“Frugal Innovations for a Healthy Society – Learnings for India and Germany”

The German healthcare system – which is under pressure on many fronts could benefit immensely from a frugal approach that enables affordable and sustainable excellence. However, there are a number of challenges that crowd-out frugal solutions. These include, but are not limited to, lack of awareness, over-regulation, misplaced financial incentives and mind-set issues, as came to fore during a recent event.

“Frugal Innovations for a Healthy Society – Learnings for India and Germany”: This was the motto for an informative discussion event recently held at the Hochschule Fresenius – University of Applied Sciences (HSF) in Hamburg as a part of the “India Week Hamburg”. The event was held against the backdrop of major problems that the German health care system is facing. Growing patient numbers, a shortage of skilled workers, and exploding costs are burdening more and more hospitals. A core objective was to identify the extent to which frugal innovations, i.e., low-cost “Good Enough” solutions, can alleviate the difficulties. The event was aimed at all stakeholders with an interest in finding new ways to overcome the challenges mentioned above.

Frugal innovation: “Doing more with less” | Image: HSF

Dr. Philipp Walther, professor for healthcare management at HSF, in his talk illustrated some key challenges facing the German healthcare system. For example, demographic changes are leading to an aging population, necessitating increased and more intense healthcare. Statistics show that three-fourths of the senior citizens in the age group 70-74 years suffer from at least three, if not more, chronic diseases. On the other hand, there is a growing trend of urbanization, leaving rural populations vulnerable in terms of the availability of healthcare infrastructure. Challenges are, however, not limited to the elderly alone. Dietary habits are leading to an increasing share of overweight and even obese children in the society. Prof. Walther, therefore, emphasized the need for encompassing frugal approaches in the entire healthcare value chain to ensure affordable access to appropriate and high-quality healthcare.

Prof. Philipp Walther speaking about challenges facing Germany’s healthcare system | Photo: HSF

Once the context for affordable and inclusive healthcare was set, the audience was introduced to the concept of frugal innovation by Dr. Rajnish Tiwari, professor for business administration and global innovation at HSF and co-founder of the Center for Frugal Innovation (CFI) at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). In his talk, he defined frugal innovations as enablers of affordable and sustainable excellence that re-question existing innovation paradigms and advocate a clean-slate approach in the search of an efficient and effective utilization of resources. The concept, as advocated by CFI, argues for moving beyond discussions about low vs. high-tech, and rather to look at the appropriateness of a solution in terms of its ability to solve problems efficiently and effectively.

In this context, Dr. Shyam Vasudevarao, Founder and Director of Forus Health, Renalyx and Rx DHP, joined the event live from India and showcased two successful frugal innovations developed by his firms. The first example connected to the need to achieve good health and well-being (SDG #3). Dr. Vasudevarao pointed out that while 80% of the cases of blindness can be prevented if pre-screened, but only 7-10% of the people are actually screened on time. His solution “3Nethra” is an integrated pre-screening device for the broad based detection of eye ailments with a telemedicine interface. The second solution concerned renal care in an affordable and inclusive manner through early detection & identification, which can be very relevant for industrialized societies, including Germany. Both solutions use digital technologies, especially artificial intelligence and cloud computing. His talk showed that there was an excellent match between the frugal approach (preventive and inclusive care, early detection, education & engagement, and affordable treatment) and the needs of the German healthcare system.

Dr. Shyam Vasudevarao giving a talk live from India | Photo: HSF

However, a new challenge for bringing frugal innovation to German healthcare institutions was revealed by a study presented jointly by Dr. Stephan Buse, deputy director of the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) at TUHH, and by Mr. Tim Kneesch from the University Clinic Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg. The comprehensive study found that the concept of frugal innovations is not yet well-known in German hospitals. Furthermore, the study identified some very significant political, economic and psychological hurdles for their acceptance. Some key challenges include prohibitively high regulatory norms and standards, non-supportive existing financial incentives in the systems, a perceived conflict between frugality and sustainability, as well as mind-set issues.

