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Your Questions Answered About Sustainable Construction in Africa
How do you navigate the different priorities of stakeholders trying to…
About Rob Goodier
I'm the editor of news at Engineering for Change. Read my work and the work of hundreds of experts in engineering and design for sustainable development at News and Insights.
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A Fresnel Lens, a Stirling Engine, and the…
A global team of Engineering for Change fellows, SeaFreight Labs and…
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Heat Pumps Could Cut Bills and Emissions, but…
Air-source heat pumps are touted as a tool for reducing household…
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Your Questions About the Energy Transition Answered
Take the Energy Transition Quiz below! If the energy transition is…
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Phototherapy, Graywater Recycling, and Robotic Rehab Place in…
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has announced the three…
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Rehab Robots, Solar Pods, and Graywater Retrofits: ISHOW…
A graywater recycling system retrofit, wearable robotics for infant shoulder rehab…
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A Guide to Navigating Sustainability Principles, Standards and…
First, let’s define terms. “Principles are values. They are guiding beliefs.…
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Bob Hauck’s Tips for Hardware Startups
Join the ASME ISHOW Americas virtual awards ceremony August 6th. Register…
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Local Action Is Key to Achieving the Sustainable…
If the world is going to meet the Sustainable Development Goals,…
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Project Invent Seeks Volunteer Engineers: Help Young Inventors Build Real Solutions
This volunteer opportunity was first presented to Engineering for Change Fellows.…
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Hardware for Health, Food, and Transport: African Ventures…
Register now for the virtual awards ceremony Wednesday, June 18, at…
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When Does Off-Grid Solar Make Sense?
Solar-powered devices designed to work off the grid are counteracting some…
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Keziah Ntwiga’s Tips for Hardware Startups in a…
Keziah Ntwiga has seen the spectrum of product design and startup…
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You Asked, Experts Answered: Your Questions About Nature-Based…
See video clips from the seminar: Nature-Based Solutions to Flooding Three…
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Startups Give Youth Mental Health a Digital Upgrade
Watch the latest videos from Cohort 5 of the Headstream Accelerator…
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From Peru to Kenya, These 10 Innovations Took…
AI-guided agriculture, biodegradable packaging, technical training for Peruvian women, and a…
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Sepsis, Smoke, and Soil Hardware Solutions Advance in…
Seven Indian social ventures made their pitches at T-Hub in Hyderabad…
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Ten Tools for Surviving Rising Seas
Coastal communities worldwide are grappling with more frequent flooding, shoreline erosion,…
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Strengthening the Off-Grid Solar Repair Ecosystem
Some 75 percent of solar energy kits sold for off-grid use…
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Seven Startups Head to Hyderabad for ASME ISHOW…
Seven social ventures from throughout India will meet in Hyderabad April…
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Vinayak Nandalike’s Tips for Hardware Startups
For ISHOW updates and your invitation to participate, see: Seven Startups…
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Now in Beta: the Off-Grid Solar Resilience and…
Mainstreaming off-grid solar products could go a long toward preparing vulnerable…
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Development’s Power Shift
Nobody asked about the benefits of a looming global trade war,…
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Analysis: Social Entrepreneurs Should Diversify Funding Sources
Social entrepreneurs may be wondering where to look for money to…
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Waste into Wealth: ChemFinity’s Nano-Sponges Move Toward Commercialization
See the ChemFinity update in Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2025…
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Social Ventures Wanted: ASME ISHOW 2025 Calls for…
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is now accepting applications…
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One Step Closer to Seawater Batteries
Seawater batteries are not in stores, yet, but researchers have taken…
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Satellites Could Reshape Small-Scale Farming
Space tech may be the next frontier for global food…
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Cycleau Recycles Water Affordably Anywhere, From Baltimore to…
Cycleau is one of the Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2025.…
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The Race to Zero: How Buildings Can Slash…
The buildings we live and work in are quietly shaping the…
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Nature Inspires Industrial Optimization
Middle-school science teachers often display posters of the food web—the matrix…
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Virridy Lume Tests Drinking Water for E. coli
Read more in the Promising Prototypes of 2025 The presence of…
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How to Pivot from a US Career in…
“My belief is that as a people, as a group, as…
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The People’s Choice: Promising Prototypes to Watch This…
Read More: Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2025 Each year we…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2025
Read More | The People’s Choice: Promising Prototypes to Watch This…
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Next Steps Following USAID’s Funding Freeze
Thousands of contractors are laid off in the United States and…
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How Cities are Reinventing the Public-Private Partnership −…
Cities tackle a vast array of responsibilities – from building transit…
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Sustainable Manufacturing Needs Simulation
To Pepi Maksimovic, director of application engineering at Ansys, the engineering…
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Renewable Energy Is Gaining Ground Worldwide
There may be good news on the climate front, although it…
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Low- and Middle-Income Countries May Triple Their Nuclear…
Nuclear Power Ghana reached an agreement to deploy a small modular…
