C2C LAB Talk: Tim Janßen trifft Prof. Dr. Cornelius Herstatt

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Cornelius Herstatt ist ein international tätiger Innovationsforscher und Professor für Innovationsmanagement an der TU Hamburg. In seiner Forschung beschäftigt er sich unter anderem mit frugaler Innovation, also vereinfachten und anwendungsorientierten Lösungen, sowie Innovation in alternden Gesellschaften.

Mit Tim Janßen, Mitgründer und geschäftsführender Vorstand Cradle to Cradle NGO, unterhält sich Cornelius Herstatt am Donnerstag, den 20. August, ab 19 Uhr darüber, welche Parallelen sich zwischen Cradle to Cradle und frugaler Innovation ziehen lassen und wie diese Ansätze nach Corona dazu beitragen können, weltweit neue, ökologische Geschäftsmodelle und grünes Wachstum entstehen zu lassen.

Der LAB Talk ist ein digitales Format der spendenfinanzierten und gemeinnützigen Cradle to Cradle NGO.
Darin beleuchten Nora Sophie Griefahn und Tim Janßen im Wechsel mit einem Gast aus Wirtschaft, Politik, Kunst und Kultur sowie der Zivilgesellschaft Cradle to Cradle aus verschiedenen Perspektiven.

Live auf: YoutubeFacebookTwitter und unserer Webseite

Continue reading

Habilitation colloquium of Dr. Rajnish Tiwari on the theme of “Digital Transformation as Enabler of Affordable Excellence”

On June 30, 2020 there was a Habilitation colloquium of Dr. Rajnish Tiwari that marked the successful completion of his Habilitation (“venia legendi”). The colloquium was on the theme of “Digital Transformation as Enabler of Affordable Excellence”. The presentation showed how digital technologies can help achieve frugal solutions that in turn enable affordable excellence.

Abstract of the presentation

Latest since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the potential of digital technologies as enabler of high-quality-yet-affordable solutions has become clear. Nevertheless, reports suggest that many firms struggle with implementing digital transformation due to the (perceived) need for high investments. Moreover, the true (potential) value-add of digital transformation is not clear to many, as digital transformation is often associated with complex terms such as “Industry 4.0”, “Internet of Things” or “Smart Homes”, whose true value-add is either not obvious to non-experts, or whose value-add is rather perceived in “nice-yet-superfluous” things such as a refrigerator which can autonomously re-order groceries. Thus, the cost-benefit analysis apparently does not seem to justify the requisite investments in many an instance. Continue reading

Cornelius Herstatt speaks on Frugal Innovation at IPDMC 2020

Cornelius Herstatt is today speaking on frugal innovation at the Digital Plenary Keynote Panel at IPDMC 2020 along with Katharina Hölzle and Piret Tonurist. The panel is moderated by Bart VAN LOOY & Petra DE WEERD-NEDERHOF.

Title of his talk is: Frugal Innovation after the Corona-Crisis – Opportunities for affordable, sustainable businesses.

Conference webpage: https://www.xcdsystem.com/eiasm/program/Iin7wnL/index.cfm?pgid=1853

Opportunities of Frugality in the Post-Corona Era

A discussion paper by Cornelius Herstatt and Rajnish Tiwari on the opportunities of frugality-based approaches in the post-Corona era: How frugal innovations can help achieve “affordable green excellence” in a world that could do with more effective use of resources. They argue that the concept of “affordability” has to be considered more comprehensively and in a multidimensional perspective – not just financially, but also socially, infrastructurally and ecologically.

[Download discussion paper]

The world is undergoing a major societal upheaval. Probably for the first time in the human history large parts of economic activity have come to a standstill simultaneously in almost all parts of the world – affecting the economically advanced nations as much as the developing countries. The “lockdown”, a term not known by many prior to the Corona pandemic of 2020, has meant that populations have been (in some cases literally) forced to stay back at home, cut down on their social contacts due to fear of a community transmission of the COVID19 virus, and as a result international and even domestic and local travel has largely come to a halt.

SARS-CoV-2. Image: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM / Public domain

Economic activity has been severally affected in most nations and many people have either lost jobs or have had to reduce their working hours, negatively impacting their disposable income. While, understandably, there is a growing demand for restoring “normalcy”, there are also voices that warn against returning to the “old normal” as if nothing has happened that requires a serious reflection. These voices plead for utilizing the current crisis to develop a “new normal” by utilizing its opportunities, e.g. the unintended-yet-largely-positive environmental impact and the slowing down of the pace of life resulting in reduced stress levels for people who are in a position to better manage social and economic impact of the pandemic.

This discussion paper makes a plea for a more holistic reflection over the causes and effects of the several other urgent challenges facing the world that have been laid bare by COVID19, e.g. climate change, poverty, and diseases. In this current context, we take a closer look at frugal innovations, a concept that has grown in importance over the previous decade and has been known to enable affordable access to goods and services. We examine if and how frugal innovations can be used to develop a “new normal” that acts as an enabler of “affordable green excellence”.

Taking a normative approach, we propose that affordability should be defined in a much more comprehensive manner to includes monetary, societal, infrastructural and environmental affordability. Further, a much closer interaction to the principles of circular economy is proposed. The overlap of frugal innovations and circular economy is the ideal space that should be strived by societal stakeholders, as products that target high environmental affordability without paying enough attention to monetary, societal and infrastructural affordability are as likely to face challenges as are products that are affordable monetarily and in other terms but whose environmental fit is questionable. Policy makers are called upon to create enabling mechanisms to promote affordable green excellence that is required in the post-Corona world even more than it already was prior to the pandemic outbreak.

Note: This discussion paper documents initial ideas with the intention of advancing research on “affordable green excellence”. We invite comments, feedbacks and ideas for collaborative transdisciplinary research/projects from interested colleagues from academia, industry, policy-making institutions and other domains, such as foundations and non-government organizations.

New publication on “Soft Power of Frugal Innovation”

New working paper by Rajnish Tiwari and Jaideep Prabhu: “Soft Power of Frugal Innovation and its Potential Role in India’s Emergence as a Global Lead Market for Affordable Excellence”

In a fruitful cooperation between Center for Frugal Innovation (CFI) and the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Rajnish Tiwari and Jaideep Prabhu have published a conceptual paper on the potential role of frugal innovations in contributing to “soft power” of its creators.

An edited version of this paper is scheduled to appear as a chapter in a forthcoming book on Indian soft power by the Ananta Aspen Centre (AAC). The paper has been published in the Working Paper series of the TUHH Institute for Technology and Innovation Management. The project was initiated after being requested by the AAC to contribute a chapter to the aforementioned contributed volume in May 2017. The chapter was finally contributed in January 2018 and is now in the process of publication.

Abstract:

Continue reading