On 6 October 2025, Maria Alejandra Pineda Escobar successfully defended her thesis investigating the relevance of contextual considerations for the study of frugal innovation.
Bringing the strands of management and development studies literature into closer dialogue, Maria Alejandra Pineda Escobar provided a more nuanced understanding of the various characteristics that typify a frugal innovation and called for the addition of a socio-cultural and user-oriented perspective in frugal innovation research and practice.
While frugal products, services, processes and business models do have the potential to contribute to sustainable development, Pineda Escobar argued that frugal innovations are not inherently sustainable. She maintained that an adequate consideration of local contextual conditions is essential for the appropriateness, responsiveness and legitimacy of frugal innovations.
She proposed two frameworks for the identification of frugal innovation and for the assessment of its relation to sustainability, offering practical tools for researchers and practitioners alike.