Frugal innovation and leapfrogging innovation approach to the Industry 4.0 challenge for a developing country

Abstract

There has been little discussion about solving problems in response to the Industry 4.0 challenge to a developing country. This paper focuses on those problems, including the investment dilemma caused by low affordability market, low capability of firms, and the fragmented stakeholder problem, in responding to the Industry 4.0 challenge. We develop a framework for solving the problems in responding to the Industry 4.0 challenge in Thailand, having frugal innovation and leapfrogging innovation concepts as theoretical bases. The examples of frugal and or leapfrogging innovation scenarios, which could offer a new momentum of the dynamics of industrial growth, which can be implemented under private–public partnership, are briefly discussed, and the pilot results of exposure of scenarios to Thai experts are discussed. The implication is that firms and developing countries need to consider alternative innovation approaches including the ones suggested and other possible approaches, and serious experimentation is required and the policy direction needs to be found out from feedbacks of the experimentations.