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Frugal innovation can help to foster sustainability and address global challenges, like building economic growth, addressing various social needs, and protecting the environment. However, if one wants to measure the sustainability impacts of frugal innovation or enable companies to make empirically informed decisions between frugal and alternative innovation, the question of how to assess these empirical impacts arises. The main objectives of this paper are the identification of approaches and indicators for assessing the sustainability impacts of frugal innovation and the analysis of empirical findings relating to prior assessments. To this end, a systematic literature review was conducted, which identified 15 texts, and a qualitative content analysis was employed to evaluate their contents. From these analyses two main approaches for assessment emerged. First, the assessment based on the triple bottom line or the dimensions of sustainability (ecological, social, and economic). Second, assessment against the Sustainability Development Goals. In the identified texts, the sustainability dimensions are preferred over the Sustainable Development Goals for assessing the sustainability impacts of frugal innovation. From the 15 identified texts, 13 use qualitative indicators and two quantitative (conceptual) indicators. To answer the research question of the paper, a set of 47 qualitative indicators relating to integrated dimensions of sustainability for the assessment of the sustainability impacts of frugal innovation is proposed. In addition, this paper presents new insights relating to the empirical evidence of sustainability impacts of frugal innovation. Approximately 60% of 334 empirical findings from 70 different cases related to the Sustainable Development Goals contribute to the five (socially and economically focused) SDGs 8, 3, 10, 12, and 9. After a transformation to the Triple Bottom Line, these findings contribute predominantly to the economic and social dimensions (in each case 45%), and only slightly to the ecological dimension (the remaining 10%). In turn, 164 empirical results from 77 different cases related to the Triple Bottom Line show an almost similar contribution to all three sustainability dimensions with a small lead of the economic dimension. Nonetheless, in the opinion of the author, these findings confirm other studies, that from an empirical perspective, frugal innovation can be described as inherently socially and economically sustainable and ecological sustainability is mostly not the primary focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural decay is changing rural landscapes worldwide, but its impacts on agricultural production, especially on large-scale farming, are still being debated in the scientific literature. Certain researchers see it as a threat to large-scale farming, whereas others view it as an opportunity for modern agriculture. Here, this paper presented an integrated framework and used a case study to exemplify this issue. A model selection approach (OLS, SEM, and SLM) was performed to assess the impacts of rural decay on large-scale farming based on a comparative analysis of farming systems for peri-urban agriculture (efficient agriculture, semi-subsistence agriculture, and leisure agriculture) in China. The assessment showed that there was a positive spatial autocorrelation between rural decay and large-scale farming in the region. The results of the comparative analysis indicated that contrasting impacts were recorded in three farming systems: their relationship in rural communities practicing efficient agriculture and semi-subsistence agriculture tended to be more consistent by reason of the rural exodus, farmland abandonment, and residential vacancy providing crucial preconditions for large-scale farming. However, contrasting patterns were observed in leisure agriculture, and their conflicting relationship due to low dwelling density and population aging trapped large-scale farming in a disadvantaged position. In general, rural decay could partially and temporally accelerate large-scale farming, but it does not seem to be a favorable phenomenon to promote large-scale farming in the long term. Therefore, some effective strategies, such as providing more off-farm employment opportunities, improving land consolidation and machinery for agricultural production, and adapting various farming systems, may contribute to the feasible implementation of policies aiming to reverse rural decay and even accelerate large-scale farming. [Display omitted] • Rural decay can be interpreted as depopulation, land degradation, and industrial decline. • Decaying rural communities can be considered a crucial precondition for large-scale farming. • Contrasting impacts are observed in rural communities with different farming systems. • Rural decay could temporally accelerate large-scale farming, but not a favorable phenomenon. • Various farming systems could coexist to achieve large-scale farming and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]