Bob Nanes: Getting to work

I've been at D-Lab since mid-August, and every day I learn something new about the huge breadth and depth of activities carried out by our talented and enthusiastic staff. In this issue of the Digest, you can get your own taste of what is happening at D-Lab including the 2016 PIA Co-Design Summit — just launched in Zambia, TechCon — coming up next week at MIT, a presentation by bicimaquina inventor Carlos Marroquin of Bici-Tec in Guatemala, and the work of our researchers, students, and IDIN network.

Early this fall, I helped to initiate a strategic planning process at D-Lab, which will wrap up later this month. We intend to use this as a guide to build on the strengths of D-Lab and focus on growth and expanded impact. We are excited to go on this journey with all of you. 
                    — Bob Nanes, Executive Director

 D-Lab Scale-Ups, Research
 

Wall Street Journal highlights D-Lab Scale-Ups, Surgibox, and Saathi Pads.

MIT D-Lab was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal article highlighting a number of low-cost health and hygiene innovations under development and the challenges in bringing them to market. 

"'No matter how good the technology, if there is not a strong enterprise behind it, it’s probably doomed,' says Saida Benhayoune, director of D-Lab’s Scale-Ups program, a year-long fellowship program created in 2012 to help the most promising ideas move from prototype to market-ready." Read full article for more from Saida Benhayoune, Debbie Teodorescu of Surgibox (D-Lab research affiliate pictured above), and Kristin Kagetsu of Saathi Pads (2015 D-Lab Scale-Ups fellow!
 

MoringaConnect, 2012 D-Lab Scale-Ups fellow venture thriving in Ghana

MoringaConnect’s founders Kwami Williams and Emily Cunningham have developed a line of Moringa-based oils, infusions, and foods which they process and sell through a global sales network. They help Ghanaian farmers by offering them the training, financing and support they need to start moringa farms along with a guaranteed market for their products. They’ve worked with about 1,500 farmers across Ghana, helping to increase their incomes by as much as a factor of 10 and now they're ready to help farmers in other African countries. See video and read full story!

D-Lab Student Blog & News
 

D-Lab student Sade Nabahe '17 featured on MIT homepage and in MIT News story

MIT senior Sade Nabahe, majoring in mechanical engineering, has taken five D-Lab classes, completed one undergraduate research project at D-Lab, and served as D-Lab's tour guide for the past year. In a recent MIT News article she says, “D-Lab always jokes around that they sometimes derail students’ plans or their future careers, because when you find D-Lab you get sucked in. Rather than derail my future plans, they helped me discover them: I just hadn’t found what I wanted to dedicate my life to, and now I have.” 
 

D-Lab students pursue summer projects in Thailand, El Salvador, and Uganda.

Growing out of work started in D-Lab: Earth, this project in Thailand aimed to get students of all ages to participate in design thinking and construction workshops to increase their environmental awareness and community involvement. Read more!

From Pipe Dream to Pipe REALITY” - Water Access and Problem Solving in El Salvador: Alan Diaz-Romero '17 & Samir Wadhwania '18

"Development, much like everything in life, is complicated. A project about water distribution is also a project about resource management, and a project about resource management is also a project about politics." Read more! 

Measuring and analyzing the usage and adoption of the Makaa cookstove, Uganda:
Julia Heyman '17 

"This project is in its second year, and the aim of our work is to measure and analyze the usage and adoption of a cookstove designed by Appropriate Energy Saving Technologies Limited (AEST) as well as to study the application of low-cost sensors in this work." Read more! 

International Development Innovation Network (IDIN)

IDDS Cookstoves: Building Community and Prototypes to Reimagine the Hearth

Over three weeks in August, 27 participants gathered just outside of Kampala, Uganda to cook, build community, and co-create at the summit, which was organized by IDIN, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation, and the Centre for Integrated Research and Community Development Uganda.

Participants from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and the US focused on solving cookstove challenges. The summit closed with participant presentations and a visit from US Ambassador to Uganda Deborah Malac. Read all about the summit and get details on the projects here!
 

More highlights  from the IDIN Blog:

Rebuilding Colombia and Its Global Image Through Community and Design

Change Hub Brings Design Education Inside the Prisons of Kenya

Discovering India and Its Makers: IDIN Network Member Sahar Abdelhakim Travels Through India, Meeting IDIN Innovators Along the Way

IDIN Educators Reflect on Diversity and Inclusion in Preparation for FabLearn 2016

Read all the latest IDIN News & Blog Posts!

MIT Practical Impact Alliance
 

Fall 2016 PIA Co-Design Summit in Zambia has begun!

MIT D-Lab, World Vision International, and National Technology Business Centre have kicked off the 2016 Practical Impact Alliance Co-Design Summit in Zambia. Participants from the community of Naboye, Zambian innovation ecosystem, and PIA network are working together on teams to address local needs. Read press release for more information on the summit and its projects!

Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation

CITE releases supply chain evaluation of malaria diagnostics

The report, “Evaluating Business Criteria for Scaling Stock of Malaria Rapid Diagnostics,” details the study design and findings of the latest experimental evaluation implemented by the Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE). Read MIT News story!