Frugal Innovation Lab

The Frugal Innovation Hub's (FIH) mission is to engage students and faculty in technological and humanitarian projects through partnerships and programs. The FIH acts as a liaison and as a facilitator. We act as a liaison between engineering students, faculty members and organizations (our clients) to solve together humanitarian problems. We also act as a facilitator between the students and their clients to ensure the consolidating of projects and the appropriate technology for the deliverables. These are the kinds of wonderful things our students and faculty are doing in humanitarian technology: Project: Low-Cost Sensor for the Detection of E. coli in Donated Human Breast Milk – Advisors: Unyoung (Ashley) KIM and Michele Parker Project: Text for a Ride in Uganda – Advisor: Silvia Figueira Project: Infinity/Solar Lights Project – Advisor: Timothy Healy Project: Helping Homeless People – Advisors: Silvia Figueira and Natalie Linnell "The Engineer requires the imagination to visualize the needs of a society and to appreciate what is possible as well as the technological and broad social age understanding to bring his vision to reality” – Sir. Eric Ashby How do we do our work? When a client approaches us with a need, we engage students and faculty to address their pain-point. Once a student adopts a “need”, the FIH facilitates the process of translating that “need” into an engineering problem through the design innovation process. We do that by: Encouraging the student in developing a deeper understanding of the need Guiding the student in defining and redefining the engineering problem to solve Providing resources and feedback on the potential solutions Supporting the process of prototyping and testing FIH develops projects focused on five key technical verticals based upon the expertise of specialized faculty members. The program also supports projects in peripheral verticals that have a high social impact for humanitarian organizations, such as solar energy and web design. Moreover, we promote a frugal and entrepreneurial approach to projects through our signature programs. To learn more about the structure of our program, check out our hub chart. Where do we do our work? We have developed humanitarian projects in many latitudes around the world: Ghana, Gambia, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Afghanistan, Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and India. This also includes our communities here in the Silicon Valley: San Jose, Santa Clara, Oakland and San Francisco. This region claims one of the largest homeless populations in the United States, with 88% of their homeless youth living on the streets or in their cars. Ghana MapSanta Clara County MapUganda MapIndia Map Who do we work with at FIH? All innovative ideas started the same way everywhere... with a talk... Let’s talk. We work “hand-in-hand” with nonprofit organizations, NGO and social enterprises on technology projects aimed to support organizations’ efforts to better serve their target population. If you are working to improve lives and your organization has a need that can be solved through engineering ingenuity, contact us! Email: fih@scu.edu Santa Clara University School of Engineering 500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA 95053 Guadalupe Hall, Bldg. 455, 3rd Floor (408) 554-2334 Why join us?