In this paper we investigate how different discourses on frugal innovation are articulated, and how the dynamics between these different discourses have led to a certain dominant understanding of frugal innovation today. We analyse the dynamic interactions between three discourses on frugal innovation: (1) innovations for the poor, (2) grassroots innovations by the poor, and more recently (3) co-creating frugal innovations with the poor. We argue that this latter discourse is articulated as a hegemonic project as it is designed to accommodate demands from both business and poor communities. We draw on Laclau and Mouffe’s concepts of ‘chain of difference’, ‘empty signifier’ and ‘floating signifier’ to explain the advent of the hegemonic discourse on co-creating innovations with the poor. We show how a floating signifier with radical potential, frugal innovation, has been hijacked and co-opted in a hegemonic project that has leveraged powerful ambiguous signifiers, with co-creation acting as an empty signifier. To clarify what is problematic in this hegemonic intervention, we expose how contemporary frugal innovation discourse contributes to a project of governing and exploiting rather than helping the poor, in ways that benefit formal economic actors while further worsening global inequalities.

在本文中，我们调查了关于节俭创新的不同话语是如何表达的，以及这些不同话语之间的动态如何导致对当今节俭创新的某种主要理解。我们分析了关于节俭创新的三种话语之间的动态相互作用：（1）穷人的创新，（2）穷人的草根创新，以及最近（3）与穷人共同创造节俭创新。我们认为，后一种话语被阐明为霸权项目，因为它旨在满足商业和贫困社区的需求。我们利用拉克劳和墨菲的“差异链”、“空的能指”和“浮动的能指”的概念来解释与穷人共同创造创新的霸权话语的出现。我们展示了一个具有激进潜力的浮动能指，节俭的创新，已被一个霸权项目所劫持和吸收，该项目利用了强大的模棱两可的能指，而共同创造则充当了一个空洞的能指。为了澄清这种霸权干预的问题所在，我们揭示了当代节俭的创新话语如何有助于治理和剥削而不是帮助穷人的项目，其方式有利于正规经济参与者，同时进一步加剧全球不平等。