Applying design to tackle tough problems of the developing world

The International Development Design Summit (IDDS) is a month-long collaboration that brings together people from around the globe to build technologies for communities in the developing world. It’s being held at Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana.


The program is the brainchild of MIT Senior Lecturer and D-Lab founder Amy Smith, a past winner of the MacArthur “genius” grant.

It is a conference about innovation, and we believe that innovation thrives in the intersections of disciplines that come from bringing together such an eclectic group. Its draws inspiration from several current models of innovation, design and community empowerment: co-creation, cross-disciplinary collaborations and crowd sourcing.

IDDS is not strictly an academic conference, with papers and proceedings. Instead it emphasizes development of prototypes. It is part of the revolution in design that aims to create equity in the distribution of research and development resources by focusing on the needs of the world’s poor.

The final presentations, along with demonstrations of the prototypes, are today, August 10, at the KNUST Museum.

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