Frugal innovations for medicine and medical technology

When resources are scarce, simple and cost-effective solutions are in demand. Frugal innovations follow exactly this approach. Medicine and medical technology provide many interesting examples - from which both developing countries and industrialized nations can benefit.

Simple and inexpensive: the "Chewing Gum Quick Test" developed at the University of Würzburg makes it possible to diagnose bacterial inflammation in the mouth. (Photo credit: Fotolia©ulianna)

The Nigerian family is worried: one of their children feels listless, has headaches, aching limbs and fever. The nearest doctor is far away, the journey from the remote village in central Africa extremely arduous. Especially with a sick child. Now it would be helpful to know immediately whether the symptoms indicate only a simple flu-like infection or malaria, a disease that can lead to death if left untreated just a few days after infection.

Approximately 200 million cases of malaria are recorded each year. The region most affected is sub-Saharan Africa. Certainty can only come from a malaria test. Classic malaria tests, however, require a blood draw, which carries a certain risk of infection, and a complex examination in the laboratory. The "Urine Malaria Test" UMT developed in 2008 by the US company Fyodor Biotechnologies on the basis of a urine sample, on the other hand, can be carried out simply, quickly and inexpensively by anyone who is presumed to be infected. After just 25 minutes, the result can be read on a test strip.

UMT's approach is exemplary of a topic that has been gaining increasing importance in recent years: frugal innovation. This term refers to innovations that are limited to essential core functions and are geared to specific customer needs. The end products are cost-effective and easy to use.

The developers operate in the low-cost sector - without skimping on quality. The examples of frugal innovations in medicine and medical technology are broad, ranging from low-tech to high-tech products. For example, Siemens has developed a low-cost and easy-to-use computer tomograph. The project shows that frugal innovations are also interesting for international corporations. "Among other things, we were able to identify and resolve potential problems in operation in advance through an interactive and creative process in dialog," says Gerhard Krämer, user experience designer at Siemens.

More examples of frugal innovations

Frugal innovations can detect diabetic retinopathy, a disease of the retina, early. (Image credits: iStock©eclipse)
Another example frugal innovations in medicine provides diabetic retinopathy, a disease of the retina that can lead to blindness if not detected and treated early. With the "Integrated Tele-Ophthalmological System" (ITOS) developed by Peter Voigtmann GmbH of Nuremberg, Germany, this serious eye disease can be diagnosed even by non-medically trained personnel. ITOS enables decentralized operation at widely distributed or remote locations. This offers the opportunity to reach at-risk patients who have no or inadequate access to medical care and to identify those patients who need ophthalmic treatment.

In turn, the "chewing gum rapid test" developed at the University of Würzburg is an extremely easy-to-use and inexpensive test for diagnosing bacterial inflammation in the oral cavity, for example after dental surgery. The early detection method can help prevent serious complications such as bone loss. Detector is the tongue, bitter taste released by enzymes when chewing the gum indicates inflammation.

"Frugal innovations can make an important contribution in medicine to realize simple and cost-effective solutions for life-sustaining measures, especially in remote places in the world," Fyodor Biotechnologies CEO Eddy C. Agbo expresses confidence. In his view, the UMT test has democratized malaria screening: In addition, the UMT test shows how frugal procedures make it possible to examine a large number of potentially ill people simply and unbureaucratically.

Bavaria goes frugal

"There are many good reasons for a Bavarian company to engage in frugal innovations," Dr. Petra Blumenroth of Bayern Innovativ is convinced. The coordination office of the same name, headed by the graduate biologist, aims to raise the potential of frugal solutions together with scientific partners and offers various services for interested companies. Learn more about Frugal Innovations!