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Design, Frugal Innovations and Low-Resource Settings: An Analysis of Five Contextual Aspects

Abstract A data analysis method based on artificial neural networks aiming to support cause-and-effect analysis in design exploration studies is presented. The method clusters and aggregates the effects of multiple design variables based on the structural hierarchy of the evaluated system. The proposed method is exemplified in a case study showing Designing frugal innovations is […]

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Designing integrated solutions for resource-limited societies

Abstract Poverty is characterized by many different constraints at individual, institutional, economic, and technological levels. To satisfy unmet or underserved needs of people living in poverty, it is essential to address all the relevant constraints in the target context through the design of integrated solutions. Although previous studies in this field have indicated that designing […]

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PSS Design for the World’s Large Market

Businesses are recognising and pursuing the opportunity to design appropriate products and services to serve the market known as the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) market — broadly defined as 4 billion low-income people in developing countries. There are many reasons for the pursuit of BOP markets. First, the BOP is the most significant and […]

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Key guidelines for designing integrated solutions to support development of marginalised societies

ABSTRACT Marginalised societies face a wide range of deprivations and constraints at individual, institutional, economic, and technological levels. To satisfy unmet or underserved needs of poor people living in these societies, it is essential to address all the relevant constraints in the target context through the design of integrated solutions. Many studies have explored the […]

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Design and Poverty: A Review of Contexts, Roles of Poor People, and Methods

ABSTRACT Design is essential to fulfil unmet or under-served needs of resource-poor societies, supporting their social and human development. A great deal of design research has been undertaken in such low resource settings, and is discussed under different names, such as ‘community development engineering’, ‘humanitarian engineering’, ‘appropriate technology’, ‘design for development’, ‘design at the Base […]

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BTH PDRL at the DESIGN’18 conference – awards and more

A shiny Dubrovnik welcomed researchers and practitioners to the 15th International DESIGN conference. DESIGN is a biannual event organised by the Design Society, being a main forum to exchange experiences and lessons learned about engineering design from a variety of perspectives, disciplines, and fields. BTH PDRL received one of the 3 ‘outstanding contributions’ awards for […]

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Design and Frugal Innovations: Three roles of resource-poor people

ABSTRACT Design is imperative to satisfy needs of people in resource-limited societies. Many design studies have been carried out in the context of such societies in developing countries, and are discussed under names such as humanitarian engineering, frugal innovations, appropriate technology, design at the Base of the Pyramid, design for development, etc. In this paper, […]

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