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Research Brief: Agrivoltaics Harvest the Sun Twice
Researchers have known that some crops fare better than others under…
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The COP29 Takeaways
The 29th session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) took…
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N₂O Is on the Rise, Here’s How to…
Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a greenhouse gas 270 times more potent…
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Thought Leaders React to the Pact for the…
World leaders and thought leaders have had time to sit with…
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This Is What Collaboration with E4C Looks Like:…
When a startup developing a high-altitude balloon for Earth observations sought…
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Battery Swapping Is Cutting the Cost of India’s…
Creative services for electric vehicles are transforming India into a hub…
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R&D Is Strong but Investment is Short-Sighted on…
Digital technologies play a greater-than-expected role in reducing carbon emissions and…
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Traditional Philippine Fishing Gets a Sustainability Upgrade
The cost of catching fish has dropped along with the carbon…
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Platforms that Crowdfund Energy Access Are Changing How…
There is a shift underway among crowdfunding enterprises that invest in…
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Studies Suggest Storytelling May Really Change Minds About…
A lot of us have suspected that stories can change people’s…
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In Honor of Julius Mugaga, a Champion of…
Julius Mugaga, an Engineering for Change Fellow, two-time ISHOW finalist, a…
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Promotions at ASME Transform E4C’s Leadership
The leadership of Engineering for Change (E4C) has undergone a change…
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Ten Sustainable Technologies for Staying Cool in the…
The year 2023 was the hottest year since global temperatures were…
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An Outdoor Air Filter, a Rainwater-Storing Wall and…
An outdoor air filter, a wall that stores rainwater and an…
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Households Are Changing Energy Usage, and Utilities Should…
Solar panels on roofs, electric vehicles in garages and smart appliances…
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What Does Mexico’s Energy Minister Appointment Mean for…
Mexico’s President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s energy plan and appointment of Luz Elena…
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Bioenergy Makes Carbon Removal More Practical
Direct air carbon capture plants have been attracting headlines and investments…
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Six New Technologies May Solve Critical Challenges Sustainably:…
An outdoor air filter, bio-based building panels, a rain and bathwater…
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Six Toolkits for Gender-Inclusive Engineering
Engineers are waking to the fact that gender inclusion improves design.…
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Comments Needed: 4C Released a Draft of its…
Doubts over the emissions claims clean cooking projects have made over…
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The Three Technologies That Won the Innovation Showcase…
A postpartum hemmorhage treatment device, clean cooking gas made from plastic…
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Research: Integrating Technical Education with Intercultural Experience
A deep understanding of the people who will use a technology…
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Robotic Farms Could Be the Answer to Depopulation…
The village of Huete in Spain’s Cuenca province may be laying…
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Seven Social Startups Compete as Finalists in the…
Seven startups with innovations that meet challenges in agriculture, construction, energy,…
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Mind the Knowledge Gap
What should technical professionals know and what should they learn when…
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Six Prototypes from the Clean Energy Bootcamp in…
A solar-powered atmospheric water harvesting system, a mobile biogas producer, clean…
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EcoSafi Launches the Most Efficient Biomass Cookstove Made
Ecosafi announced the release of a cookstove this month that may…
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This Year’s Fulbright Prize Reminds That the Water…
When Gary White won the Fulbright Prize for co-founding water.org and…
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Research: How to Replace Fossil Fuels with Nuclear…
Nuclear power could take a starring role in a future where…
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2023 Broke Records for Renewable Energy Capacity
First, the good news. The world took a record-breaking step toward…
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Eleven Technologies that Advance Multiple Sustainable Development Goals
Modular pay-as-you-go solar home electricity systems, a solar silk reeler, an…
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Carbon-Storing Bricks, Refrigerant-Free Food Storage and a Medical…
Three entrepreneurs won places in the 2024 American Society of Mechanical…
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Research: Sustainability May Be Under-Prioritized in Mechanical Engineering…
Sustainability may remain under-emphasized in university Mechanical Engineering programs worldwide, new…
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Sustainable Aviation Fuel Made from Sludge May be…
The UK-based Firefly Green Fuels is developing sustainable aviation fuel made…
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The Kenyan USB Startup TOTOSCI Strikes a Deal…
The Kenyan startup TOTOSCI signed a distribution deal recently with Safaricom…
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Underwater Trash-Gathering Robots Win ASME’s Ocean Cleanup Design…
Ten teams competed in a virtual undersea environment deploying their self-designed…
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Carbon Storage in Tiles, EV Batteries and Wearables…
2024 ASME ISHOW India finalists are developing technological solutions to address…
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Mechanical Engineers On Working in Climate Tech Startups
Wondering what a day in the life of a mechanical engineer…
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How Sustainable Infrastructure Standards Boost Investment in LMICs
Is the bar too high for low-income countries to meet international…
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Can Carbon Credits Pay for Global Water Security?
