I had an opportunity to peruse the exhibit at the Walker, Design for the Other 90% last week and was once again inspired by the seemingly endless supply of amazing, world changing ideas in the world. I was asked, about 10 months ago, to submit the Clean Hub for consideration in the exhibit, but something didn't feel right to me.Yesterday, thanks to an email from a friend after reading my blog, I was introduced to the International Development Design Summit. The goal of the program is simple: to develop simple, inexpensive devices that can be produced locally and make a real difference for people and communities. From there, I stumbled upon a blog by Paul Polak and his new made up word, BOpreneur, an entrepreneur dedicated to improving the lives of the world's poorest.
Worldchanging posted an entry about all this that I think serves as a valid criticism to the Cooper Hewitt's traveling exhibit.
Too often, scientists and engineers think about the business side of things late in the game, haphazardly bolting it on to the finished product, so to speak. Paul's mission: bake the business stuff into the product now, at IDDS.
Suddenly my bad vibe from months ago started making sense. Amidst the sea of amazing design ideas, there wasn't a single business plan or financial statement. Without it, the exhibit was feeling like a set of interesting solutions, but not necessarily the most feasible. I know, it's the nature of a museum exhibit. And yes, the Clean Hub probably would have fit right in to that mold, but I'm not quite ready to put it behind museum glass and call the idea complete. I plan on returning to the origin of the idea to "bake the business stuff into the product."
