Frugal Innovation

Welcome to Frugal Engineering

Frugal innovations are all the rage! With their genesis at grassroots levels of society, these products have evolved into Advanced Frugal Innovations (AFIs) possessing good technological sophistication. Many advanced frugal products need cutting edge research other than routine science and technology for their fruition.

Frugal engineering concerns the systematic creation of products that are low in cost, consume lesser resources and give good functionality.

Frugal engineering is an important tool for tackling the challenges thrown by climate-change and other planetary and manmade crises of our time. Frugal engineering is significant for all-round sustainable development.

Frugal engineering will increasingly impact all human endeavours, both commercial and public, for widespread sustainable development. Instances include, but not limited to, UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), pandemic-related efforts, commercial and academic interests.

Irrespective of your field of interest or current vocation, please drop Professor Balkrishna Rao a line in the link at the bottom for your interest and/or need for research-solution using principles of frugal engineering.

ICCR Visiting Chair Professor
Leibniz University Hannover, Germany (2022).

About

Balkrishna C. Rao is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Design at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) in India. As a member of the Sustainable Manufacturing Group at IITM, he conducts research pertaining to sustainable manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and frugal engineering.

He has been one of the early researchers in frugal engineering who has worked in various aspects of frugality related to poverty, sustainability and engineering. Other than work in manufacturing for automotive and aerospace sectors, his work in frugal innovations has led to the creation of a new type called Advanced Frugal Innovation (AFI) to account for the increasing sophistication seen in these products. He coined the term AFI.

He has also developed a frugal approach to design wherein advanced and grassroots frugal products can be built from scratch. Such a frugal design tool, which uses the factor-of frugality proposed by Professor Rao, can greatly aid sustainable development in designing streamlined products for various sectors while also improving functionality. Among his other contributions, he has also developed a concept for tallying the innovative output of a country through Gross Domestic Innovation (GDI). Professor Rao earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering with emphasis on manufacturing from Purdue University in the United States.

Home Page Research Gate

Google Scholars ORCID

Impact

Frugality benefits the following:

Poverty Alleviation

Both grassroots and advanced frugal products are one of many appealing solutions for alleviating poverty

Sustainability

Constraint on resources together with low-cost make frugal products an excellent tool of sustainability to uplift society at large

Science & Engineering

The systematic design and engineering of frugal products will aid resource conservation while maintaining or improving quality

Design

The systematic design and engineering of frugal products will aid resource conservation while maintaining or improving quality

Refereed Journals

All
Poverty Alleviation
Science & Technology
Sustainability

A cutting tool architecture designed to address the parasitic mechanisms consuming excess power during machining and manufacturing operations–A review-based study towards sustainable manufacturing

S. Baruah and B.C. Rao

PLOS ONE, April 2024

Frugal Engineering of Advanced Frugal Innovations for Global Sustainability Entrepreneurship

B.C. Rao

The Journal of Entrepreneurship, October 2023

Frugal manufacturing in smart factories for widespread sustainable development

B.C. Rao

Royal Society Open Science , 8, 2021

Scale up advanced frugal design principles

I. Liefner, S. Losacker and B.C. Rao

Nature Sustainability, 2020

On complex systems of adaptive frugal products

B.C. Rao

Royal Society Open Science , 7(7), 2020

The science underlying frugal innovations should not be frugal

B.C. Rao

Royal Society Open Science, 6(5), 2019

Revisiting classical design in engineering from a perspective of frugality

B.C. Rao

Heliyon, 3, 2017, e00299.

Alleviating Poverty in the Twenty-First Century Through Frugal Innovations

B.C. Rao

Challenge The Magazine of Economic Affairs, Vol. 57, No. 3, May-June 2014, pp. 40-59.

Advances in science and technology through frugality

B.C. Rao

IEEE Engineering Management Review, 45(1), 2017, pp. 32-38.

How Disruptive is Frugal?

B.C. Rao

Technology in Society, 35(1): 65-73, 2013.

How to Measure Innovation

B.C. Rao

Challenge: The Magazine of Economic Affairs, 53(1), 2010, pp. 109–125.

Methodology for Adapting Metal Cutting to a Green Economy

B.C. Rao

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 224(8): 1193-1205, 2010.

On the Methodology for Quantifying Innovations

B.C. Rao

International Journal of Innovation Management (IJIM), 14(5): 823-839, 2010.