Water management is often discussed in terms of access – who…
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Sustainable Medical Products: Advancing the Future of Healthcare
Medical products must be sterile to prevent the transmission of diseases.…
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Where Are E4C’s Fellowship Alumni Now? With Deji…
E4C’s Fellows move on from their work with us to achieve…
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High-Tech Crops, Green Steel, Solar and Hardware Dominate…
See Cleantech Group’s Global Cleantech 100 Crop inputs, industrial tech and…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2024
High-altitude balloons for mitigating natural disasters, solar power and safe water…
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ISHOW and IDEA Lab Are Now Taking Applications
ISHOW Application deadlines March 1: ISHOW India, for innovators in the…
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Where Are They Now? With Diane Mumararungu
What can E4C’s Fellowship do for a career? The ‘Where Are…
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Where Are E4C’s Fellowship Aumni Now? With Shannon…
What can E4C’s Fellowship do for a career? The ‘Where Are…
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Climate Tech Takes a Starring Role at COP28
Climate technology is taking a starring role at CoP28, the latest…
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How to Build a Vertical Aquaponic System
Turn a small yard, a corner in a community garden or…
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Why Cash Is the Best Way to Help…
Heavy rainfall from Storm Daniel caused dams and bridges to collapse…
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PayGo’s Acquisition Heats Up Clean Cooking Tech in…
Sun King’s recent acquisition of PayGo Energy represents a decisive advancement…
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Climate Week Offers Solutions to Six Failures in…
Climate Action is enshrined in only one of the 17 Sustainable…
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Amish Parashar’s Five Tips for Social Entrepreneurs
Amish Parashar offers five tips to engineers and entrepreneurs in the…
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Three ISHOW USA 2023 Winners Bring New Tech…
A better low-tech shea nut roaster, a hand-cranked handle for pasteurizing…
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Off Track and Not Enough Data: SDG Report…
The UN’s latest Sustainable Development Goals Report delivers bleak news for…
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How Engineers Can Engage More Effectively in Public…
Public policy affects the work of engineers of all disciplines, no…
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GSS Summed Up: Roadmaps Are Needed to Meet…
Detailed ‘roadmaps’ are needed if low- and middle-income countries are to…
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Three Social Innovations Win ISHOW Kenya 2023
An ethanol production process for agricultural waste, a non-invasive vein locator,…
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Research Brief: Trends and Recommendations for Engineers in…
Using questionnaires and focus groups, we gathered data from practitioners describing…
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ASME ISHOW Innovation Accelerator Announces Eight Finalists in…
A greenhouse gas filter for diesel engines, modular quick-build homes and…
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Research Brief: Reduce Costs in Offshore Wind Projects…
A big chunk of the cost of offshore wind energy generation…
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Project Drawdown’s Scientific Plan to Stop Climate Change
It’s difficult to know what matters amid the barrage of voices…
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Audio: Data-Driven Design of Off-Grid Solar Home Systems
Experts in solar energy system design guide us through a case…
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UN STI Policy Brief: Mobilizing the Technical Workforce…
The worldwide engineering workforce is largely unprepared to support the goals…
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Lessons Learned Building a Plastic Recycling Startup in…
Since 2020, Takataka Plastics has transformed Uganda’s discarded bottles and packaging…
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E4C Welcomes 65 Talented Fellows
Learn more about the E4C Fellowship and register for updates on…
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A Startup in Nairobi Cuts Carbon in Construction…
Construction, and the concrete and steel used in buildings, account for…
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ChemFinity’s Membrane Prototypes Could Replace Mercury in Gold…
ChemFinity is one of this year’s Promising Prototypes to Watch in…
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Makerere Collaboration: 25 Products and Prototypes Cataloged for…
Illuminate Dermoscope wound screener, Tampostat low-cost post-partum hemorrhage treatment, Saans neonatal breathing disorder treatment,…
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Inspired TED Talks to Energize Engineers
Sometimes after a doom scroll through headlines of a heating planet,…
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Three Startups Developing Agriculture, Water and Sanitation Solutions…
A manhole monitor, upgraded grow lights and a natural water purifier…
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GenH Converts Dams into Low-Impact, Low-Cost Power Generators
GenH’s Adaptive Hydro is one of E4C’s Promising Prototypes to Watch…
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Sendea Turns Untrained Rural Techs into Solar Entrepreneurs
Editor’s note: The following article is adapted from Sun-Connect News, the…
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Darcy Solutions Is Upgrading Geothermal Energy Production
A US clean energy startup is developing energy production systems that…
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Meet the Eight Finalists at Innovation Showcase India…
Eight Entrepreneurs in India won finalist standing in Innovation Showcase, India,…
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E4C Fellowship Alumni: Where Are They Now? With…
Browse research from the latest E4C Impact Projects Report This ‘Where…
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Research: Induction Stoves Improve Indoor Air Quality in…
Sustainable development practitioners have long known of the link between stove…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2023
Each year we build our lists of prototypes to watch, combing…
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E4C Fellowship Alumni: Where Are They Now? With…
Alumni of Engineering for Change’s Fellowship Program have high-impact careers in…
