Frugal Innovation

This site which seeks to provide awareness of research on frugal innovation. Research in this area seeks to reveal how players in the private, public, and community sectors are collaborating or competing to innovate affordable, high value, and sustainable solutions for local problems of global concern, mainly in and for emerging markets — something you might call “Frugal Innovation”. As such the purpose of this site is to provide an understanding of this emerging research and to develop networks with others interested in this area.

Interested in collaborating? Email me yabhatti at frugal-innovation.com

About the researcher: Dr. Yasser Bhatti is administrator of this website and his research interests are in innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategy with focus on innovation under constraints, the localisation and globalisation of innovation, and the role of emerging market economies and situated actors such as social entrepreneurs in emerging trends in innovation, particularly in frugal innovation for healthcare. He studies these phenomena through the lens of institutional theory and resource based view. He also has an interest in regional clusters and scenarios and futures.

Dr. Yasser Bhatti

My Work:

Over the last decade my work has been pivotal in establishing frugal innovation as an approach to problem-solving that espouses doing more with less for many more people and for greater social impact. In my recent book published by Cambridge University Press, I explore the phenomenon in resource-scarce and complex institutional contexts by studying social entrepreneurs working in the developing world. My findings shed light on how entrepreneurs and firms can pursue competitive strategies by innovating for humanity to improve lives for everyone, everywhere.

My Approach:

My research and teaching are both inspired by the Tavistock Institute’s notion of ‘engaged scholarship’, which proposes collaborative research between practitioners and academics to solve complex real-world problems but also to produce learning that is more useful to individuals and their organizations. My approach is interdisciplinary, team-based, and spans different universities and indeed sectoral and geographical boundaries. As a social scientist over the last decade and as a practicing engineer for a decade prior to that, I espouse harnessing innovation and technology for social impact.

My Background:

I completed the DPhil in Innovation and MSc in Entrepreneurship from University of Oxford’s Said Business School with thesis topic: “Frugal innovation: Social entrepreneurs’ perceptions of innovation under institutional voids, resource scarcity and affordability constraints.” My MSc thesis at Oxford received best dissertation prize. I also have an MSc degree in Computer Science and PG certificate in Management of Technology both from Georgia-Tech with distinction and BSc in Mechanical Engineering with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma. Following five years of practice in the manufacturing industry (Met-Pro Corporation and IBM) and in the multilateral development sector at the United Nations, I pursued a renewed passion for teaching and research in academia to bridge the gap between the academic community and business world.

More About my Research:

More specifically, my research interests are in innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategy with focus on innovation under constraints, the localisation and globalisation of innovation, and the role of emerging market economies and situated actors such as social entrepreneurs in emerging trends in innovation, particularly in frugal innovation for healthcare. I study these phenomena through the lens of institutional theory and resource based view. I also have an interest in regional clusters, scenarios and futures.

I have conducted several empirical studies and received grants amounting to £580K as Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator, Co-organizer, and Research Lead from organisations including National Institute for Health Research, Commonwealth Fund, Said Foundation, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, University of Oxford Software Incubator, Green Templeton College, Research and Management Development Association, and AT&T Foundation.

Given the dire need for providing affordable access to basic human rights such as education, healthcare, housing, and transport, there is much potential for frugal innovation to have practical impact on society. My research has accelerated the adoption and diffusion of specific innovations. Over the past five years, I have concentrated on the healthcare sector with future potential to replicate lessons learnt into other sectors. My ongoing global search for frugal innovation case studies in healthcare has resulted in a useful repository for not only researchers, but also leaders, policymakers, and investors to consider for scaling up. I am frequently called upon by innovation organisations, the media, think tanks, and consulting firms to suggest innovations that solve specific issues of local and global importance, such as primary care and sanitation.

Useful Links:

My book:

https://www.cambridge.org/9781107188976

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frugal-Innovation-Models-Means-Methods/dp/1107188970/

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2OlwDwAAQBAJ

My HBR paper:

https://hbr.org/2018/03/putting-humans-at-the-center-of-health-care-innovation

My thesis:

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:17121614-7918-4e56-bccc-2806c9ecbfb3

My research website:

http://www.frugal-innovation.com

http://yasser-ahmed-bhatti.com

https://dryasserbhatti.com

Google scholar:

http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=N5r3oL0AAAAJ&hl

Research Gate:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yasser_Bhatti

Presentations:

https://www.slideshare.net/yasserbhatti

Talks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RKzlsOr5P0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIVyzmxuO40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG5aiWrhnM8

Organisations:

https://about.me/frugalinnovation

https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/yasser-bhatti

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/yasser.bhatti

http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/staff/bhatti-yasser.html

http://www.oxfordglobalventures.com/

Awards:

https://www.bam.ac.uk/news/mke-education-practice-award-2017

https://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/news/news-articles/gtc-news-archive/1638-gtc-student-scoops-prestigious-oxford-leadership-prize-84973144.html