Switzerland is too slow compared to the climate emergency and the urgent need to manage waste. Several approaches seem to exist to boost at a larger scale the development of this technologies helping the environment (cleantech). Is frugal innovation one of them? Results : Overall, Switzerland does not currently have the right environment enabling frugal innovation to be a solution to disseminate further cleantech. As frugal innvation is well integrated into emerging countries, it can, nonetheless, represent an opportunity for Swiss cleantech companies in their growth.