ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the trends in societal discourse on frugal innovations (FIs) in German-speaking countries. The search was performed for the German-language terms “frugale Innovation” and “frugale Innovationen” that correspond to singular and plural versions of “FI” in English. The most important characteristic, probably unsurprisingly, was the aspect of cost effectiveness, which accounted for 23% of all characteristics identified in the sample. Publications were analysed for their eventual emphasis on specific sectors. Among all sectors, especially interesting for FIs, medical devices topped with a score of 29%, closely followed by automotive and with some distance by mechanical engineering at 12%. The publications shared an overwhelmingly positive perception of FIs. The societal discourse on FI in the German-speaking regions seems to have been initially much more focused on the potentials of frugal products and services in the developing economies.