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The Best Vacation Spots in the World According…
Engineering for Change runs by the good graces of a small…
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Engineers Are Needed for ISO Standards Development to…
Starting with a new Management System Standard in development now, engineers…
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Research Brief: The Circular Economy in Housing
Construction and the built environment represent a large target for cutting…
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Apply Now to E4C’s 2023 Summer Fellowship
E4C’s Fellows work on Impact Projects with interdisciplinary teams and develop…
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E4C Visualized: Design for Coral Conservation
Engineers working to restore coral populations in the Caribbean are designing…
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The ASME ISHOW 2023 Social Venture Accelerator Is…
ASME ISHOW 2023 includes three events with the following application deadlines:…
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Four Innovations Win Support to Fix Mining in…
Artisanal, small-scale gold miners are poisoning water and soil in the…
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COP27: A Fund for Vulnerable Nations and Trillions…
Two stark messages announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference…
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Arctic Climate Experts: Cutting Black Carbon Emissions from…
If you’ve seen sooty snow banks on the side of the…
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Survey: E4C Benefits Careers in Engineering Global Development
Findings from our latest membership survey suggest that Engineering for Change…
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Research Brief: Repurposing Old Electric Vehicle Batteries in…
Converting tired old electric vehicle batteries into energy storage for homes…
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White Paper: The Future of Manufacturing and How…
The manufacturing industry is on the precipice of a radical transformation…
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Unicorns and Platypuses: The Myths and Hidden Lessons…
The business models of successful technology enterprises are often held up…
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E4C Joins a Research Collaboration to Combat Climate…
E4C is now accepting applications to this Winter Fellowship 2022! Apply…
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New Hydropower Tech, a Rainwater Harvester and a…
Water was the theme among the winners of the US division…
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E4C Community Spotlight: Meet Our 50,000th Member
The global Engineering for Change community has crossed a new milestone…
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Entrepreneurs from Kenya and Uganda Win Places in…
Accessible innovations in healthcare diagnostics, clean energy, and water distribution receive…
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Refugee Camps Now Have Improved Templates for Site…
Refugee camps require meticulous planning before they can provide clean, safe…
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ISHOW Kenya Finalists Include Med Tech, Farm Tech,…
Editor’s note: The following is adapted from a press release. Register…
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Ten Technologies for Cleaner Oceans and Safer Sealife
We’re trashing our oceans and pushing sealife species to the brink…
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These Thirteen Innovations Could Clean Artisanal Mining in…
Thirteen teams developing technologies to clean up small-scale mining operations are…
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Engineering Standards Are Weaker Without Women. Here’s the…
This month at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Boiler and…
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E4C Visualized: The Fellowship of 2022 by the…
The latest cohort of Engineering for Change Fellowship of 2022 was…
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The New ASME Idea Lab Incubator Has Launched…
Application deadline: June 6th at 5pm EST Prospective social entrepreneurs have…
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What the Engineering Community Should Know About IPCC’s…
Climate change is already damaging communities and killing wildlife around the…
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The Engineers’ Response
Information on Organizations E4C Has Worked With That Are Providing Support…
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Applications Are Open: The UN Calls for Engineers…
Apply to the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition Application…
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Collaboration with Autodesk Foundation Enriches the E4C Fellowship
The Autodesk Foundation invests deeply in the E4C Fellowship Program, donating…
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Video | Interdisciplinary Investigation in Mining: The Case…
The La Toma community and others in southeast Colombia have mined…
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E4C Visualized: Increasing Women in Mechanical Engineering Global…
Engineering students navigate technical curricula and cultural environments unique in history…
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Amazon CoLab Has Launched with E4C’s Support
Fresh air and new ideas can clean up dirty gold mining…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2022
A wave-powered water desalinator, drones that plant mangroves and mobile greenhouses…
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Inspiration for the Future of Engineering for Good:…
Early comers to the virtual Impact.Engineered on December 2nd, 2021, witnessed…
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Five Questions for Austin Alexander, Xylem’s VP of…
Austin Alexander oversees efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion at Xylem…
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E4C Offers an Impressive Lineup of Speakers and…
Editor’s note: This is an adaptation of a press statement available…
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Five Questions for Allie Reiling at Caminos de…
A well designed water treatment system should be easy to forget.…
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The Autodesk Foundation and Siegel Family Endowment Invest…
Editor’s note: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Engineering for Change’s…
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Five Questions for George Chege: Bringing Chick Brooders…
George Chege is bringing Kenyan chicken farms into the digital age,…
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Interested in Humanitarian Engineering? Take This NSF-Granted Survey!
