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Upcoming Conferences

Business Innovation Factory
September 15, 2010
Philanthropic and independent organization, founded in 2004, which emphasizes implementation of new ideas, especially in the spheres of healthcare, education and energy. BIF also maintains an Innovation Story Studio with digital material from its creative community.

Picnic Conference
September 22, 2010
Three-day event in the Netherlands connecting media technology, entertainment, art and science. Runs concurrent Picnic Labs, workshops for the development and review of new business ideas.

Opportunity Green
September 22, 2010
"Forge new strategic partnerships and explore the latest in sustainable strategies and best practices to lead your organization to success. Get the inside view on the hottest topics, trends and technologies at the premier green business event focused on creating new opportunities through sustainability."

Idea Festival
September 29, 2010
Brings together creative thinkers in science, the arts, design, business, film, technology and education. Hosts presentation of annual Curry Stone Design Prize ($100,000), given to "an individual who has demonstrated breakthrough design solutions with the power and potential to improve our lives and our world."

A Better World by Design
October 01, 2010
Brings together a global community of innovators to investigate the ways in which technology, design and enterprise can change communities and the environment for the better. Sessions take place on the campuses of neighbors Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design, and students from these institutions run the program.

International Design & Emotions Conference
October 04, 2010
Sponsored by the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the Design & Emotion Society, this biannual forum is where practitioners, researchers and industry leaders meet and exchange knowledge and insights concerning the cross-disciplinary field of design and emotion. The conference will offer workshops, research paper presentations, design case presentations, and poster presentations.

6th Annual Design, Art & Technology Symposium
October 09, 2010
DATS 2010 explores how food-related designs can help to develop a sustainable culture of healthy lifestyles through good eating. Interdisciplinary teams are creating implements, furnishings and environments to promote thinking and learning about healthy food, in every aspect of our experience. Creative works featured at DATS'10 reflect consideration of nutritious food, sensible diets, appealing tables, creative kitchens, convivial dining spaces, local growing, conscientious farming, fair trade, efficient supply chains, equitable distribution, engaging education and vibrant regional growth. The legacy of Charles & Ray Eames informs appreciation of the power in considering different scales of experience for generating effective art and designs. Powers of 10 Day is part of the DATS'10 program and inspires many of the events and featured projects.

Service Design Conference
October 13, 2010
The Service Design Network, established in 2004 by Köln International School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Linköpings Universitet, Politecnico de Milano, Domus Academy and the agency Spirit of Creation. The basic idea is to create an international network for organizations and institutions dealing with service design. This year, the SDN conference, entitled "Connecting the Dots," will take place in Berlin.

AIGA Gain
October 14, 2010
Design has the power to change the direction of businesses, provide fuel for economies and even change lives. Provocative thinkers from a wide range of disciplines will inspire and reinvigorate at this year’s “Gain: AIGA Design and Business” conference, which will focus on the theme “Design (Re)Invents.”

Feast Conference
October 15, 2010
The Feast Conference gathers the world's greatest innovators from across industries and society to empower, inspire and engage each other in creating world-shaking change.

PopTech
October 20, 2010
A three-day summit hosted in a 19th-century opera house in Camden, Maine, that explores technology, new ideas in the social and physical sciences, and other forces of change. Presentations run from lectures to short films to musical performances. Supports fellowship program.

TED Women
December 07, 2010
How are women and girls reshaping the future? The first ever TEDWomen invites men and women to explore this question in depth: From the developing world, where a single micro-loan to a single girl can transform a village; to the West, where generations of educated women are transforming entire industries. The diverse international program takes a long look at women through the lens of change agent, intellectual innovator, idea champion ...

Compostmodern
January 22, 2011
This interdisciplinary conference brings together designers, manufacturers and business leaders to address questions from a design point of view about what makes a socially and ecologically responsible society.

World Economic Forum
January 26, 2011
For more than four decades, the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos has provided leaders from industry, government, academia, civil society and the media with an unrivalled platform to shape the global agenda and catalyse solutions at the start of each year. The diversity and the informal and collaborative “spirit of Davos” mean that, as well as engaging with familiar faces, participants have the chance to connect with people they don’t know, who challenge the way they think and act.

TED Long Beach
February 28, 2011
A gathering place for the country’s leading entrepreneurs and social change agents, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) runs a conference in Long Beach, California, each February and a summer conference abroad (e.g., Oxford, England). TEDIndia launches in November 2009. The website offers networking opportunities as well as a chance to view videotaped presentations, which have been translated into scores of languages. Also supports a fellowship program.

Include 2011
April 18, 2011
The Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art is pleased to announce the sixth International conference on Inclusive Design.

The theme for Include 2011 will be: The Role of Inclusive Design in Making Social Innovation Happen

As a concept, social innovation has growing currency in society, government, academia and business. It manifests itself in many different ways in different contexts. Its meanings extend from public service and policy innovation to initiatives in assistive technology and to aspects of civic participation and creative entrepreneurship.

In all of these areas, design has a key role to play. It can make policy visible and participation possible.

In particular, inclusive design can deliver innovations of social value to communities and markets.

The Include 2011 international conference at the Royal College of Art seeks papers on all design aspects that catalyse social innovation, in particular:

* Organisation - what design tools, techniques, frameworks and networks support and enhance social innovation?
* Origins - how has social innovation emerged as a design construct and in what ways does it manifest itself?
* Outputs - research studies and design exemplars of social innovation, drawn from public space, health, transport and other key domains.

TED Global
July 11, 2011
What is life? And how can it be better lived? From the secrets of the biological processes that take place in our body, to the cultural constructs that take place in our society; From the technologies and resources that make life possible and enjoyable, to the themes that define our humanity -- or threaten it: TEDGlobal 2011 will be a celebration of life, in all its forms.

