Category Archives: English

CFI in News…

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Recently, the Times of India (Pune edition, July 4th, 2015) carried out a report on avenues of Indo-German partnership, especially in the field of startups and research. The article, titled “Indian startups, research ideas catch Germany’s eye” was written by Ms. Roli Srivastava, who was “in Germany on the ‘Media Ambassadors India ­ Germany’ fellowship programme of the International Media Centre and Robert Bosch Stiftung”. Ms. Srivastava paid CFI a visit and talked with Dr. Stephan Buse and Dr. Rajnish Tiwari on various aspects of Indo-German relations and especially on “frugal innovation”. One aspect of this talk centered on a partnership that CFI has forged with Prof. Aravind Chinchure, chair professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Symbiosis International University in Pune (India). Her visit to CFI was preceded by a talk by Dr. Rajnish Tiwari to the group of “Media Ambassadors India Germany” at the International Media Centre of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, on the following theme “Partnering in the technical field: Current status and future scope for Indo-German relations”.

The following excerpts are from Ms. Srivastava’s report:

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Report: “OECD Says Economic Gains From Big Ships Are Sinking”

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Frugal & efficient usage of resources gets into focus in the maritime industry

By: Rajnish Tiwari
Hamburg Port

Hamburg Port (Photo: R. Tiwari)

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (June 3, 2015), “A new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggests that operating cost benefits to ocean carriers may not be as valuable as originally assumed for the new round of megaships […]” The report raises the question whether “container ships [are] getting too big, too fast to justify the savings that shipping lines expect from economies of scale?” The OECD study was apparently presented at the 29th World Ports Conference in Hamburg. Main themes of interest underlying the conference are efficient and sparing usage of resources, surface areas, and energy, reports German newspaper Die Welt (3.6.2015):

“Hauptthemen der Konferenz sind der effiziente und sparsame Umgang mit Ressourcen, Flächen und Energie.”

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Interview: “Marktgerechte Produkte werden immer wichtiger”

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Prof. Dr. Cornelius Herstatt and Dr. Rajnish Tiwari, co-founders of the Center for Frugal Innovation, were interviewed by Insight Asia Pacific, the house magazine of  OAV – German Asia Pacific Business Association, a renowned institution that, in its own words, “strives to promote stronger bilateral economic relationships between Germany and the Asia-Pacific region. Through its extensive corporate and institutional network, the OAV supports German companies and their ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The German-language interview spread over two pages was published in the issue 01/2015. The questions covered issues such as the reasons behind creation of R&D centers by German firms in Asia and the opportunities and challenges associated with them, the question of patents and the safety of intellectual property rights, and the potential of frugal innovations in the emerging economies of Asia. A PDF version of the interview is provided here with the kind permission of the publishers.

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“Is simple beautiful?” – The 8th Forum of Claussen Simon Foundation in Hamburg dedicated to discuss relevance of frugal innovation

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Interested persons and firm representatives are cordially invited to the 8th forum of Claussen Simon Foundation, to be held on 5th June 2015 in Hamburg. The forum intends to critically analyze and discuss the socio-economic relevance of frugal innovations in Europe in the years to come. A special focus of the forum lies on the opportunities and eventual risks involved with frugal innovations which are, in principle, characterized by affordable excellence. They are targeted at increasing the effectiveness and resource efficiency in application and can be used not only to serve price-sensitive customers in B2C and B2B areas but also to contribute to the socio-environmental welfare.

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“Simple, simpler, the best…”! Germany waking up to Frugal Innovation?

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On 15th April at the Hannover Messe the Federal State of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) is organizing a symposium on frugal innovations (language medium: German), with a subtitle which says “simple, simpler, the best”. The event which takes place at Nord/LB Forum between 14:00 and 18:00 hours would see several prominent speakers including Mr. Olaf Lies, Minister of Economy, Labour and Transport in Niedersachsen. Dr. Stephan Buse from CFI is also scheduled to deliver a talk with the title “Frugal Innovation – ein Konzept zur Erschließung kostensensitiver Märkte” (English: Frugal Innovation – A Concept to Capture Cost-sensitive Markets”.

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