Necessity is the birth of each invention.
In 2015, we immersed ourselves during a whole month in a unique and rich culture, which taught us many things.
We visited 12 cities, went through the Maria La Gorda island at Baracoa, met an infinite number of people and went to this conclusion : Cubans are ingenious and resilient.
Integrating Cubans’ lifestyle, we realised that those people live in a harsh environment and have just a bit of resources available. On the other hand, they manage to transform difficulties in opportunies, by developing cheap and simple solutions that answer to their needs. In fact, Cubans are the masters in improvising, which we also call frugal innovation. When traveling in this beautiful country, we can see various interesting things :
- A train can become a bus
- A can can be transformed into a plant pot
- A smartphone can be use as traffic light for carriages.
Brievly, Cubans…
- …know how to do more, with less
- …think and act with flexibility
- …accept everyone, even outsiders
- …do things with emoción.
If you wish to learn how to innovate in a frugal manner, we recommend you to read this book Innovation Jugaad. Redevons ingénieux (2013, Editions Diateino, ISBN-13: 978-2354560966, Disponible sur amazon).