Trading of Innovations to Combat Globalization and Climate Change

B.C. Rao

Challenge: The Magazine of Economic Affairs, 51(5), 2008, pp. 70-83.

Science Is Indispensable to Frugal Innovations

B.C. Rao

Technology Innovation Management (TIM) Review, Volume 8, Issue 4, pp: 49-56, April 2018.

Leading Edge: Advanced Frugal Innovations

(Invited) B.C. Rao

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Issue 4, 2017.

Book Chapters

Quality Control of Frugal Products

Balkrishna C. Rao

Frugal Innovation and Its Implementation
2021

Frugal Engineering

Balkrishna C. Rao

Handbook of Innovation & Appropriate Technologies for International Development
2022

Design and Engineering for Frugal Product Development

Balkrishna C. Rao

Handbook on Frugal Innovations and the Sustainable Development Goals
2023

Book Reviews

Book Review

How Countries Compete

Richard H. K. Vietor

Harvard Business School Press, 2007

ISBN 978-1-4221-1035-5

Book Review

Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change

Edmund Phelps

Nobel Laureate in Economics

Princeton University Press, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-691-15898-3

Miscellaneous Articles

Article

India’s Potential of Design, Innovations and Sustainability

Employment News, 2016

Article

Need for Sustainability and Innovations in Indian Manufacturing

Yojana, 2015

Patents

A Turning Cutter Design for Enhancing The Efficiency of Cutting Processes

Indian Patent, 540842

Development Of A Pedal Powered Water Filtration System

Indian Patent, 338204

Registration of Design of Jaw-Crusher

Design Number, 409162-001

Research

Funded Projects

Pathways to Sustainability Based on Advanced Frugal Innovation: Innovation Generation and Innovation Scaling under Resource Constraints (AFRIN)

Professor Dr. Ingo Liefner ((PI, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany),
Professor Dr Balkrishna C. Rao (Co-PI, Indian Institute of Technology Madras) &
Professor Dr. Sara Grobbelaar (Co-PI, Stellenbosch University, South Africa)

Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany

Understanding the conditions for success in the emergence and scaling of Advanced Frugal Innovations in some of the innovation and industrial centers of the world.

(The acceptance rate in awarding this prestigious grant is about 12%)

Implementation conditions for frugality in innovation processes

Professor Dr. Ingo Liefner (Leibniz University Hannover (LUH)) &
Professor Balkrishna C. Rao (Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM))

Funded by Volkswagen Foundation through Department of Science of Lower Saxony, Germany

This project aims to help companies in Germany and India understand the importance of frugal engineering and its implementation.

Courses

Frugal Innovation & Technology (2024)

Taught Advanced Frugal Innovations and Frugal Engineering (Minor offered to 3rd year bachelor's students from Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam, all from The Netherlands)

Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Germany

Advanced Frugal Products

Professor Balkrishna C. Rao

A course to introduce students to “frugalizing” engineering through setting constraints on material consumption at all stages of product development.

Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Global Development (FI4SGD) (2023)

Taught Advanced Frugal Innovations and Frugal Engineering (Minor offered to 3rd year bachelor's students from Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam, all from The Netherlands)

Centers

Co-chairman of the Center of Advanced Frugal Innovations (CoAFI)

Videos

Keynote Talk

A Technical Perspective on Frugal Innovations in the Low Tech and High Tech Sectors

Center for Frugal Innovation in Africa

The Netherlands, 2015

Talks

Keynote

Global Leadership in Intelligent Assistive Technologies

August 12 - 14, 2024

Joint Start-Up Workshop by IIT Madras Research Park and TU Dresden
TU Dresden, Germany

A Technical Perspective on Frugal Innovations in the Low Tech and High Tech Sectors

2015

Center for Frugal Innovation in Africa
International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Kortenaerkade
The Netherlands

Advanced Frugal Innovations

2019

Fore International Conference for Frugal Approach to Innovation

Among the honored speakers were Shri Suresh Prabhu (Honourable Member of Parliament - Rajya Sabha) and Ms. Orly Goldschmidt (Head of Public Diplomacy, Embassy of Israel in India)
Click here for a complete list of speakers

Workshops

European Workshop on Advanced Frugal Innovations, September 2022

Co-chaired with Prof. Ingo Liefner; Workshop involved eminent researchers from universities and industry in Europe.

Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.

Keynote Lecture1:

Keynote Lecture2:

IIT Madras on Advanced Frugal Innovations, February 2023

Co-chaired with Prof. Ingo Liefner; Workshop involved companies of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC).

