SEVEN BILLION

7 billion:  The Ultimate Design Challenge
There are seven billion human beings on our planet.   How can we make sure that each one has clean air and water, nourishing food, adequate clothing and shelter, freedom from violence, and opportunities for education and imagination?  These are the ultimate design challenges.
Finding and implementing solutions to these challenges will require the creativity, resolve and courage of men and women, girls and boys from every culture and walk of life.    Develop your creative problem-solving skills by first tackling some of the other design challenges on this site, then go for the ultimate!

Illustration courtesy of National Engineers Week

HOW CAN WE INSPIRE NEW INNOVATORS?

How can we inspire new innovators?   Design Challenges one of the most powerful ways.   There’s a growing body of wonderful design challenges out there, invented and improved by educators, innovators, creative parents and kids.   I’m collecting, some of the best design challenges, and posting a few here.


Take a look, and try some out yourself!  Design Challenges are a terrific way for people to learn how to innovate through creative problem solving.  Some challenges are whimsical (like building a working cardboard bicycle);  some address critical, real-world issues (like bringing clean water to a desert village.)

Design Process
Engineers and design/communications people have both evolved design processes to aid problem clarification and resolution.  Brief info and links to these processes follow.
The design/communications design process  — sometimes called “design thinking” –  has particular strength in problem identification and brainstorming.   Engineering design processes are great on careful design, prototyping, creation, testing, and improving.   Put both together for a terrific and comprehensive problem solving system.

.Engineering Design Processes

• Engineering design for kids from The Works: http://www.theworks.org/fb/teachers/engineering_design_process.html
• there are several other important ones . . . links to come.

Design Thinking, etc.

• 6 point 2 an innovation lab (good innovation process)  http://sixpointtwo.net/
• crash course in design thinking:  http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/