PhD defence: A development lens to resource constrained innovation: Exploring frugality in medical device manufacturing in South Africa
PhD student: Sanghamitra Chakravarty. Room: Aula B and livestream. On 4 November 2022 Sanghamitra Chakravarty will defend her PhD thesis looking at innovations and resource constraints in the healthcare sector. Her overarching research question is how does resource constrained innovation influence the direction of technological change? She argues that most medical devices by firms from high income countries which focus on their home markets. There is an urgent need to investigate alternative sources of frugal medical devices that can serve markets in resource-restricted settings. Chakravarty focuses on firms in developing countries, advancing a 'development lens' to resource-constrained innovation taking into consideration both innovation for and under resource constraint. Her focus is on South Africa as a middle-income country with a sophisticated industrial base, legacy of biomedical innovation and a growing medical device manufacturing sector.
