Research, innovation and impact, three words that came together in a week of action to contribute to the sustainability approach in the business world. A presentation of the VIVA Idea and EGADE Chair and the book Frugal Innovation were of interest to the public from Monterrey, Mexico.

VIVA Idea’s action-research is oriented to face today’s major environmental and social challenges. Through strategic alliances with prestigious business universities in Latin America, such as the EGADE Business School of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, VIVA Idea promotes research and knowledge that transform into practical solutions.

Within the framework of “EGADE Action Week”, an event that seeks to embrace sustainability as a fundamental pillar in the development of successful businesses, two significant VIVA Idea activities were held that reflect the commitment to the application of actionable knowledge to solve complex environmental problems.

First, a presentation of the VIVA Idea Schmidheiny Chair in Sustainable Futures at EGADE Business School by Urs Jäger, Research Director of VIVA Idea.

The event was attended by Felipe Symmes, Academic Outreach leader of VIVA Idea and professor in the Department of Technological Innovation at EGADE Business School, Alejandra Rivero, director of Sustainability and Social Responsibility at Banregio, and Gabriel Rivera, executive director of the social organization Altitud.

During his speech, Jäger described the chair as “a living laboratory for sustainable futures”, which aims to develop and implement innovative methodologies to improve impact management at the intersection of research and innovation.

The researcher and professor also highlighted the integration of advanced knowledge into practical tools and pedagogies to foster the development of skills that enhance impact and the creation of sustainable futures. Jäger visited EGADE Business School’s Monterrey campus to interact with his peers from the business school and the audience.

Jäger also commented that VIVA Idea’s strategic alliance with EGADE Business School is crucial to generate high-impact research “that promotes social progress in the region and fosters collaborations between universities and academics to create a network of researchers focused on sustainable futures, contributing to solve major environmental and social challenges through action-research”. Jäger explained that this effort constitutes an institutional platform to strengthen the capabilities of future business leaders in sustainability and impact issues.

During the face-to-face event held in Monterrey, Felipe Symmes stressed the importance of transforming academic research into tools that assist companies and organizations to generate significant social and environmental impact.

“From academia, we must develop innovative methods that facilitate the resolution of real problems, a need that is especially urgent in the Latin American context,” said Symmes.

In addition, also within the framework of EGADE Action Week, the book Do more with less: The 6 principles of frugal innovation, co-written by Jaideep Prabhu, Felipe Symmes, Cristian Granados and Navi Radjou, was presented.

The book argues that frugal innovation is key to addressing challenges such as poverty and climate change in Latin America, maximizing value with minimal resources and exploring strategies to increase productivity in a smart way, through case studies of leading companies in the region such as Oxxo, Bimbo and Tesla.

Published by Editorial Paidós, the text presents practical examples and ideas that follow six fundamental principles for innovation in Latin America, including the creation of sustainable solutions and the co-creation of value with consumers.

“Frugal innovation not only meets the needs of the bottom of the pyramid; it is a disruptive strategy that can gradually replace market leaders with simple and accessible solutions,” explained Granados.

Symmes highlighted the role of an institution like EGADE in inspiring companies to create solutions adapted to the local realities of the region, instead of importing models that have not solved crucial problems such as poverty and climate change.

With these activities, VIVA Idea reaffirms its position as an organization that not only creates innovations for collective impact projects, but also transforms knowledge into methodologies and solutions that improve efficiency and effectiveness, while accelerating their impact on society.

Felipe Symmes is director of the VIVA Idea Schmidheiny Chair in Sustainable Futures at EGADE Business School, a space for research applied to the impact and action of communities in Latin America and in dialogue with the international scientific community.

Urs Jäger is director of the VIVA Idea Schmidheiny Chair in Impact Management at INCAE Business School working at the intersection of innovation and research to develop and test methodologies based on state-of-the-art knowledge. Our efforts are focused on strengthening the capacities of impact managers through cutting-edge methods that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their interventions.