USF x Ycenter7th Annual Sustainability DesignChallenge

2-Day Innovation Competition

Program Date: November 2 (9:00 AM to 5:00 PM) and November 3 (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM), 2024
Venue: Innovation Hive, Harney Science Center (click for campus map)
Registration Deadline: November 1, 2024 by 5:00pm, or the maximum capacity is reached
Click here to see featured projectes from Sustainable Design Challenge 2023

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Program Partner


About The Program

Spend two days collaborating in interdisciplinary teams to learn and apply design thinking to global sustainability issues. Participants will tackle pressing global sustainability issues using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guiding framework. Teams will work collaboratively to co-create impactful solutions addressing real-world challenges like climate change, clean energy, health, and inequality. Through rapid ideation, design thinking, and hands-on prototyping, participants will learn how to align their innovations with the SDGs while developing scalable solutions.

Successful teams will have opportunities to apply for follow-on grants to take their solutions to the next stage.

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Hacking For Impact Begins In

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Our Design Principles

This program will use the Principles for Digital Development for creating solution prototypes. These 9 principles are a set of living guidance intended to help a community of practice / practitioners succeed in applying digital technologies to development programs. This framework has been field tested and endorsed by major organizations such as UNICEF, UNDP and WHO.


When designing and implementing a policy, solution, system, or intervention, endorsers of these Principles commit, at minimum, to do no harm, and at best, to ensure their work maximizes the agency of people and communities to drive their own development. To achieve these objectives, each endorser will define how these Principles can be operationalized in their work, sphere of influence, and specific initiative.



Read more about the principles here.


Real-World Data & Digital Fabrication Tools for Prototyping

This workshop encourages the use of real-world information and digital fabrication tools like 3D Printers and Laser Cutters for building physical prototypes. To facilitate this, we will be distributing a set of free tools and open source datasets for research along with IoT kits (like sensors, LEDs and breadboards) and access to a lab for creating models using digital fabrication devices (led by an instructor).


Here is a list of APIs for your inspiration:

- An extensive list of 100+ public APIs. Contains uses for almost everything - including weather, books, currency exchange, blockchain, environment, healthcare, security, shopping and even cat pictures
- The NASA open API portal. Contains data on earth satellite imaging, exoplanets, nataural events tracking and of course, asteroids
- The United Nations Statistical Division API Catalogue and the The United Nations Refugee Agency Database. Together they contain data on SDGs, international trade and global refugee services
- The WHO Global Health Observatory. The most comprehensive healthcare database that contains information on everything from infectious diseases to substance abuse, mental health to paediatric wellness, population growth to nutrition

Program Structure

The entire workshop is delivered using Experiential Learning Pedagogy, which means as participants you will be engaging in hands-on activities rather than learning only theories. Get a chance to specifically work on your respective project ideas (if any) or pick a problem statement under the context of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Registration/breakfast/
intro

09:00 AM - 9:30 AM Getting to know who's in the room, icebreakers and context-setting over breakfast

Intro to Design Thinking and Building for impact

09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Introduction to Human Centered design framework and its application to complex problem solving

Picking problem domain

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Understanding problems, cause-effect analysis and mapping stakeholders

First Hack Design Brief

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Creating a specific design brief for solution design - validated and backed by research

Lunch break

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Lunch will be provided to all participants in-house

Tour of Hive

01:00 PM - 02:00 PM Guided tour of Innovation Hive. Participants will get access to facilitator-supported digital fabrications tools for prototyping

Primary/Secondary Research

02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Building your user persona, mapping user journey and quantifying the design opportunity

Refining problem statements

03:00 PM - 3:30 PM Second iteration on problem statements - adding more finesse based on data

Design challenge for empathy

03:30 PM - 4:15 PM Learning how to use empathy as a design tool through hands-on exercises

Final Day 1 wrap session

04:15 PM - 05:00 PM
Learning reflections and retrospection on Day 1

Breakfast & Welcome to Day 2

09:00 AM - 9:30 AM Warm-up exercises and context setting for Day 2 over breakfast

Let the Impact begin, Ideation sprint

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM Hands-on design sprint to come up with creative solutions ideas

Refining and testing ideas

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Adding more finesse to ideas and testing them through user feedback

Idea pitch and feedback

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Peer-to-peer idea pitches for feedback inspired by the Socratic discussion model

Lunch break

12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Lunch will be provided to all participants in-house

Creativity exercise

01:00 PM - 02:00 PM Analogous thinking exercises for creative capacity, creative inquiry and creative expression

Design for Sustainability modules

02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Incorporating UN SDGs inspired sustainability framework into your projects

Storytelling/Prototyping

03:00 PM - 04:30 PM Learn how to create effective storytelling narratives for impact + rapid prototyping for solution blueprints

Pitching
& Final Demos

04:30 PM - 05:30 PM Experiential pitching session and solutions demos with mentor feedback for all teams

Reflection, feedback
and dinner

05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Dinner and open house for all participants

Winner announcements, certificates and closing

06:30 PM - 07:00 PM
Certificates will be provided to all participants by Ycenter Global. Program reflection and discussion on way forward for projects

Additional Benefits For Participants

As part of our commitment towards creating a global ecosystem of entrepreneurs, innovators and change-makers, all participants will receive continued mentorship for their projects by our global leadership team beyond the workshop.

Who is this for?

Students with existing early stage ideas or wanting to learn about Entrepreneurship and design thinking for new ideas.

  • No prior experience required.
  • All learning and working materials will be provided.
  • Should be available to attend the event in person on both days.

Watch the Ycenter workshop experience video

Meet The Facilitator

Insights and mentorship from an experienced entrepreneur in the field.

Dhairya Pujara is the Founder, CEO at Ycenter. He has been a global public speaker with invitations from the United Nations, World Bank, World Economic Forum, Social Enterprise World Forum, SXSW, TEDx and top universities and organizations in 15+ countries across 4 continents. His work has been featured in magazines like Entrepreneur, INC, nominated for Forbes 30 under 30 and several other media publications like BBC radio, Huffington post, Philadelphia Business journal to name a few. He is a serial entrepreneur, working directly to support job creation, technology innovation ventures and for this work he has received a visa reserved for individuals of extraordinary abilities from the US immigration services.

Dhairya Pujara

Founder, CEO at Ycenter

University Partner

Innovation Hive, University of San Francisco

The Innovation Hive promotes cross-campus participation and collaboration by welcoming and training any student, faculty, or staff member who wishes to use the equipment. In addition to hosting many interdisciplinary activities, each Innovation Hive area functions as a learning center as well as a work space, and accommodates computer work as much as physical creation. Imagine a group of students — from engineering, art, and nursing, for example — gathering to work together on a project in an open comfortable space, furnished with couches and tables. They are chatting and scribbling on writable surfaces around the room. This is a place where students, faculty, and staff across campus can gather, collaborate with purpose, and explore ideas without limits.

Environment Engineering and Science Club

EESC is an academic and social club that hosts events on special topics, hosts fields, engages in on and off campus partnerships, as well as engage in social justice within the environmental engineering and science field.

For more information, click here to visit their Instagram page.

Our Global Partners

Our network includes leading universities, high impact organizations, industry leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world.

Get In Touch

If you are a USF student and interested in participating in this program, please contact us below.

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