Dr. Stephan Buse presenting results of his joint study | Photo: HSF

The talks thus set a very fertile ground for a round of discussion moderated by Dr. Hendrik Müller, professor for business ethics at HSF. The panelists included Mr. Fridjof Stuck, Head of Medical Technology at UKE Hamburg, and Mr. Enrique Dorn Schohaus, Head of R&D at 3B Scientific, in addition to Dr. Stephan Buse, Mr. Tim Kneesch, and Dr. Philipp Walther. The panel discussion provided for a very engaging discussion with pro and contra arguments. It brought to the fore the interesting situation that while there is an acknowledged need for ensuring high affordability in the healthcare sector in Germany, the current status-quo tends to crowd-out frugal solutions. Part of the problem also seems to lie with regulatory and quality standards that raise the bar “too high” (in some cases even unreasonably so),thus sometimes scuttling unconventional innovative solutions. Ensuring a match between quality aspirations and frugality is a challenge that the stakeholders will have to take up. Furthermore, the event showed that the understanding of frugal innovations needs to go beyond the technical paradigm and has to include frugal ways of living.

Panel discussion underway at the event | Photo: HSF

HSF and CFI have decided to further pursue these challenges in cooperation and further engage the relevant stakeholders from industry, research and governments in order to continue exploring avenues for building bridges between German healthcare and frugal solutions, as both, the need and the compatibility, were brought unmistakably to the fore by this event, which was attended by about 25 participants from the relevant sector.

The event was organized in cooperation with the Center for Frugal Innovation TU Hamburg and German-Indian Round Table Hamburg. It was supported by Life Science Nord and the Consulate General of India in Hamburg.

Interview in the run-up to the R&D Management conference 2022: “Frugal Digital Innovation and Transformation”

 
R&D Today conducts an interview with Suchit Ahuja, Rajnish Tiwari and
Stephanie Cadeddu in the run-up to the R&D Management Conference 2022.

Center for Frugal Innovation is also this year involved in the organization of a track at this year’s R&D Management conference (July 11-13, 2022) in Trento in Italy.

Track 2.15 with the title “Frugal Digital Innovation & Transformation: Impacting Business, Society, and the Environment”is being organized by Track Chairs: Suchit Ahuja (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada), Rajnish Tiwari (Hochschule Fresenius/Center for Frugal Innovation, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany), and Stephanie Cadeddu (Cégep du Vieux Montréal, Canada).

R&D Today, which is a publication outlet of the Research and Development Management Association (RADMA) spoke with the Chairs of this track. In their own words:

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Leveraging bionanotechnology for sustainable and inclusive growth: New CFI publication

The Center for Frugal Innovation has published a new report on prospects of Indo-German collaboration in ensuring affordable healthcare with the help of bionanotechnology, also known as nanobiotechnology or nanomedicine, depending on the context. The report with the title “Leveraging bionanotechnology for sustainable and inclusive growth : prospects for Indo-German collaboration in ensuring affordable healthcare” has been prepared by Dr. Sadhana Tiwari and Prof. Dr. Rajnish Tiwari, and published by the Consulate General of India, Hamburg.

Abstract of the report

The field of bionanotechnology, sometime also referred to as nanobiotechnology, has emerged from the intersection of nanotechnology and biotechnology. Today, it constitutes one of the fastest growing research fields due to its enormous potential. A particularly promising area of application for bionanotechnology is Life Sciences or Healthcare, where nanomedicine can help with advance diagnostics and targeted, patient-specific treatment in an effective and speedy manner while reducing the use of resources. Thus, bionanotechnology shows high compatibility with principles of “affordable excellence” that lie at the roots of the modern concept of frugal innovation.

