Design Thinking for Entrepreneurship in Frugal Contexts

Journal article, 2019

Even if design is recognized as an important driver for innovation on a global scale, there are still many countries in the developing part of the world where design as a process for innovation do not play any significant role for businesses and society. There is however a growing interest in design as a resource for innovation in many developing countries, e.g. in Kenya, where these projects are taking place. The results illustrate how design can support a local network by establishing a co-creation process as the basis for innovations and entrepreneurship in a frugal context, the role and value of design thinking for supporting entrepreneurs. The experiences and learnings from frugal innovations are of equal importance as the process and mindset of Design Thinking. A new type of Knowledge Cluster therefore includes not only design knowledge and skills, but also frugal innovation and frugal criteria.