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'Frugal innovation' does more with less to find solutions

Technological advances have added expensive bells and whistles. Getting back to basics allows low-income populations to play a major part in their own progress.

In the global development world, one particular 鈥渂uzz word鈥� has been gaining momentum... and it might be the most of them all.

鈥淔rugal innovation鈥� is a trendy term for a widely known 鈥� yet often overlooked 鈥� fact: The developing world cannot afford to throw massive resources at increasingly complex technologies to solve its problems. The developed world鈥檚 鈥渕odel is ... too costly, elitist, and rigid and fails to address even basic socioeconomic needs,鈥� explains innovation and leadership strategist .

World leaders gathered in September in New York for the UN to adopt a list of that address issues like climate change, poverty, and global health care. The goals set targets for governments, foundations, and entrepreneurs around the world to solve major global issues by 2030.

Radjou, a Fellow at the University of Cambridge, that the success of the sustainable development goals will depend on more cost-effective, straightforward solutions.

In his 2014 , Radjou illustrated that the 鈥渕ore (and better) with less鈥� strategy is indispensable in developing new technologies, especially for universal access to health care. In many cases, simply paring down technologies that already exist makes them more widely accessible.

Accessibility, along with sustainability, affordability, and quality, are the of frugal innovation. They ensure that the technologies make it to the populations that need them most and, further, that the technologies will thrive there.

, an international health organization that strives for adequate health care worldwide, is a strong advocate for frugal innovation. Last year, its initiative invited experts to submit innovative ideas that could accelerate health care progress in the next 15 years. From more than 500 submissions, a third of which came from low- and middle-income sources, emerged 30 innovations deemed most promising in the crusade for adequate health care.

笔础罢贬'蝉听 report highlights these high-impact solutions. It shows, for instance, that rice fortification is a simple way to combat malnutrition 鈥� especially in children 鈥� by packing more nutrients into a food that millions already eat. Portable, affordable vision testing machines can be operated by low-level technicians to ensure proper eye care. And new oral "preexposure" drugs can prevent HIV infection in groups at high risk, such as injection drug users and sex workers. Other innovations address common health issues like malaria, diarrhea, pregnancy and postpartum complications, and heart disease.

International development organization , with its annual , as well as USAID鈥檚 and UCLA鈥檚 , are hopping on board the frugal innovation trend as well. Following PATH鈥檚 lead, these initiatives are crowdsourcing ideas and opening their development initiatives to the global community.

This crowdsourcing is essential to frugal innovation. Some of the most effective innovations derive not from experts with infinite resources but from individuals who come from the very conditions of poverty they are trying to eradicate 鈥� 鈥渨here the street is the lab,鈥� .

, for example, created a simple machine that has provided thousands of women with much-needed sanitary pads. He was a poor college drop-out living in rural India when he built his machine out of sheer necessity as he realized his own wife lacked access to basic feminine hygiene.

And in Kenya, two university students from rural villages came up with a system to recharge a cell phone battery using energy generated from a bicycle.

"We took most of [the] items from a junk yard 鈥� using bits from spoiled radios and spoiled televisions," one of the students told the .

After decades of technological advances that championed ever more bells and whistles, the time has come to lose the frills and deal with the problems at hand. And by getting back to basics, frugal innovation allows low-income populations to play a major part in their own progress.

For more on this trend, watch USAID鈥檚 catchy Youtube video .

鈥� at , a blog published by .