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Unpacking, Processing and Applying Revelations from PopTech 2011
Since PopTech’s conclusion I have been experiencing what I have come to term PopTech Paralysis, or, the shut down of cognitive thought, from an imbalance between new ideas and mental processing power. In the last week my addled brain processed my first attendance of the "idea factory" and started to apply it to my experience at the BoP.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- product design
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Aakash: Game Changer or Another Brick in the Wall?
"Aakash," touted to be the world’s cheapest tablet, was launched by the Indian government last week and distributed via pilot program to 500, rual primary school students across India. With the considerable buzz surrounding the $35 device, will the BoP market truly have something to cheer for?
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- Technology
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Addressing Dynamic Public Health Concerns: LifeStraw and Beyond
UNICEF and the WHO estimate that approximately 1.5 million children die every year from diarrheal diseases. While these statistics are striking and cause for concern, knowledge and experience about treating diarrheal disease is one advantage we have when addressing this public health concern.
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- Health Care
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- product design
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Making the Market VS Making It In the Market, What One Laptop Per Child Can Teach Us
Since its much publicized launch in 2005, Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child program has been both lauded and criticized. In a recent conversation hosted by NYU’s Reynolds Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs, he was steadfast in defending against criticisms about the efficacy of OLPC, but signaled new directions for educating poor children.
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- Technology
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With Video: From Strawberries to Solar Lamps, Why Profit is the Only Way to Scale
In a wide-ranging discussion with The Economist Columnist Matthew Bishop at the ANDE Annual Conference 2011, Paul Polak, serial entrepreneur and BoP thought leader, said SMEs need to think BIG. Polak used to say don’t bother if you don’t plan to reach one million customers. Today, he thinks in terms of 100 million. Watch the full video discussion.
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- Investing
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SOCAP11: Gleaning Insights in Design Thinking
Design used to be about making artifacts, but now the experience is the commodity. At SOCAP11, the Design for Social Innovation track exposed us to some powerful design thinking techniques from Hot Studio and :: CRONAN ::, two firms with household name corporate and socially known clients. In design, the age of the lone rock star is long gone.
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- Education, Impact Assessment
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- product design
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Applying Behavioral Economics to the Developing World
Complex design requirements, non-existent supply chain routes, extreme poverty - these are all unique issues that entrepreneurs have to combat when developing or producing products/services for the BoP. But what happens when the your client base acts irrationally or doesn’t follow the ’model’ you’ve based your business on?
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- Social Enterprise
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Less Hungry, More Human: A Marketing Perspective to Fighting Malnutrition
As the World Food Programme launches a glitzy new fundraising campaign called A Billion for A Billion, maybe it could learn from P&G’s 3D White Collection, which was the most successful non-foods new product launch in 2011, with over $151 million in sales. While the latter may not be particularly noble, marketers are clearly doing something right.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise