At this Pre-Work Talk, we’re on the hunt for big ideas! We want to go beyond looking at just the innovation, and focus on the larger picture of ‘Designing Social Businesses’. On Tuesday, February 13, we’re bringing you stories of two successful projects that have very different experiences to share. One the brainchild of designers, the other from business-minded techies, they’ll each share their learnings – mistakes and surprises – on how they went from idea to funding, partnerships to rollout, and finally a plan for future sustainability.
IXDS Berlin Paul-Lincke-Ufer 39-40, 10999
“Good idea, good luck with it,” is generally the dismissive response people get when looking for support for social impact projects. Because no matter how great the social need, whether we like it or not, it all comes down to business. So how can we work together to ensure these innovative solutions reach their potential to solve global challenges at scale?
M-PAYG – Democratizing access to energy
We are very excited to welcome our friend David Dizon, CPO & Co-Founder of M-PAYG, who is joining us all the way from Copenhagen. Addressing the global issue that “one in five people in the world do not have access to electricity,” David and his team came up with a pay-as-you-go solar energy system for families in the developing world. Dubbed a “visionary project”, M-PAYG has been implemented throughout Tanzania, where it’s already had a huge impact, and will soon launch in Kenya.
Some impressive accolades to note: M-PAYG won a 2017 Danish Design Award, the 2017 Impact Startup Award, and the 2017 World Summit Award for Environment & Green Energy.
Refugee Text – Delivering critical, trusted information
We will also hear from our own designers Caroline Arvidsson and Ciaran Duffy who, when they were students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, set off on an exploration with their classmate Kåre Solvåg to see how they could best apply their skills to the context of humanitarian aid. Using user-centered research & rapid prototyping they developed Refugee Text, a messaging service used by organizations such as the UN to deliver personalized, translated, up-to-date information to refugees via chatbot. Their experience has seen their project evolve into a design collective of social impact businesses where they help connect organizations with designers at the right time to support each other in creating greater social impact.
We want this to be an open discussion on how we can collaborate to create sustainable solutions, sooner. So please come and share your thoughts and experiences!
David Dizon, M-PAYG CPO & Co-founder
David is a tech entrepreneur with a background in technology strategy. He is leading the product development. Prior to co-founding M-PAYG he was working on projects in digitalization, IoT and new business models at Deloitte Consulting.
To find out more about Caroline & Ciaran, you can head to their bios on our team page by clicking on their names.