When Gujarat was hit by an earthquake in 2001, a caption besides a picture of a broken earthen pot (matka) read, "Poor man's broken fridge" and that gave Mansukhbhai Prajapati, a potter, the idea to create what is now called the "Mitti Cool."
A clay fridge that runs without electricity, Mitti Cool manages to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for four to five with the cooling effect of the water trickling down the walls of the refrigerator.
Pressing the need for sustainability besides affordability and quality, especially in a time when resources are only perpetually depleting, a new book by innovation experts, Navi Rajdou and Jaideep Prabhu talks about "how to do more and better with less."
A sequel to "Jugaad Innovation" which was written in an Indian context, "Frugal Innovation" published by Hachette, chronicles the rise of a frugal economy in the US, Europe and Japan.
"In the age of scarcity companies and facing the pressure from consumers, employees and governments to create first rate affordable and sustainable products with less," says Rajdou, who currently works as an innovation and leadership advisor in Silicon Valley.
The authors participated in a panel discussion at the Indian Institute of Technology here recently.
Meanwhile, featuring over 50 case studies, the book identifies the principles, perspectives and techniques behind frugal innovation.
Among the several revolutionary concepts, the sharing economy and the maker movement have constantly been emerging as trends that increasingly define the global business landscape.
The rental sector, for instance, is expected to grow exponentially under a sharing economy, says Prabhu, a Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Director of the Centre for India and Global Business at Cambridge Judge Business School.
He exemplifies 'BlaBlaCar', a long distance inter-city ride sharing service, which is a huge hit in Europe, was launched in India two months back. Although the safety concerns cannot be dismissed completely, but the cut in the travel cost is impressive.