Have you worked in humanitarian engineering, or are you interested in…
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Engineers Have a Role in Climate Change Solutions:…
Climate change has solutions, and engineers and other technically trained professionals…
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Five Questions for Russel Collins and Nitisha Agarwal,…
The first thing to know about the Himalayan Rocket Stove is…
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The Unintended Consequences of Technology: Christopher Ategeka’s Book…
Think for a second about unintended consequences of technology and they…
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Five Questions for Juanita Clark: Building Connectivity in…
Meet Juanita Clark at the IEEE Virtual Salon: Connectivity and Access…
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What to Know About the WHO-Recommended Malaria Vaccine
How well does the vaccine work, what does it mean for…
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What Would You Do with Up to 8,600…
An unusual opportunity is available to global development engineers and anyone…
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E4C Partners with WHO to Advance Global Health…
In May 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the World…
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The Survey Is in: What We Learned About…
The results are in from the 2021 survey of our members…
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NREL Is Fast-Forwarding Emerging Desalination Tech Powered by…
Ten competitors in the Waves to Water Prize are advancing emerging…
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IEA’s Graduate Attributes: A Commendable Revision with Room…
A three-year process culminated in the release of revisions to the…
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Five Questions With Mark Abbott: Critically Thinking the…
While the International Engineering Alliance was nearing completion of its historic…
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Research Brief: A Microbial Fuel Cell That Can…
Researchers have developed a method for filtering the wastewater that powers…
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Wildlife Monitoring Tech, a Solar Ice Maker and…
ISHOW India 2021: A Better Battery, a Prosthetic Hand and a…
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Take Our Survey and Enter to Win a…
At Engineering for Change, we are committed to preparing technical professionals…
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E4C Visualized: Drowning in E-Waste
For a punch in the gut, try these visual representations of…
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Making What You Need from What You Have:…
Note: This is the first in the series “Making What You…
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Sachs: Foot-Dragging, Not Know-How, Blocks Clean Energy
The transition to clean energy is held up by the fossil…
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Five Questions with Rachita Misra at SELCO Foundation
Rachita Misra began working with the SELCO Foundation in Bangalore, Karnataka…
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Concrete Foam, a Low-Cost Ventilator and Digital Water…
Three teams from Ghana and Kenya developing a concrete foam generator,…
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Ten Things You Can Do With a Bicycle
Inventors have recast the bicycle as a cheap power supply for…
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How to Make a Low-Cost Air Purifier to…
A box fan, air filters and the box in which they…
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Ten Innovations in Vaccine Delivery Technology in Low-Resource…
Some of the world’s impoverished countries and overlooked, underserved communities are…
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‘Lives Not Grades’ Captures Moments from Gut-Wrenching Field…
Moments after Daniel Druhora and a group of American university students…
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A Gentler Way to Decolonize Aid
Foreign aid organizations may be under pressure to “decolonize,” as the…
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A Better Battery, a Prosthetic Hand and a…
Three startups emerged as winners of the Indian segment of the…
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How to Make a Biochar Water Filter
Charcoal has been a part of water treatment for at least…
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Simprints Puts Faces (and Fingerprints) to Names
Editor’s note: The U.K. biometrics startup Simprints is developing ways of…
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E4C’s Research Fellowship Program Doubles with Autodesk Foundation…
Note: We will announce the newest cohort of Research Fellows and…
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The Compendium of Demand-Driven Technologies for Rural Entrepreneurship
A Compendium on Demand-Driven Technologies for Rural Entrepreneurship India’s Rural Technology…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2021
A solar-powered water desalinator, a passive irrigation controller and cooking fuel…
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Impact.Engineered Honors Five Thought Leaders Shaping the Future…
Impact.Engineered celebrates the innovators who are shaping global development, and this…
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Post Impact.Engineered 2020, the Decade of Action Has…
See every Impact.Engineered 2020 keynote, panel discussion, breakout group and workshop…
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Research Brief: With Support, Social Enterprise Could Drive…
Social enterprises may drive job growth in Africa, creating as many…
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E4C Visualized: Our First Decade in Photos
Engineering for Change celebrates our 10th anniversary this year. To commemorate…
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Research Brief: A Plan for a New Conception…
It’s possible to visit a US library and never touch a…
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E4C Turns 10: A Decade of Growth Leads…
Engineering for Change turns 10 this year, and we consider the…
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Soap Plus a Cheese Grater Makes an Award-Winning…
