innovation can use highly sophisticated
technology.
• Sometimes a mix of low and high tech can
achieve remarkable results.
• Meanwhile, yawning gaps in basic service
provision can stimulate demand for low-cost
solutions in health, education and energy. Often,
the people excluded from these services are the
rural poor, a group which until recently was
considered not worth companies' time and effort.

• The pursuit of this vast potential market is
another key driver of frugal innovation.
• Regardless, many of the tools and techniques
used to reduce cost and increase access also
have positive environmental benefits.

• Whatever their success, frugal innovation will
really thrive outside government.
• Taken together, these suggest that the future
for innovation that is both frugal and
sustainable could be very bright.

Conclusion
• Armed with 3D printers, mobile technology,
and open-source hardware, a new generation
of innovators is emerging to address our basic
needs faster, better, and cheaper than traditional
providers.
• These digital pioneers are using frugal innovation,
rather than distributive economics, to tackle the
global wealth inequality crisis, More
entrepreneurs will join them to co-build an
inclusive frugal society where everyone can live
better with less.

References
Centre for Vision in the Developing World
• http://cvdw.org/
Compte Nickel
• https://compte-nickel.fr/
Frugal engineering: An emerging innovation paradigm
• https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/frugal-engineering-an-emerging-innovation-paradigm/
KA Lite | Learning Equality
• https://learningequality.org/ka-lite
Manu Prakash
• https://profiles.stanford.edu/manu-prakash
Manu Prakash: A pocketful of inventions
• http://www.livemint.com/Science/9JRNZtcy8r8BnBjtzJJliO/Manu-Prakash-A-pocketful-of-
inventions.html
M-KOPA Solar
• http://www.m-kopa.com
PRAKASH LAB – Curiosity-Driven Science - Stanford University
• http://web.stanford.edu/group/prakash-lab/cgi-bin/labsite/
Self adjusting glasses | Global Eyesight Now
• http://www.globaleyesightnow.org/self-adjusting-glasses/
Winsun
• https://futureofconstruction.org/case/winsun/

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