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Developing world and then create real, workable solutions : Mit
:: 15 July, 2007
This summer, organizers of the first International Development Design Summit at MIT are going to talk about problems in the developing world and then create real, workable solutions to them - all in the space of four weeks.
More than 50 people from 16 countries, many hailing from developing nations, will arrive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this weekend for the first-of-its-kind conference. Organizers hope that by including participants with a variety of technical backgrounds, the group can take an interdisciplinary approach that will yield hard results.
The summit realizes the vision of Amy Smith, who received a master's in engineering from MIT in 1995 and won a MacArthur 'genius' grant in 2004. Smith, one of the conference organizers, is dedicated to using technology to design simple yet efficient solutions for problems in the developing world.
"I believe very strongly that solutions to problems in the developing world are best created in collaboration with the people who will be using them," Smith said. "By bringing this group of people together, we get an incredibly broad range of backgrounds and experiences.
"We have a farmer from Ghana, a doctor from Pakistan, a carpenter from Haiti, a bicycle mechanic from Guatemala, and students from Brazil, Guatemala, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo," Smith continued. "With all these people working together to identify problems and create solutions to them, there is an extraordinary richness in the problem-solving teams."
She currently teaches MIT's D-Lab, a series of courses that focus on international development. The summit will further the mission of D-Lab by involving those who will use technologies in the developing world in the design process. The goal of the summit is for participants to adapt and implement the new technologies in their own communities when they return home.
"I'm often frustrated by conferences where the results are just presentations, posters and papers. The output of this conference will be real devices, things that people can use. Participants will be able to take prototypes home with them and start testing them," she said.
During the summit, participants will organize into design teams, identify a problem, and create a working solution. Taking part in all aspects of the design process -- from problem definition through manufacturing of prototypes -- the teams will receive training at machine shops, rapid prototyping facilities and workspaces at MIT and in the surrounding community. Coached by sector specialists and guest speakers, the teams will be peer reviewed throughout the design process. In the final stages, teams will develop business models and plans to implement their technologies.
Projects will be chosen based on the interests of the participants. Possible projects may include creating a low-cost coffee bean sorting system to raise the profits of rural farmers, evaluating uses for biogas from agricultural waste, and healthcare innovations.
The summit will take place from July 16 to Aug. 10 at MIT. Summit results will be displayed during a final presentation on Aug. 8. The California Institute of Technology and Olin College of Engineering co-organized the summit.
News Inside News:
About iddsummit.org-
The first International Development Design Summit(IDDS) will run from July 16 through Aug. 10, 2007. IDDS is organized by MIT, Caltech and Olin College and will take place on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass. The summit will bring together 50 students, faculty and community partners from 16 countries to build technologies that can improve the lives of the world’s poorest people. At the lead of IDDS is MIT Senior Lecturer and MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner Amy Smith.
IDDS participants will be divided into teams to design technologies that will address problems in different sectors including energy, agriculture, water, and health. The teams will be coached by sector specialists and guest speakers. During the final week of the summit, the participants will showcase to the public the prototypes they create and which they will take back with them for field testing and implementation.
Events
The following IDDS events are open to the public.
July 16
11:30 am-12:30 pm,MIT room 66-110
Keynote Speaker: Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises, will speak about design for affordability and the design revolution needed to lift out of poverty the two billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
July 17
7:30 pm, MIT room 66-110
Shawn Frayne, MIT alum and inventor, and Dr. Peter Girguis, Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Harvard University, will be demonstrating inventions that they have developed that may well change the way we address energy needs in the future.
July 18
7:30 pm, MIT room 66-110
Jock Brandis, inventor of the Full Belly Project peanut sheller will be with us for a screening of Peanuts, a documentary about the device that he developed for shelling peanuts in Mali. He will lead a discussion of new design challenges that IDDS participants may choose to take on.
July 24
7:30 pm, MIT room 66-110
Brandon Pitcher will speak about some of the technologies developed in the Colombian community of Gaviotas.
July 31
6:30 pm, MIT Stata Center room 32-123. Registration required.
TIE is hosting a panel of organizations in the Boston area that are working on technologies for the developing world. Speakers include: Peter Haas of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, Sandy Pentland of the Program for Developmental Entrepreneurship, Tim Prestero of Design that Matters and Amy Smith of D-Lab.
August 6
7:30 pm, MIT room 66-110
Dr. Russell deLucia of the Small-Scale Sustainable Development Fund (S3IDF) will discuss effective business models for development projects.
August 8
2:00 – 6:00 pm, MIT room 10-250
Final presentations: participants will present their prototypes and plans for implementing their projects when they go back home.
Contact-
International Development Design Summit
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room 3-017
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge , MA 02139 USA
In The Images-
1.Summit logo
2.Amy Smith, one of the lead organizers of the International Development Design Summit
Release link: http://www.iddsummit.org/events/
