PopTech Social Innovation Fellows: Why Design? with Robert Fabricant

Vice President for Creative of frog design, Robert Fabricant leads frog’s efforts to expand the impact of design into new markets and industries, teaches at NYU’s Tisch School, and is a central partner in PopTech’s Project Masiluleke, a multi-party collaboration on the use of mobile technology to encourage testing for AIDS .

Robert writes on design and mobile technology in the theme of Design4Impact for frog’s designmind and FastCompany.

Robert spoke to the SI Fellows on the breadth of diversity in the design field: product design, service design, experience design, interaction design, and strategy design.

Social Innovation Fellows: Design Research

Panthea Lee is creative director and co-founder of Reboot, she focuses on leveraging technology to improve international development efforts.

Currently at the Innovation Unit UNICEF, she focuses on leveraging communications and information technology to improve UNICEF programming and service delivery. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal, and has research experience in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan and Suriname.

Along with Jan Chipchase, Executive Creative Director of Global Insights of Frog Design, she traveled to Central Asia to conduct design research on the introduction of mobile money services, and in particular M-Paisa, have on consumers in Afghanistan.

Panthea describes to the SI Fellows some of  the techniques and tools used in her field research to understand the users values, assumptions, goals and patterns of behavior.

PopTech SI Fellows: Design for Impact

The Mulago Foundation makes philanthropic investments in scalable solutions in health, development, and conservation in the Third World. As Director of the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program, Kevin Starr helps the brightest social entrepreneurs maximize the impact of their ventures in the developing world.

Kevin works in the “Two-Dollar-a-Day Crowd” coaching entrepreneurs through the process of conceiving, developing and testing products and services that address the real-world needs of the vast markets in developing and emerging markets. As an investor, the ultimate goal is positive impact.

PopTech SI Fellows: Structure and Value Chain

Joy Anderson is president and founder of Criterion Ventures, a national firm that identifies, examines and solves system social problems by launching social ventures. A former school teacher and “accidental entrepreneur”, Joy’s mission is to incubate and scale ventures that build a better world.

Using the metaphor of the “meatball sandwich”, Joy shared her philosophy and methodology for building firms that change business landscapes.

PopTech Social Innovation Fellows: Common Challenges

Once safely in the Maine woods, I hit my cabin door at 3:30am after navigating the DC and NYC airport lounges and commuter jets, followed by the two hour drive from Portland up to Pointe Lookout, north of Camden.

Shared the last legs of the journey with Samasource founder Leila Janah, both delayed by the massive green monster of a Nor’easter storm slamming into Maine. The beast is still raining down and I can’t imagine living a life at sea in weather like this.

So honored to be back at the SI Fellows program. It is humbling to work with this group of talented engineers, scientists, physicians, designers and community organizers tugging diligently at their corner of social change.

Pop!Tech Innovation Fellows

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The Happening

M. Night Shyamalan: The Happening

My head is still swimming with the images from The Happening, an M. Night Shyamalan film about what could be described as the world’s immune system reacting to hostile invaders (aka. the human race).