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Identifying Needs
The Design Process For Appropriate Technology
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Identifying Needs
Identify Needs of Community: We devote much of our time to living and working with our client communities. Through ongoing dialog and careful observation we create a “design space” where new products and technologies can have the greatest positive impact on our client’s lives.
ATC also partners with other high impact nonprofits/NGOs that have “boots on the ground” in different parts of the world. We work with our partners to identify needs and solutions to problems observed in their communities.
Identify Potential Technologies: Identifying exactly which new technology to develop is the most critical step in our success. We discuss with our clients a range of possible technologies, development strategies, potential job creation, costs and design time-frames. This is a highly interactive process, a real give and take where our clients are co-equal with ATC, local engineers, designers and social entrepreneurs.
We look for design solutions that both solve local problems plus have the potential to solve problems worldwide.
Create Design Team: Once we have decided upon a project we put together representatives from our clients, local designers and engineers along with students and professionals from the United States. This design team communicates regularly throughout the design process.
Local + ATC Online Collaboration: Design is an iterative process where the U.S. team is in regular communication with our client teams as a schematic design proceeds towards a working prototype.
Prototype: Proof of concept prototypes are developed in the U.S. once we are certain we can meet our design goals we create a detailed set of final prototype drawings and calculations.
Workshop: The team meets in the client’s home country to prototype, critique and if necessary refine the prototype.
Redesign: Every design is re-considered after the workshop stage. We redesign as a group to create what can become a viable product that can be built in the country where it will be used.
Publish: We license most of our designs through Creative Commons and we publish them online so that other NGOs can copy or improve upon our work.
Constant Evaluation: Critical to design success is ongoing evaluation. We commit to re-visiting our clients for a minimum period of five years. This is to insure that people are trained in ongoing maintenance and we gain valuable insight into how our designs are actually used by our clients.
Business Incubation: ATC is starting Business Incubation in 2012.
Photo: Marcin Szczepanski
