Co-creating community-led frugal innovation: An adapted Quadruple Helix?

Frugal innovation often requires cooperation among heterogeneous actors with diverse values, capabilities, in-terests, and norms. This qualitative, action-oriented case study presents the dynamics and interplay among the quadruple helix actors for community-led frugal innovation, thereby emphasizing the role of academia in its process. The findings of this study depict that informal actors can bring significant innovative inputs into the innovation system if the right kind of mechanisms are employed and trust-building exercises are undertaken. In addition, this study stimulates one to reflect on the challenges and complexities faced by academicians in publicly funded research institutions, especially for bringing informal actors into the innovation system and creating shared values. The quadruple helix model has been primarily discussed; most discussions involve advanced country settings. This study, conducted in a developing country setting, demonstrates that an inter-mediary actor linked to (but not identical to) the existing academia can significantly shape cooperation and its related activities in the desired direction. The findings indicate the necessity for adapting existing behavioural norms or institutional rigidities that exist among academic institutions if one wishes to galvanize the rich po-tential of community-led frugal innovations in India. Policy recommendations are discussed to create a condu-cive environment for such innovations.

Automated summary

This qualitative case study explores the dynamics and interplay among heterogeneous actors involved in community-led frugal innovation, with a focus on the role of academia. The findings highlight the importance of utilizing appropriate mechanisms and trust-building exercises to harness the innovative inputs from informal actors. Additionally, the study emphasizes the need for academic institutions to adapt their norms and rigidities to enable the potential of community-led frugal innovation in developing countries like India. Policy recommendations are discussed to foster a conducive environment for such innovation.