Prof. Dr. Christian Ramsauer (l.) with Prof. Dr. Cornelius Herstatt (r). Photo: IIM.

Prof. Dr. Cornelius Herstatt was invited to deliver a guest lecture on the theme of frugal innovation at the Institute of Innovation and Industrial Management (IIM) of TU Graz (Graz University of Technology). He was hosted by Prof. Dr. Christian Ramsauer, director of IIM. The audience was an interdisciplinary group of Master students from various faculties. Prof. Herstatt spoke about the increasingly-apparent global need for frugal innovations in both developing and the industrialized world. Furthermore, he showcased an example about how frugal innovation projects can be technologically and organizationally implemented in a multinational company in the settings of economically-developed nations. The results were based on a recent project of CFI with a large international manufacturer of machine and tools industry.

This was the second time Prof. Herstatt visited TU Graz to speak on frugal innovations. There is a growing interest of the Austrian industry in this topic and both institutes (CFI@TIM/TUHH and IIM@TU Graz) intend to collaborate in research, teaching and advising companies.