A soap dispenser built around a spring-loaded cheese grater won a…
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Help Define Best Practices in Biomedical Engineering: Answer…
Members and readers of Engineering for Change are invited to take…
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Two Human-Centered Designs Win the Innovate for Impact…
Two engineering design teams that placed people at the center of…
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E4C Visualized: The People of the Siemens Design…
Innovate for Impact: Siemens Design Challenge Since March 4, hundreds of…
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Five Questions for Judges of Innovate for Impact:…
See all of the judges and finalists in the Innovate for…
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The Five “E’s” of Human-Centered Design in Global…
Human-centered design is a process as fluid as the humans on…
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The ‘Passion of a Non-Profit’ Combined with the…
Case studies into Safe Water Network’s water service delivery program in…
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E4C Visualized: The Siemens Design Challenge Impact and…
Can conscientious design change lives in the world’s underserved communities? In…
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Top Eight Ideas for Better Water and Food…
We are pleased to announce the eight finalists in the Innovate…
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Can Handwashing with Ash or Soil Prevent COVID-19?
Handwashing with ash or soil is traditional in impoverished or remote…
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Human Centered Design in Practice: People First, then…
Human-centered design is a maturing movement with real-world evidence to back…
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A Partnership Yields New Insights into Food Systems…
A university, a foundation and a global non-profit organization have partnered…
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Make Your Own Facemask Tested at 96.5% Filtration…
A do-it-yourself facemask built around an air conditioner filter has been…
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This Is the Bare Minimum Checklist for a…
Apply Now: ISHOW Seeks Applicants & Expert Judges & Mentors Engineers…
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The Himalayan Rocket Stove: Now Viral on YouTube
The demo video for an improved rocket stove optimized for use…
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The Potential Impact of Better Desalination and Food…
Join the Siemens Design Challenge for a chance to win one…
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E4C Visualized: Food Waste and Its Solutions
About one-third of the food grown for people to eat never…
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E4C Visualized: The Benefits and Challenges of Desalination…
Desalination technologies are increasingly important. Only 2.5 percent of all the…
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How to Ensure 3D Printed Medical Devices Adhere…
Manufacturers and hobbyists have turned their 3D printers to the challenge…
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Design Inspiration: How Puerto Rican Farmers Are Bootstrapping…
Enter the Innovate for Impact: Siemens Design Contest to solve post-harvest…
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What’s Good and What’s Possible: Inspired Engineering and…
The world is finding new and inventive ways to employ technology…
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Expert Insight into Targets for Brackish Water Treatment…
Join the Siemens Design Challenge for a chance to win one…
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Five Questions for Elizabeth Hausler, Founder of Build…
The aphorism that insanity is repeating a mistake and expecting different…
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Free for a Limited Time: ASME’s Journal of…
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Journal of Medical Devices made…
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Where to Start: Design AgTech Solutions to Scale
Join the Siemens Design Challenge for a chance to win one…
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Design Tips for Post-Harvest Loss Reduction Technology
Join the Siemens Design Challenge for a chance to win one…
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Enter Our Photo Contest in Celebration of World…
Engineering for Change is pleased to host an exciting photo contest…
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Five Questions for Kathy Ku, Co-Founder of SPOUTS…
Kathy Ku is a medical student who has applied her engineering…
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New from Ashok Gadgil: An Electricity-Free Phase-Changing Infant…
Dr. Ashok Gadgil must be tireless in his work to create…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2020
3D-printed earthen housing, a pyrolizer that turns plastic waste into fuel…
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Nominations Are Open for Mortenson’s Awards for the…
The CU Boulder Mortenson Center for Global Engineering is pioneering a…
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Finally, a Credible Prototype for Sustainable 3D-Printed Housing
Mario Cucinella Architects and WASP, an Italian 3D printing enterprise, announced…
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Research Brief: Showing Videos Improves Adoption of New…
Animated videos on phones and other devices may be an effective…
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Reviewed: Aidex Aid Innovation Challenge Finalists
A one-stop eyeglasses prescription device that evaluates vision and provides the…
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A Solar Desalination Plant Makes Saltwater Potable in…
A new solar-powered water desalination plant is providing 35,000 liters of…
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Engineers Are Not Ending Poverty. Time for a…
Engineers have designed and deployed appropriate technologies that solve the problems…
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Impact.Engineered Made Tough Decisions in Tech and Social…
Imagine trying to choose the winners of social impact and technological…
