Designing a University-Based Living Lab for Frugal Innovation: A Social Enterprise Model for SME Development
Keywords:
Frugal Innovation, Living Lab, Social Enterprise; Business Model Canvas; Research Commercialization; SustainabilityAbstract
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play a vital role in Indonesia's economy but continue to face challenges in adopting affordable innovation, digital technologies, and sustainable business practices. Although frugal innovation has been widely recognized as an effective approach for resource-constrained environments, existing studies predominantly emphasize conceptual discussions rather than practical implementation. This study proposes FrugalTech Living Lab (FTLL), a university-based social enterprise designed to bridge this gap by integrating research commercialization, student experiential learning, and SME development within a collaborative Living Lab ecosystem. The proposed business model was developed based on a bibliometric analysis of 519 Scopus-indexed publications (2015-2025) on frugal innovation, sustainability, inclusive innovation, and the circular economy, complemented by the authors' research, community engagement, and technology development initiatives conducted since 2023. The Business Model Canvas (BMC) was employed to design a sustainable model that delivers affordable innovation consulting, student-led digital marketing services, IoT-enabled solutions, business incubation, and capacity-building programmes. FTLL demonstrates how universities can transform research outputs into practical solutions while strengthening SME competitiveness, enhancing student employability, and fostering collaboration among academia, industry, government, and communities.References
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Copyright (c) 2026 Renita Kawuryan, Zhara Marchelina Laurentia, Andi Syarifuddin, Fauziah Lily Anggraeni S
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