Creative Design Lives On!

As I've noted previously, the course I co-founded at Cornell called Creative Design for Affordability has now entered its second iteration.  The biggest change between year 1 and year 2?  It's gone from a quarter-long class of seven weeks to a full-semester offering.

Last year, I reached out to some Ithaca-area companies and non-profits to partner with.  We settled on designing a human-powered corn grinder and protective gear for a local green skateboarding company.

Sally Park and Jenn Li, the two second-year students who have carried the torch this year, have done a wonderful job of moving the class forward from its humble beginnings.  This year, Cornell teams will be paired with students in India to form bigger teams that will design viable business solutions that provide “energy for cooking” for underserved populations in India. Each team will identify the business opportunity, design a solution, and create a viable business plan to compete in The Acara Challenge, which has a pretty simple yet cool mission: 

"Engage students in a multi-discipline, multi-country collaboration to develop sustainable solutions and business models to challenging global social issues."

...and...

"Incubate and implement the winning plans into successful sustainable social businesses."
Each Cornell team will work with their team's counterparts in India to design a product or solution and create a sustainable business plan/model to deliver it. Teams are judged on a variety of factors and can generate "returns" that aren't only financial but potentially social.  However, measurability is key.

I'm looking forward to seeing what teams develop in conjunction with the Acara Institute.

In case you're looking for more information, here is a veeeeerrrrryyyy detailed video with contest details, rules, etc.