NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, April 6, 2018

By Alannah Francis

Whether it’s bringing quality healthcare closer to those residing in rural villages or providing people with facilities as basic and necessary as toilets, it’s sometimes wise not to overcomplicate things. Frugal innovation, based on the Indian concept of jugaad– innovating when there are limitations in resources – can provide an answer when capital is low, resources are scarce, or infrastructure is in need of upgrading.

Here are five businesses putting frugality at the forefront of innovation.

Peek Vision

Over 80% of blindness is treatable, yet 36 million people around the world are blind. These statistics highlight the need for quality eye-test access.

Peek Vision works with partners to improve access to high-quality eye care using the Peek Acuity and Peek Acuity Pro smartphone vision-test apps, and Peek Retina, a smartphone adapter for examining inside the eye. The apps, which are designed by eye care professionals, enable anyone to examine a patient’s eyes and assess the quality of their sight. The patient is shown a letter in the app and has to identify it as it increases and decreases in size and changes direction. The patient’s answers are graded by the app, which also determines their score at the end of the test.

Image courtesy of Chris Potter.