Admission requirements
The course is (only) open for students that are enrolled in the LDE Minor Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Futures.
Description
How can we capture innovation that is simple, resource-efficient, and impactful? This course explores frugality as both a mindset and a strategy for innovation, examining how frugal innovation contributes to sustainable futures in different global contexts.
Students will explore what frugality and frugal innovation imply for technology and material use, design practices, knowledge generation and use, entrepreneurship and business models, and the management and governance of innovations. They will critically assess the principles, heuristics, and historical development of frugal innovation, linking them to broader societal challenges. The course insights will contribute to a better understanding of the variables, stakeholders, and contexts at stake when it comes to frugal innovation.
Throughout the course, students will combine theory with practical exploration, working with case studies and real-world examples while conducting experiments in lab and workshop settings. These dynamic, hands-on activities will allow students to test frugal innovation principles in practice, analyze real-world constraints, and explore how material use, design choices, and business models influence innovation outcomes.
By integrating theoretical perspectives with interactive learning and field-based applications, students will gain a deeper understanding of how innovation is shaped by constraints, ethics, and sustainability goals.
The course is structured into two interrelated parts:
- Foundations of Frugal Innovation & Frugality
Introduction to core principles, values, and historical perspectives on frugal innovation, and how frugal innovation, as an alternative theory of innovation, differs from standard definitions and understandings of innovation
Exploration of frugality beyond innovation: as a mindset / ethical framework, practice, and sustainability strategy.
- Applying Frugal Innovation in Context
- Hands-on case study analysis and real-world applications of frugal innovation. Practical experience with design experiments, business modeling, and governance strategies. Connecting theoretical insights with students’ own field assignments in the Minor
Core themes and questions explored in this course
- Societal perspectives on frugality, frugal innovation and sustainable futures – What does a sustainable future mean for different societies across the globe? How do these various perspectives relate to and are informed by the diverse histories of societies and communities across the globe? What does this imply for their perceptions on the potential and limitations of frugality and frugal innovation in shaping these futures
- Design & Technology Use – How do innovators, designers, and engineers create frugal innovations? What principles, materials, knowledges and technologies do they apply? What challenges arise when developing products, services or systems that work across different economic and social contexts?
- Entrepreneurship & Business Models – How do entrepreneurs (profit and non-profit) successfully bring frugal innovations to consumers / end-users? Is scalability always necessary? What makes a frugal business model different from conventional ones?
- Governance & Policy – Under what conditions can frugal innovations flourish? Do they require intellectual property rights or new standards? What policies help or hinder their development? What does frugal innovation imply for innovation management policies and practices?
Students will apply insights from this course to their own field assignment, which will be further developed in the Bootcamp course of the Minor. The course is highly interactive and multidisciplinary, with students from various backgrounds working together. Guest lectures and practitioners will complement in-class and online lectures and discussions.
Course objectives
This course challenges students to capture innovation not as a process of doing but as a practice of doing better with less. By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Interpret ongoing debates on frugal innovation and its role and relevance in achieving sustainable futures;
2. Reflect on diverse effects of frugal innovations and how these relate to various contexts, issues of power, agency and inequality;
3. Identify the multitude of actors including designers and engineers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, customers and distinguish their respective roles in frugal innovation;
4. Apply relevant insights from the course in own field assignment plan to be written and completed in the Bootcamp course in the Minor.
Timetable
A detailed timetable will be provided in Brightspace (Leiden University).
Mode of instruction
(Guest) Lectures, seminars, game(s), workshops, lab sessions.
Assessment method
Assessment
Students will develop a portfolio, consisting of several assignments linked to course activities. The assignments will be published in Brightspace at the start of the Minor.
Weighing
- Portfolio: 100%
Resit
Students can only add a completed assignment to their portfolio if it has been graded as sufficient (6.0) or more by the lecturer who issued the assignment. In case of an insufficient grade, students will receive feedback from the lecturer and can resubmit, taking account of the deadline for the completion of the portfolio.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Brightspace
Leiden University Brightspace LMS will be used for:
Announcements
Course information
Documents
Discussions
Grades
Calendar
Reading list
Reading list
All required and recommended readings (scientific and professional publications) will be provided via Brightspace and library resources. Open-access materials will be prioritized.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory (only applies to LEI students).
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Guest students from TUD and EUR will be helped with their course enrollment.
Contact
Course Coordinator: Dr. André Leliveld
Back to FI4SGD homepage
Remarks
Not applicable.