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50 Breakthroughs Set the Agenda for Research into…
Fifty years after the term “intermediate technology” came to describe a…
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Social Entrepreneurs Need Two Improvements to Their Financing…
Two ideas emerged to improve access for social startups when Siemens…
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Five Questions with Dr. Donna Brezinski, Delivering Portable…
Few devices make the leap from serving people in emerging economies…
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The Fellows Reveal a Promising Future for Technology…
Engineering for Change’s Research Fellows deepen our relevance and hold promise…
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A New Resource for Smallholder Farmers: 100 Under…
Global post-harvest food loss has a long list of elegant solutions.…
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Rural Solar Energy Enterprises Can Learn from Mobisol’s…
Editor’s note: The French utility ENGIE announced that it bought Mobisol…
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Siemens Stiftung EP Award Winners: A Solar Power…
A solar home system that connect houses to share power, a…
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Ancient Stone Canals May Help Modern Day Lima…
Fourteen hundred years ago, a civilization called the Wari built a…
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Five Questions for Jim Fruchterman, Who Talks Non-Profits…
The tropes of a Silicon Valley icon’s backstory glitter throughout Jim…
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Sascan Oral Cancer Screener Is in Clinical Trials
A medical device startup in Bengaluru, India, is conducting clinical trials…
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The GFCC Report Envisions High-Tech Farms of the…
Articles about the future of food and farming have proliferated online…
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Wi-Fi? Why Not.
Editor’s note: Demand: ASME Global Development Review is shuttering after six…
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Ten Social Good Startups with Award Winning Tech
Each year, one worldwide event captures a solid showing of some…
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Devices for More Eggs, Fish and Drinking Water…
Eggs, fish and drinking water captured the expert judges’ imaginations at…
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Chakr Raises Rs 19 Crore to Scale Their…
Chakr Innovation and their retrofitted emissions scrubber for diesel generators has…
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iShow Kenya’s Demo Videos: Agritech Made in Africa
Agricultural technologies swept the competition in Kenya at the American Society…
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Research Brief: Large-Scale Stove and Water Filter Delivery…
A new large-scale trial of clean-burning rocket stoves and water filters…
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A New Analysis of Freshwater Basin Data Finds…
Mapping monthly water availability in basins that cross country borders found…
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Black and Decker Introduces a Solar Irrigation Pump…
Solar-powered water pumps have officially entered the mainstream. Stanley Black &…
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Where Are the Jobs in Global Development Engineering?
Some lucky engineers have built a career in the design and…
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Ten Cold Chain Solutions, from Evaporation to Camelback
Off-grid cold-chain technologies keep the important things cold in places where…
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Designed: This Air Conditioner for Homes and Offices…
Evaporative coolers have been known to purveyors of low-cost, sustainable technologies…
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Inevitable Change: How Husk Power Embraced Adaptability
One year has seen immense change at Husk Power Systems. Since…
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Five Questions with Manoj Sinha, CEO of Husk…
2018 was a transformative year for Husk Power Systems, the decentralized…
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A Tool Kit Helps Designers Create Products with…
Engineers often run into the same problem when creating new products…
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E4C’s Fellowship Prepares an Architect for Leadership Among…
Elisabeth Vitswamba engaged leadership skills she practiced in Engineering for Change’s Research…
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E4C’s Research Fellowship Is a Stepping Stone in…
Megan Richardson is mechanical engineer early in her career who maneuvered…
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A Day in the Life: E4C’s Research Fellowship…
Engineering for Change follows up with the talented graduates of our…
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A Product Design Engineer Field Tests Essential Technologies…
Harsh Vyas foregoes the long flights that engineers in global development…
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iShow India 2019 Awards Silk, Stoves and Stethoscopes
A stove for the Himalayas, a solar-powered silk reeler and an…
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Webcast: The Transition to Clean Energy Is a…
Climate change is a problem with technological solutions, but new policy…
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Lehigh University’s Full-Ride Scholarship for Social Entrepreneurs –…
Few advanced academic programs offer a formal education in social entrepreneurship.…
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A New 12-Question Survey Measures the World’s Water Insecurity
A new set of survey questions may address a longstanding problem…
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Advanced Simulation May Change Product Manufacturing for the…
There is a class of things that merge form and performance…
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Five Questions with Manuel Wiechers
It’s not the technology, it’s the people. That’s Manuel Wiechers’ advice…
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Video: The Huge Potential of Wave Energy in…
Today, ocean waves are turning the lights on in 18 countries,…