All Conferences & Events >>

Academic Programs

Austin Center for Design
Austin Center for Design exists to transform society through design and design education. This transformation occurs through the development of design knowledge directed towards all forms of social and humanitarian problems. The Center offers an innovative curriculum that repositions creative design education in the context of designing for the public sector.

BaSiC Initiative
"The BaSiC Initiative is a collaboration of faculty and students from the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture. We support community partnerships through: housing solutions for Native Americans, housing and community services for migrant farm workers, schools and health clinics in central Mexico, etc. Each program draws upon the unique relationship of communities to their environment, finding solutions that embrace appropriate technologies while reinforcing local values to spur self-initiated development."

Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability
Academic course hosted by the Stanford Institute of Design involving graduate students from all seven schools at Stanford University. Multidisciplinary student teams work to create innovations that lie at the intersection of business, technology and human values. The class is project-based, and all projects are done in close partnership with a variety of local and international organizations.

More Academic Programs >>

Competitions

Re:Vision
Initiative to create the prototype for an innovative, sustainable urban community. At the heart of the process is a series of contests generating visionary ideas for what can and should be done in the design of urban space.

INDEX Design Challenge : Design for Education
The INDEX: Design Challenge asks design and business students, as well as cross-disciplinary student teams, to develop design solutions for better education and education environments in developing regions. The challenge centers around three sub-themes: Improved Education Facilities; Sanitation and Hygiene; and Gender Parity in Education. As well, the contest features an open challenge. Participants from all design disciplines are invited to enter the challenge.

More Competitions >>

Fellowships & Prizes

Curry Stone Design Prize
The Curry Stone Design Prize honors an individual or group for developing and implementing a visionary design innovation. These emerging projects address critical issues such as access to clean air, food and water, shelter, health care, energy, education, social justice and the promotion of peace. Winning projects engage communities at the fulcrum of change, raising awareness, empowering individuals and fostering collective revitalization.

iida - Incheon International Design Award
“iida 2010”, a Korean sustainable design award, seeks fresh and new design proposals to be made by designers with green hearts, being aware of the environment. They welcome active participation of competent world designers to "iida 2010" with the goal of opening possibilities for sustainable life through design. Applicants can enter until August 25, 2010.

TED Prize
The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, s/he unveils his/her wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

More Fellowships & Prizes >>

Organizations

The Designer's Accord
International coalition of more than 170,000 designers, engineers, corporate leaders and others invested in positive social and environmental action. Described as the "Kyoto Treaty of design," the accord requires adopters to follow five guidelines: a public declaration of participation, effort to bring sustainability into client conversations, effort to educate one's design teams about sustainability, consideration of one's own ethical footprint, and contribution to "the communal knowledge base for sustainable design."

The Graphic Alliance
A network for graphic designers, website developers and other professionals who are pursuing social change. "We are committed to helping build a new social order based on direct democracy, communal economics, human rights and ecological sensibility. We believe that design and technology are important aspects of the struggle for freedom, peace and social justice. We stand united in our opposition to concentrated power, discrimination and oppression in its many forms. We promote social ownership and democratic control over information, ideas, technology and the means of communication."

WHY
"Founded in 1975, WHY is a leader in the fight against hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.... Advances long-term solutions to hunger and poverty by supporting community-based organizations that empower individuals and build self-reliance, i.e., offering job training, education and after-school programs; increasing access to housing and health care; providing microcredit and entrepreneurial opportunities; teaching people to grow their own food; and assisting small farmers. WHY connects these organizations to funders, media and legislators."

More Organizations >>

Programs & Initiatives

DESIS Lab at Parsons
The DESIS Lab advances the practice and discourse of design-enabled social innovation toward more sustainable cities. The DESIS-Lab conducts applied research into the ways in which design can enhance community-led initiatives in the development of more sustainable ways of living and working. The DESIS Lab brings together faculty and students from across the disciplines at The New School, led by Parsons The New School for Design and Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.

The Mayors' Institute on City Design
National Endowment for the Arts-sponsored program that helps mayors to be the leading urban designers of their cities. Every year, the institute holds half a dozen two-and-a-half-day sessions attended by mayors and development professionals.

Charlottesville Design Marathon
The Design Marathon is an annual event held at the Charlottesville Community Design Center (CCDC) involving teams of area designers who each provide 12 hours of pro-bono design services to ten deserving area non-profit organizations. Each creative team includes a student pursuing a design-related degree.

More Programs & Initiatives >>

Publications & Websites

Taproot Foundation's Pro Bon Action Tank
A variety of best practices and tools to help you realize and maximize the true business value and social impact from your pro-bono efforts.

The Living Principles
The Living Principles for Design aim to guide purposeful action, celebrating and popularizing the efforts of those who use design thinking to create positive cultural change. This is the place where we co-create, share and showcase best practices, tools, stories and ideas for sustainable design across all disciplines.

Next Billion
"Website and blog bringing together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise....Our goal is to highlight the development and implementation of business strategies that open opportunities and improve the lives of the world's approximately 4 billion low-income producers and consumers."

More Publications & Websites >>

Social Networks

Open Architecture Network
An online, open-source community founded by Architecture for Humanity. Offers a place where designers can share ideas and projects and host or participate in competitions

BOP Source
"Social network that closes the digital divide, bringing together the 4 billion people at the base of the economic pyramid (the 'BOP') with the companies and NGOs that want to hire them and design products and services for them."

Design 21
UNESCO and the Japan-based company Felissimo are behind this network, which connects designers, businesses and nonprofits for the greater good and hosts competitions to create socially minded products and graphics.

More Social Networks >>

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