Welcome to the FRANCIS Project!
This Frugal innovation by Citizens for Citizens project receives funding from the European Unionās Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101006220.BSH Challenge is now live!
When you do household and kitchen chores, do you constantly feel something is missing to help you with these activities? Do you need quick and efficient solutions?Ā
We are so happy to invite you toĀ innovate with FRANCIS projectĀ and be the creator of your own space with the help of our team of mentors: industry coaches, buddies and facilitators.
This challenge specifically welcomesĀ participantsĀ fromĀ India, Germany and TurkeyĀ but is open to everyone, who is at least 18 years old and speaks English, German or Turkish. We aim at attracting citizens that value simplicity ā families with restricted budget and space, people with a minimalist mindset andĀ senior citizen managing their own household. We are also looking forward to your application if you are an entrepreneur with new ideas that could change the market.

FRANCIS
FRANCISā consortium includes seven partners from six European countries – Fraunhofer from Germany, VTT from Finland, Finnish non-profit organization InnoFrugal, The Behavioural Insights Team from the United Kingdom, the French tech startup Agorize and two industrial enterprises, HELIOZ from Austria and Turkeyās BSH Home Appliances.
The FRANCIS project aims to develop frugal innovations by citizens for citizens within the scope of open innovation challenges.
This includes establishing a scientific foundation with recommendations on how to involve different participant groups in the challenges and how to encourage the shared development of ideas.
This project will run two open innovation challenges, each mentored by an industry partner, who supports the participants in detailing their ideas.
Challenges
Launched in February 2021, the first phase of the project in 2021 will establish a scientific foundation with recommendations on how to involve different participants groups in challenges and how to encourage the shared development of ideas. The second phase, which will take place in 2022 and 2023, will run two open innovation challenges, each mentored by an industry partner, who supports the participants in detailing their ideas.
The scope of the first challenge will be the application area of the culinary world and home care. Focused target groups are troubled families, minimalistic living people and elderly people living alone. During the second challenge round the application area solar disinfection will be focused. Target groups are minimalistic consumers, low-/middle-income households in (semi-)rural areas, people in refugee camps and micro-entrepreneurs. Target countries are Turkey, Germany, India, Bangladesh and Uganda.
Lessons learned from the challenges will be incorporated into the citizen frugal innovation framework at the end of the project, so that they can serve as a guide for future frugal innovation initiatives.

The scope of the first challenge will be the application area of the culinary world and home care. Focused target groups are troubled families, minimalistic living people and elderly people living alone. Target market countries are Turkey, Germany, and India.

News and Blog
Read our latest blog posts, articles, and announcements.
The First FRANCIS Challenge for BSH is Accepting Applications Now!
When you do household and kitchen chores, do you constantly feel something is missing to help you with these activities? Do you need quick and efficient solutions?
Updated Call For “Buddies” For BSH Challenge in FRANCIS Project
Up for a challenge? Join FRANCIS as a buddy and help us develop great solutions to improve peopleās lives!
Notes from FRANCIS Project Review Meeting Held in Paris in Mid-October 2022
The FRANCIS consortium got together in person for the first time in Paris between October 17-19, 2022. Due to Covid travel restrictions, the consortium members were only able to do virtual meetings so far, therefore this opportunity to meet was welcomed by all.
Contact Us
Project Coordinator
Liza Wohlfart
Fraunhofer IAO
Email: liza.wohlfart@iao.fraunhofer.de
Communication and Dissemination Manager
Venkata Gandikota
InnoFrugal
Email: venkata@innofrugal.org