India and Germany both have made substantial progress in this field and many research institutions, universities, startups and established enterprises are active stakeholders of this industry, along with government bodies. Biomaterials, biosensors, functional systems, drug transport/targeting and implants are the five most active technology fields in Germany’s nanobiotechnology sector, while a strong focus can be observed in the application areas of diagnostics, medical devices, therapeutics and regenerative medicine within the Health/Pharma sector. These areas coincide with India’s thrust areas of research that is, however, still largely concentrated in research institutions. A bilateral cooperation between India and Germany can be highly rewarding as it can use complementary strengths of the respective ecosystems and help each other in overcoming their weaknesses, e.g. in ensuring translational research, developing common regulatory/safety standards, better utilization of resources & infrastructure, and creation of cutting-edge knowledge through joint research and exchange programs for researchers, scientists, students and entrepreneurs to intensify interaction.

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Invitation to join online workshop: “Lifelong learning in the age of digital transformation”

TIM-TUHH invites all interested persons to an online workshop on Friday 15 Oct. 2021 (11:00 – 12:30 hours CEST) on the theme of “Lifelong learning in the age of digital transformation: Chances and challenges for institutions of higher education”. The workshop is a part of the Erasmus Days 2021. A direct registration link is here.

This online session which will be moderated by Dr. Rajnish Tiwari from Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) is concerned with the disruptive opportunities and challenges that digital transformation brings to higher education institutions. Based on insights generated in the VISION project, funded by the European Union, we will share our results and discuss with the invited speakers and participants the following issues:

  1. How can institutions of higher education turn disruptive challenges into promising opportunities?
  2. How can the requisite competencies for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship (CIE) be imparted to those that need it the most efficiently and effectively?
  3. How can we use the approach of frugal innovation (“affordable green excellence”) to enable lifelong learning and mitigate the global societal challenges by ensuring social inclusion?

In addition to the presentation of project results by Dr. Rajnish Tiwari, the workshop will be enriched by sharing of insights and experiences by the following three invited speakers representing different contexts:

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Presentation of the VISION study results at Hochschule Fresenius

On June 24, 2021, Dr. Rajnish Tiwari was invited to present key results of the “VISION” project at an online research colloquium of the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences (“Hochschule Fresenius”, “HSF”), which was attended by scholars from the university’s Faculty OnlinePlus spread across not only Germany but also outside. The colloquium was organized and moderated by Prof. Dr. Gudrun Glowalla, Vice-Dean Research, of the Faculty OnlinePlus of HSF.

Faculty OnlinePlus of HSF specializes in offerings of distance education and has recently introduced an innovative study format called, the Mixed-Mode, which combines elements of online “anytime, anywhere” education with targeted in-presence classes for specific topics. The Mixed-Mode does not have a fixed-semester and students can flexibly choose any one of the several study and examination centers for a specific module. The Ministry of Sciences in the Federal State of Hesse has officially recognized this format.

With this, the Mixed-Mode format and the blended learning it enables, seem to have several connections with the core findings of the currently ongoing VISION project, of which TUHH is a consortial partner (full project name: “Envisioning the Future of teaching and coaching for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship” (ERASMUS+ project, grant number: 612537-EPP-1-2019-1-SI-EPPKA2-KA).

Empirical investigations conducted for the VISION, e.g. in the form of literature reviews, expert interviews, and stakeholder workshops, suggest that the digital transformation possesses an immense potential to promote creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship (CIE), which crucial to meet the challenges of SDGs, especially in the global South, and ageing societies in the global North. Life-long learning in a user-friendly, resource-savvy and effective manner is critical to achieving these objectives. Reskilling and upskilling of the workforce can be achieved in a highly individualized manner with low costs, high quality (e.g. through use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality etc.). The anytime, anywhere formats can substantially redurce the (opportunity) costs for learners while enabling significant economies of scale for providers of such education. Detailed results of the project were later presented at the R&D Management Coneference 2021.

For more information on the VISION project, see the project website and/or contact Dr. Rajnish Tiwari at TUHH. It is planned to cooperate with HSF to enable mutual learnings. Dr. Tiwari has also accepted a professorial position at HSF, where he is also excpected to stengthen this innovative teaching format with his expertise gained through VISION.