Navi Radjou
Most large organisations now run innovation budgets that no longer match the returns they once produced. R and D spend rises, pilot projects multiply, and the gap between cost and commercial output widens. Leaders need a way to generate breakthrough growth with fewer resources, in conditions where capital, talent, and time are all under pressure.
Navi Radjou is an innovation and leadership advisor whose work helps organisations generate breakthrough growth using fewer resources, drawing on the frameworks of Jugaad Innovation and the Frugal Economy.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Navi Radjou
- He has named and codified two frameworks, Jugaad Innovation and Frugal Innovation, that give leadership teams a shared vocabulary for doing more with less rather than relying on bigger R and D budgets.
- His client work spans Fortune 500 firms including IBM, Microsoft, Procter and Gamble, GM, SAP, and Ernst and Young, so the case material in his sessions is operational, not academic.
- The Thinkers50 Innovation Award and three consecutive appearances on the Thinkers50 ranking (2021, 2023, 2025) place him among the small group of innovation thinkers whose work boards take seriously.
- His 2024 book The Frugal Economy, published by Wiley with Thinkers50, gives senior leaders a current playbook for B2B sharing, distributed manufacturing, and regenerative business models.
- He brings empirical material from emerging markets that most Western innovation speakers cannot, drawing on field research in India, China, Africa, and Latin America.
Biography highlights
- Former Fellow of Cambridge Judge Business School and former Executive Director of its Centre for India and Global Business.
- Thinkers50 Innovation Award winner, ranked on the Thinkers50 list in 2021, 2023, and 2025.
- Co-author of Jugaad Innovation (Jossey-Bass), an international bestseller, and Frugal Innovation: How to Do More With Less (The Economist Books, foreword by Paul Polman).
- Co-author of From Smart to Wise (Jossey-Bass), a study of wise leadership judgement in technology-driven business environments.
- Author of The Frugal Economy: A Guide to Building a Better World With Less (Wiley and Thinkers50, 2024).
- TED Global speaker with over two million views on his talk on frugal innovation.
- Former Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research; faculty member of the World Economic Forum.
- Published in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and strategy plus business; covered by the Financial Times, The Economist, BBC, NPR, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.
Biography
R and D budgets in most large companies have stopped producing the returns they once did. Pilots multiply, capital tightens, and the question on the executive agenda becomes how to generate growth without spending more. This is the territory Navi Radjou has worked in for two decades, first as a Forrester analyst studying global innovation networks, then as Executive Director of the Centre for India and Global Business at Cambridge Judge Business School.
His central contribution is a managed practice for innovation under constraint. Jugaad Innovation, co-authored with Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja, took a Hindi term for resourceful improvisation and turned it into a corporate framework backed by case work from emerging markets. Frugal Innovation, published by The Economist Books with a foreword by Paul Polman, codified the practice for Western firms. The Frugal Economy, his 2024 book with Wiley and Thinkers50, extends the argument into a model for B2B sharing, distributed manufacturing, and regenerative supply chains.
The credentials sit underneath the work. Thinkers50 awarded him its Innovation Award in 2013 and has ranked him among the world’s most influential management thinkers in 2021, 2023, and 2025. He has consulted for IBM, Microsoft, Procter and Gamble, GM, SAP, and Ernst and Young, and he serves as a faculty member of the World Economic Forum. His TED Global talk on frugal innovation has been watched more than two million times.
What makes the perspective unusual is the empirical base. Most innovation thinkers write from Silicon Valley or business school faculties. Born in Pondicherry, educated at Ecole Centrale Paris and the Yale School of Management, and a French-American dual citizen, Radjou builds his arguments from case material in India, China, Africa, and Latin America, where resource constraint has always been the operating condition, then translates the discipline back into the boardrooms of Fortune 500 firms.
Key speaking topics
- Frugal innovation
- Jugaad and resource-constrained creativity
- The frugal economy and regenerative business models
- Intrapreneurship and corporate growth
- Innovation strategy in emerging markets
- Wise leadership in the AI era
- B2B sharing and distributed manufacturing
Ideal for
- Boards and executive teams reviewing innovation portfolios under capital constraint
- Chief Strategy Officers and Chief Innovation Officers planning growth without expanding R and D spend
- Sustainability leads and CEOs translating ESG commitments into operating substance
- Leadership development programmes for senior executives in multinational organisations
Audience outcomes
- A working definition of frugal innovation that distinguishes it from cost-cutting and connects it to growth
- Case-based examples from Fortune 500 and emerging-market firms that show the discipline in operation
- A vocabulary for Jugaad and intrapreneurship that senior teams can carry into their own innovation reviews
- A view of the frugal economy as a commercial opportunity, with named mechanisms (B2B sharing, distributed manufacturing, regenerative principles)
- A more rigorous standard for what counts as innovation when resources are scarce
Talks
A keynote on the multi-trillion-dollar opportunity created by B2B sharing, distributed manufacturing, and regenerative business models.
Key takeaways:
- The three mega-trends reshaping how value is created with fewer resources
- Operating examples from companies already building frugal economy business models
- A framework for senior leaders to test their own portfolio against frugal economy logic
A keynote on the discipline of doing more, and better, with less, to drive financial performance while addressing climate change and social inequality.
Key takeaways:
- The six principles of frugal innovation that help organisations gain agility in volatile, resource-constrained markets.
- Methods for co-creating affordable, regenerative products with “prosumers” to reach value-conscious Gen Y and Gen Z consumers.
- The shifts required across R and D, marketing, and leadership to capture a multi-trillion-dollar global market for frugal goods and services.
A keynote on grassroots ingenuity as a managed corporate practice rather than a cultural slogan.
Key takeaways:
- The six principles of Jugaad innovation drawn from emerging-market case work
- How large firms can build Jugaad capability without losing operational discipline
- The role of frontline employees, customers, and ecosystem partners as innovation sources
A keynote drawing on From Smart to Wise that addresses leadership judgement in an AI-saturated business environment.
Key takeaways:
- The six capabilities that distinguish wise leaders from merely smart ones
- How purpose-driven leadership shapes employee engagement across generations
- Practical decision frames for senior leaders working alongside AI systems
Videos
Testimonials
Navi Radjou's Articles
Books
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Asia Pacific | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Europe | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Middle East & Africa | Please enquire | Please enquire | Please enquire |
| South America | Please enquire | Please enquire | Please enquire |
| United Kingdom | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US East Coast | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US West Coast | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Virtual | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |