For the next 2 appropriate technology roundups, we covering the results of the International Development Design Summit’s projects.
The summit [which ended in earlyAugust] brought together more than fifty participants from over twenty countries to MIT to spend a month learning about design and creating technologies to improve the lives of people in the developing world.
This year’s 10 projects were as follows:
- A simpler way to manufacture essential components in our pico-hydro electric generator
- A device for generating electricity from a treadle pump
- A charcoal crushing machine to help make charcoal briquettes from carbonized corn cobs
- A super low-cost computer for educational programs
- An interlocking stabilized soil block maker
- A pearl millet thresher
- A ropeway system to help craftswomen in the Himalayas get their products to market
- A low-cost modular incubator for low birth weight babies
- A nipple shield for decreasing HIV/AIDS transmission from breast-feeding mothers to the infants
- A hand-held tool for isolating DNA for improving diagnostic capability
Some projects progressed farther than others by the end of the month-long design conference, but all showed the innovative ideas that could be generated when a diverse and talented team put their heads together. In part 1 of this 2 part series, we’ll be looking at 5 of the 10 designs.
Energy
A pico-hydro electric generator
A device for generating electricity from a treadle pump
a charcoal crushing machine to help make charcoal briquettes from carbonized corn cobs
Tech
A super low-cost computer for educational programs
Agriculture
An interlocking stabilized soil block maker
FYI: IDDS is hosted by MIT, Olin College and Cooper-Perkins, and is sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.
To be continued…