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.

IIT Madras on Appropriate Technologies for Sustainable Development, February 2023

Co-chaired with Prof. Koshy Varghese.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.

IIT Madras on Advanced Frugal Innovations, May 2023

Co-chaired with Prof. Ingo Liefner; Workshop involved companies of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA).

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.

Invited to Workshop Celebrating 10th Anniversary of the International Center for Frugal Innovation (ICFI), November 2023

Invited for a debate on the high tech Advanced Frugal Innovations (AFIs).

Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities, The Netherlands.

Invited

Meeting with Respect Consul General of Germany (Ms Michaela Küchler), Chennai

2024

Meeting on Implications of Frugal Engineering
Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany,
Chennai, India

Frugal Engineering

2023

The Boring Conference
Ather Energy
Bengaluru, India

Frugal Engineering

2024

Indian Conference on Applied Mechanics (INCAM) 2024
NIT Warangal, India

Advancements in Polymeric Materials

2018

10th International Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing
Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology
Chennai, India

Awareness Session on Frugal Engineering

2020

Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India
Chennai, India

Green & Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies: The Way Forward

2020

International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS)
Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC)
Coimbatore, India

Frugal Engineering, A Virtual School for Engineering Students

2021

National Innovation Foundation (NIF)
Webinar
India (DST, Govt. of India)

Others

Rooting Frugality in Science and Engineering

2015

ICCIG3 - Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)
Ahmedabad, India

Frugal Innovations

2014

For students of Management Center Innsbruck - Austria
IIT Madras
Chennai, India

Technical Perspective on Frugal Innovations

2016

For students of Management Center Innsbruck - Austria
IIT Madras
Chennai, India

Recognitions

Ranked among top 2% for Citations

Listed Among Top 2% of Scientists Worldwide for Citations in a Survey by a Stanford University Researcher and Elsevier for single year of 2023

September 2024 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"

OUR RESEARCH EXHIBITED AT A FAMOUS INTERNATIONAL TRADE EXPO

Our Frugal Jaw Crusher showcased at the Hannover Messe 2024

Jaw crusher for extractive and construction industries "frugalized" in our group at IIT Madras

This is part of the continuing collaboration between Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) and IIT Madras

April 2024

Invited as Delegate to Zero Mile Samvad on

"Shaping India's Triumph to a $5 Trillion Economy & Beyond"

ZMS conclave included eminent honorable ministers and leaders of industry.

Panel discussion on Manufacturing Going Frugal

Awarded by Ministry of External Affairs India

ICCR Visiting Chair Professor of Indian Studies

Associated with Leibniz Universität Hannover

Awarded by MEA India for teaching and conducting research on frugal engineering

June 2022

Ranked among top 2% for Citations

Listed Among Top 2% of Scientists Worldwide for Citations in a Survey by a Stanford University Researcher and Elsevier for single year of 2022

October 2023 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"

Ranked among top 2% for Citations

Listed Among Top 2% of Scientists Worldwide for Citations in a Survey by a Stanford University Researcher and Elsevier for the Single Year of 2020

October 2021

August 2021 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"

Received an Altmetric Attention

Royal Society Open Science article "Frugal manufacturing in smart factories for widespread development"

Altmetric Attention Score of 7

Since 08 Dec 2021

Present in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric

Invited to write a book chapter

Frugal Innovation and its Implementation – Leveraging Constraints for Driving Innovations on a Global Scale

Friedrich-Alexander-University

Erlangen-Nuremberg

Germany, 2019

Invited to write a book chapter

Frugal Innovations and the Sustainable Development Goals

A Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) and Lorentz Program

Leiden, the Netherlands, 2019

Invited Talk

Rooting Frugality in Science and Engineering

Third International Conference on Creativity and Innovations at Grassroots

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, 2015

Efforts referenced in Nature editorials

Alleviating Poverty in the Twenty-First Century Through Frugal Innovations

Revisiting classical design in engineering from a perspective of frugality

Click here, here, here and here to read the Nature Articles

Article Commended on Twitter

Advances in science and technology through frugality

By Dr. Simon Werrett
University College London

Click here to visit the tweet

Metrics for the most cited Frugal article

How disruptive is Frugal?

