Conectados al Sur - Breakfast of Ideas
International Development Design Summit: The Colombian Experience
Friday, May 27, 2016, 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University
23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Conference Room, Cambridge, MA
How can we generate practical experiences through innovation to solve common challenges people face living in areas of poverty? This is perhaps one of the biggest challenges for developing countries. Our next Breakfast of Ideas will explore the work and impact of the International Development Design Summit (IDDS) in Colombia as a model for local development. IDDS brings together people from all walks of life to create low-cost and practical innovations to improve the lives of people living in poverty. In its second year in Colombia and its ninth of existence, IDDS has impacted more than 600 people all over the world and aggregated them into a dynamic network of innovators.
Summits emphasize the importance of “co-creation,” the idea that working with communities is more powerful than designing solutions for them. During a summit, participants work in teams with community members from developing countries, learn the design cycle, identify problems and solutions, and test prototypes. With Pedro Reynolds Cuellar, we will explore the work, impact, and future of the International Development Design Summit (IDDS) in Colombia as a model for local development.
The Breakfast of Ideas seeks to gather both people from Latin American and individuals who have a sincere interest in Latin American affairs revolving around issues of children and youth, technology, Internet and social media, education technology, and new applications for social changes.
About Digitally Connected and Conectados al Sur
Digitally Connected and the sub-initiative Conectados al Sur for the Latin American and Caribbean regions is a collaborative initiative between UNICEF and the Berkman Center building upon a multi-year partnership for analyzing digital and social media growth and trends among children and youth globally. Our team has at its core a network consisting of academics, practitioners, young people, activists, philanthropists, government officials, and representatives of technology companies from around the world who, together, are addressing the challenges and opportunities children and youth encounter in the digital environment.
About Pedro Reynolds Cuellar
Pedro, originally from Colombia, is a graduate from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia with degrees in Linguistics and Language Philosophy. He currently works at the MIT D-Lab as a researcher in the area of innovation in humanitarian contexts and as an instructor of the waste management and grassroots education classes and coordinator of the Youth Program. He is a graduate student at the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab where he focuses his research on self-driven learning models for literacy.