Events

Trendtag 2022

18th European Trend Day

09 March 2022, Rüschlikon



Simplify. Reduce. Degrow.
From Industrial Overkill to Frugal Innovation

One more feature. One more additional gadget. More is more, that is the industrial logic of overkill.
The consequences: increasing complexity, increasing demand for resources. And an increasing burden on the environment.

There is another way. Frugal innovation means using innovative ideas to get more out of limited resources. Poorer countries are better at this; shortages fuel creativity. But frugal innovation is also becoming more important in industrialized countries in view of global warming and more unstable supply chains.

Frugality is meeting with a new mindset in industrialized countries. Insecure people demand reliability and sustainability. Their interest in degrowth, circular economy, considerate consumption, minimalism, lo-tech, no-code or FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is evidence of the change in values.
Consumers, however, do not want "less" but "better" - a search for system innovation instead of product innovation has begun.

At the GDI's 18th European Trend Day, thought leaders and entrepreneurs will discuss,
  • how frugal innovation works;
  • how companies arrive at frugal business models; and
  • how frugal innovation can be combined with simplicity and beauty.

    Overview
  • Kooperationsforum_20190123_Fürth_2000x1500

    Cooperation Forum

    January 23, 2019. Fürth, Germany

    Cooperation forum. Frugal innovations: exploiting opportunities for new markets

    The forum offers exciting keynote speeches by renowned international experts, focusing on Africa, Asia and Latinamerica. Best practice examples provide insights into the frugal innovations' potential in healthcare, energy and mobility.

    Interactive format: The participants will have enough time for discussions during the parallel workshop series in the afternoon. Topics are:
    - Understandning needs and identify frugal innovations
    - Hands-on development of frugal innovations with the Innovation Lab Concept
    -Tools and strategies for frugal innovations

    Target group: Everyone who is already active in the field of frugal innovation, or who wants to discover it, such as companies, universities, institutes, municipal institutions.

    The forum is organized by Bayern Innovativ GmbH in cooperation with the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Hamburg University of Technology and the University of St.Gallen. The forum will be held in German.

    Overview
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    Launch FIN

    June, 2017. St.Gallen, Switzerland

    Launching the Frugal Innovation Network in St.Gallen

    We successfully launched the Frugal Innovation Network on June 8, 2017. The Frugal Innovation Team was delighted to welcome multiple partners from academia and several industries. Among them were Bosch Home Appliances, KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, Rehau, Plansee Group, and Kanopeo.
    We framed frugal innovation from an academic, as well as, practical perspective highlighting several case examples. Ingo von Ramdohr elaborated on the journey of Rehau HomeGas, stressing out the intricacies of the project such as the business model and the product features. We further introduced the "St.Gallen Frugal Innovation Framework" and discussed the key challenges associated with frugal innovation. Our partners got multiple opportunities to develop own ideas for their companies in small group sessions. The workshop was rounded off by putting frugal innovation into a broader context and introducing our newly developed "St. Gallen Simply Smart Innovation Paradigm". We would like to thank all participants for the successful launch event and are looking forward to the future activities of the Frugal Innovation Network.