This paper endeavours to emphasise one particular vector of sustainable development from intangible cultural heritage: ‘frugal innovations’. It discusses the potential of ICH to generate frugal innovations, contributing to improving communities’ quality of life and enhancing the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. A type of innovation constrained by limited resources, frugal innovation means the development of processes, products or services reduced to core functionalities with optimised performance levels, addressing the needs of the bottom of the pyramid market. When implemented at community level, it aims to create a novel solution from the scarce resources available to respond to the needs of the communities concerned. This paper presents two case studies - the Indian Mitticool, and the Australian WALFA project - to illustrate the transformation of specific traditional knowledge into frugal innovations, and their impact on their respective communities. The analysis will build on the conceptual framework proposed by Soni and Krishnan (2014) that defines the dimensions of frugal innovation in terms of mindset, process and product. This paper then analyses the institutional framework provided by the 2003 Convention, especially its Chapter VI on ‘Sustainable Development’, to legitimise and leverage ICH-related frugal innovations, as well as to ensure that this transformation is fair and collectively beneficial.