From 06.02.2023 to 12.02.2023 Prof. Ingo Liefner, Julian Barnikol and Leon Worbs traveled to Chennai, India for a research stay in the context of the project "Implementation Conditions for Frugality in Innovation Processes". This stay was made possible to a large extent by the assistance of their host and cooperation partner Prof. Balkrishna C. Rao, who works at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM). The IITM represents India's leading technical university. Prof. Rao has previously served as a visiting lecturer at Leibniz Universität Hannover in the summer of 2022 as part of an ICCR Professorship in Indian Studies, including holding the first workshop on Advanced Frugal Innovation in Hannover.
The research trip made it possible to discuss the concept of Advanced Frugal Innovation (AFI) with numerous Indian manufacturing companies. This was presented and discussed with Indian managing directors and their research and development teams during a visit to concrete batching plant manufacturer Schwing Stetter and tunnel boring machine manufacturer Herrenknecht. Another highlight of the research trip was the workshop "Frugal Engineering of Advanced Frugal Innovations", which could be held at IITM on 09.02.2023 with more than 30 representatives of various Indian companies. In this workshop Prof. Rao presented the functioning of AFI in the context of Frugal Engineering. Furthermore, Julian Barnikol had the opportunity to present excerpts of his research results on hypothetical market-related development paths of AFI, which could be derived from company surveys in Germany.
We would like to express our sincere thanks for the warm and generous hospitality of Prof. Rao, the invitation and support of IITM, the great commitment of Mr. Mallikarjuna Shivasharanappa of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, who made the contact to local companies possible through his efforts, as well as to all companies that showed an interest in AFI by sending their employees as well as contributing to a better understanding of AFI, first of all Mr. V. G. Sakthikumar of Schwing Stetter India and Mr. M. Garg of Herrenknecht India. We are also very much looking forward to further research collaborations with Prof. Rao and IITM in the future.
