Thursday, July 08, 2010

Start up

We launched v4.0 of IDDS yesterday. While the core offering features remain (Innovation through Diversity, Creative Capacity Building, Community Building and Innovating for Impact) we have added additional functionality- new faculty (Jill, Bryan, Andy), new participants and a stronger emphasis on dissemination.


Borrowing from Jim Collins, yesterday started with "First Who"... introductions of all the amazing people who have travelled thousands of miles to participate. Then "What"... quick descriptions of the projects and Amy discussing the history and philosophy of IDDS. From there, people started at Market Activity, where they needed to design, manufacture and market products for the IDDS community. There is even a form of local currency: "briquettes."

After lunch, Bryan Willson and Paul Polak presented case studies on approaches to disseminating products at scale, discussing Envirofit (cookstoves) and Windhorse (water), respectively.

The day finished with some fun, one-minute infomercials from the teams on their Market Activity products. From World Cup attire to room accessories, there was a lot of creativity on both the ideas and their promotion.

Designing by Making... Learning by Doing














Buying... "That will be 5 briquettes" (Amy as shopkeeper; Daniel from Global Cycle Solutions as buyer)














Paul Polak discussing some of his 100 million potential customers for clean water...

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