Most Cited Technology in Society Articles since 2013
Most Cited Technology in Society Articles since 2011
In Science Direct Top 25 Hottest Articles during Jan-Jun & Oct-Dec 2015

Coining of "AFI" reported in IEEE article

Jonathan Fuller : 'Advanced Frugal Innovations (AFI)' in an IEEE article

Click here to read the article

Reference in a Chemistry PhD thesis

The Key to Sustainable Development

The SALT telescope in Africa has been selected as a representative advanced frugal product due to its amazing engineering under artificial constraints on resource consumption.

This website does not claim any credit over any activity related to this telescope. The SALT telescope has only been selected as a representative advanced frugal innovation.

Welcome to Frugal Engineering

About

Impact

Poverty Alleviation

Sustainability

Science & Engineering

Design

Publications

16

1

3

2

2

2

Refereed Journals

A cutting tool architecture designed to address the parasitic mechanisms consuming excess power during machining and manufacturing operations–A review-based study towards sustainable manufacturing

Frugal Engineering of Advanced Frugal Innovations for Global Sustainability Entrepreneurship

Frugal manufacturing in smart factories for widespread sustainable development

Scale up advanced frugal design principles

On complex systems of adaptive frugal products

The science underlying frugal innovations should not be frugal

Revisiting classical design in engineering from a perspective of frugality

Alleviating Poverty in the Twenty-First Century Through Frugal Innovations

Advances in science and technology through frugality

How Disruptive is Frugal?

How to Measure Innovation

Methodology for Adapting Metal Cutting to a Green Economy

On the Methodology for Quantifying Innovations

Trading of Innovations to Combat Globalization and Climate Change

Science Is Indispensable to Frugal Innovations

Leading Edge: Advanced Frugal Innovations

Books

Book Chapters

Quality Control of Frugal Products

Frugal Engineering

Design and Engineering for Frugal Product Development

Book Reviews

How Countries Compete

Richard H. K. Vietor

Harvard Business School Press, 2007

ISBN 978-1-4221-1035-5

Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change

Edmund Phelps

Nobel Laureate in Economics

Princeton University Press, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-691-15898-3

Miscellaneous Articles

India’s Potential of Design, Innovations and Sustainability

Employment News, 2016

Need for Sustainability and Innovations in Indian Manufacturing

Yojana, 2015

Patents

A Turning Cutter Design for Enhancing The Efficiency of Cutting Processes

Development Of A Pedal Powered Water Filtration System

Registration of Design of Jaw-Crusher

Research

Pathways to Sustainability Based on Advanced Frugal Innovation: Innovation Generation and Innovation Scaling under Resource Constraints (AFRIN)

Professor Dr. Ingo Liefner ((PI, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany), Professor Dr Balkrishna C. Rao (Co-PI, Indian Institute of Technology Madras) & Professor Dr. Sara Grobbelaar (Co-PI, Stellenbosch University, South Africa)

Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany

Understanding the conditions for success in the emergence and scaling of Advanced Frugal Innovations in some of the innovation and industrial centers of the world.

(The acceptance rate in awarding this prestigious grant is about 12%)

Implementation conditions for frugality in innovation processes

Professor Dr. Ingo Liefner (Leibniz University Hannover (LUH)) & Professor Balkrishna C. Rao (Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM))

Funded by Volkswagen Foundation through Department of Science of Lower Saxony, Germany

This project aims to help companies in Germany and India understand the importance of frugal engineering and its implementation.

Courses

Frugal Innovation & Technology (2024)

Taught Advanced Frugal Innovations and Frugal Engineering (Minor offered to 3rd year bachelor's students from Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam, all from The Netherlands)

Advanced Frugal Products

Professor Balkrishna C. Rao

A course to introduce students to “frugalizing” engineering through setting constraints on material consumption at all stages of product development.

Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Global Development (FI4SGD) (2023)

Taught Advanced Frugal Innovations and Frugal Engineering (Minor offered to 3rd year bachelor's students from Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam, all from The Netherlands)

Centers

Co-chairman of the Center of Advanced Frugal Innovations (CoAFI)

Videos

A Technical Perspective on Frugal Innovations in the Low Tech and High Tech Sectors

The Key to
Sustainable Development

Professor Dr. Ingo Liefner ((PI, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany),
Professor Dr Balkrishna C. Rao (Co-PI, Indian Institute of Technology Madras) &
Professor Dr. Sara Grobbelaar (Co-PI, Stellenbosch University, South Africa)

Professor Dr. Ingo Liefner (Leibniz University Hannover (LUH)) &
Professor Balkrishna C. Rao (Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM))

By Dr. Simon Werrett
University College London