Prosthetic limbs are expensive and complex, and they must be fit to each individual -- yet having a replacement for a lost limb can mean the difference between working and not, having a social life and not. So, Krista Donaldson and her team at the nonprofit design firm, D-Rev, are attacking the problem on several fronts, from re-engineering the moving parts, to exploring way-new materials that replace expensive titanium, to forming deep local partnerships for distribution and maintenance around the world.
It's the kind of work that D-Rev does; with a mission "to improve the health and incomes of people living on less than $4 per day," their motto is "Design for the other 90%." Taking a truly user-centered approach that could be summarized as "Listen before you build."
As Donaldson wrote in a paper for the WEF: "The world is confounded by difficult problems in healthcare that are ripe for innovative solutions. The information most needed for these solutions ... is readily available -- from the users. They need to be asked: How can we solve X? What is your experience with Y? Instead of focusing on asking people in developing countries to change their behavior, those of us who work in healthcare should sit up and listen to what they have to say."
“As CEO of D-Rev, Donaldson manages a global nonprofit tech incubator that partners with major organizations like Stanford Medical School and the All Indian Institute of Medicine to create products to improve the lives of people in developing countries.” — Silicon Valley Business Journal
“How do you ensure technology reaches users?” Krista Donaldson asks in her TED Talk. “How do you put it in their hands?” Donaldson is the CEO of D-Rev, which creates medical devices for people around the world who make less than $4 a day. She spoke at TEDWomen this past December about the company’s in-development […]
Continue readingBy Becky Chung and Emily McManus The SF Jazz theater fills with the beeping and plinking sounds of a cellphone. Bora Yoon, a TED Fellow and experimental musician who weaves found sounds from old and new technologies, is on stage surrounded by her instruments: a golden flowered gramophone horn, a mixer, a computer and her […]
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