Session on "Importance of Frugal Innovation for Start-ups"
17th - 19th August, 2023
Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC), Ministry of Education (MoE), Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida organized a Session on “Importance of Frugal Innovation for Start-ups” from 17th – 19th August, 2023. The keynote speaker of the session was Mr. Sanjeet Kumar (Trainer). 80 students attended the 3 day theoretical and practical session.
Day 1: Understanding the Foundations of Frugal Innovation
The session began with the introduction of the speaker by Session coordinator Dr. Kaustubh Kumar Shukla. He gave a brief introduction of the speaker and offered the dais to him. Mr. Sanjeet Kumar started the session by explaining about the concept of frugal innovation that has emerged as a powerful tool for startups not only to survive but thrive. He said, in the dynamic landscape of entrepreneurship, startups often find themselves grappling with resource constraints, limited budgets, and a pressing need to stand out in competitive markets.
He further elaborated the concept of Frugal innovation, often associated with the term "Jugaad" in India, refers to the practice of creating high-value, cost-effective solutions with minimal resources. It involves finding ingenious ways to do more with less and optimizing every available resource, whether it's time, money, or materials. It is not about compromising on quality but about achieving maximum impact with limited means.
He continued the session by throwing light upon the importance of Frugal Innovation for Startups Viz: Cost-Effective Solutions, Rapid Prototyping and Iteration, Market Penetration, Sustainability and Social Impact, Agility and Resilience, Global Competitiveness, etc.
Day 2: Strategies and Implementation of Frugal Innovation
A workshop was conducted on designing a frugally innovative solution with user feedback by the eminent speaker Mr. Sanjeet Kumar. It was followed by throwing light upon Real-world case studies of successful startups using frugal innovation. The second part of the workshop included group discussion and identifying opportunities for frugal innovation in startup followed by Q&A and group sharing.
A hands on exercise on creating a lean canvas for startup and sharing of canvas results was also performed by the participants. Students were asked to prepare a User-Centric Design keeping in mind the importance of customer needs. The design was critically examined by trainer and feedback was shared for making the design more feasible.
Day 3: Practical Implementation and Sustaining Innovation
On the third day, participants present their frugally innovative solutions/designs to the audiences comprising of peer groups and faculty members. The same were evaluated and the winners were awarded with certificates.
Throughout the three-day session, opportunities for networking, group discussions, and hands-on activities to ensure participants gain practical insights and actionable steps to implement frugal innovation in their startups were observed.