A Day with Dr. Mirah

like many great products, The Beauty is on the Inside

MDG's in Niger

Aid in Innovation

Andrew Mwenda, of Uganda, can appreciate the global efforts that bring millions of dollars of Aid into Africa, but he describes how the Aid is designed to treat the symptoms and not address the fundamental problems. Many Governments in Africa become dependent on Aid. He believes that it is easier for African Governments to value their relationship with the Aid suppliers more than their relationship with the citizens. This relationship begins to strip the Governments of their self initiative. Mwenda describes how the only way for truly sustainable development in Africa is to design ways to create wealth. Current solutions focus on "reducing poverty". Well you can not begin to reduce poverty until you begin to create wealth. He believes that the solution is innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Ernest Madu agrees with Mwenda and sees innovation and technology as the key to development in Africa. He focuses on bringing innovation to the health care system, enabling African hospitals and treatment centers to supply world class health care at 1/8 the cost of more developed countries. He says the solution is to use wireless technology to train African doctors, create modular/movable medical equipment, and assembling all equipment in house. These small changes will drastically decrease the cost of health care. It appears the greatest impact we can have in Africa is to design products, systems or serveses that are fully sustained by local recources and local workers.

Our Future is in the Trash

This product concept won the 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition held by Core 77. It was one of many entries that's primary function is to measure or display energy consumption. What makes this design so legit is the fact that the innovation is not the physical product but a set of instructions to build a meaningful product from easily accessible components and a reused jar. I have to admit, the shinny white plastic renderings on the reflective surfaces are very appealing, but I think there is a good chance that many products in the distant future will more likely resemble this jar. Is it possible that our design practice could become so green that we don't even touch a raw material.

Design for Social Entrepreneurship

De-SE
I signed up for this class because I ave always had an interest in social enterprise. In the past 5 years I have been exposed this field of work through my father. He is the director of Zen Peacemakers, an organization that focuses on socially engaged Buddhism. For their primary source of income they develop socially responsible businesses that are centered on a triple bottom line and sell them once they have become financially independent.

Greyston Bakery
One example is Greyston Bakery Founded in 1982 in the southwest corner of Yonkers, a poor neighborhood beset by high unemployment, violence and drugs. The bakery was designed to hire the homeless and any people that conventional businesses had deemed unemployable. It trained its employees in bakery crafts and soon they were producing some of New York's most expensive, high-end cakes and tarts sold in the city's fanciest eateries. In 1990 it began to produce brownies for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and its revenues shot up dramatically. Since its humble founding, the bakery grew into a successful $6 million business with more than 75 employees. Its hiring remains to this very day "First come, first served," and much of its profits are recycled into seed money for its sister not-for-profits, thus making the entire network more sustainable and financially independent.

Change
There are so many organizations that are working to improve our quality of life, and minimize our impact on the environment. I want the opportunity to design the tools, and products, that these organizations will need to facilitate change.