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Rooted in Research, Handwashing Stations Designed to Encourage…
Update: See Splash Handwashing Stations in our Solutions Library The shape…
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Pakistani software programmer receives prestigious international award
Mobina Zafar, a Pakistani software programmer working in irrigation systems in…
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Backed by Data, the RefugeeMobile smartphone program Helps…
It may come as no surprise that giving free phones to…
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A Prototypical Waste Recycling Process Could Clean Up…
Note: This technology is one of our Promising Prototypes to Watch…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2019
The technologies that improve lives in the world’s underserved communities are…
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Design Inspiration: The Insideout School Prototype Merges the…
An international design team volunteered to build a never-before-seen school to…
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From Engineering for Change’s Research Fellowship to Leadership…
Caroline Soyars guides students at the University of Michigan’s Global Health…
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El Acceso Universal a Internet en México Reduciría…
Read this article in English here. Internet es un derecho en…
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A Global Research Network Investigates Post-Harvest Technologies and…
Researchers at Engineering for Change developed two comprehensive reports on technology…
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Engineering for Change’s Research Fellow Ignatius Waikwa Wins…
Ask Ignatius Waikwa what he has been up to lately and…
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E4C’s Research Fellow Mayari Pérez Creates Makerspaces in…
Mayari Peréz has coordinated the opening and operation of a new…
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Origins of a Startup: The Mechanical Engineer Nneile…
The following is an excerpt from the book Founding Women: African…
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Investment Trends: Social Ventures Follow the Money Trail…
Investors have turned their attention and opened their checkbooks to social…
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A Pause to Reflect and a Moment to…
The goals of economic development can seem daunting and often demand…
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Confirming the Value of a Distribution Network, Essmart…
The marketing and distribution of a product may matter even more…
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Video: Effective, Low-Cost Prototyping
A Silicon Valley saying is “Never go to a meeting without…
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Tecnologia para Salvar a la Lengua Quechua
Ingenieros de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú están desarrollando un…
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A New Microwave Pyrolysis System Targets China’s Mountains…
China has been burying itself under a mountain of toxic sludge,…
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Origins of a Startup: The Mechanical Engineer Aline…
The following is an excerpt from the book Founding Women: African…
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Satellites and Cell Phones: A Guide to Remote…
From satellites peeping at water sources to “smart” latrines, new tools…
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The Key to Food Security Is Post-Harvest Management,…
As much as one-third of the food produced in the world…
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The Secret to Sustainable WASH Technology: Five Questions…
There is a secret to building a technology in a rural…
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Five Questions with Ramla Qureshi, Founder of Women…
Ramla Qureshi has seen firsthand the deep bias against girls and…
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What Your Call-Log Says About Your Creditworthiness
Brenda used to sell curtains door to door in Nairobi, Kenya,…
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A New Framework for Creating Meaningful Technology in…
Is it possible that aid organizations hand out technologies to Africans…
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Five Questions with Dr. Kommy Weldemariam, IBM’s Master…
Komminist Weldemariam is IBM’s first Master Inventor in the company’s African…
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Hello Tractor’s Business-Saving Pivot from Hardware to Software
The “smart” tractor company closed its manufacturing operation to focus on…
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Five Questions with Jon Hurt, Tunneling Engineer with…
Jon Hurt has a rare point of view on global development…
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A Parking and Exercise Solution in One Three-Wheeled…
[Maggie Waggie is one of E4C’s Promising Prototypes to Watch in…
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Third Pole’s Easier Way to Deliver Nitric Oxide…
[Editor’s note: This device is one of our Promising Prototypes to…
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Five Reasons Why America Should be Proud to…
It can be easy to assume that the words of a…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2018
Prototype, noun: A first or preliminary version of a device or…
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A Better Warmer May Be Enough to Save…
Editor’s note: Otter is now one of our Promising Prototypes to Watch…
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A Better Portable Air Quality Monitor
Camera sensors and machine learning may make portable air quality monitoring…
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Five Questions for Maker Faire’s Founder Dale Dougherty
Dale Dougherty has traveled the world taking part in Maker Faires,…
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Infographic: The Future of Manufacturing-Led Development
In spite of cheaper labor abroad, the global West is shuttering…
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Impact.Engineered: Honoring the Technologists in Social Innovation
Everyone deserves the benefit of good engineering. But to hone their…
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The Work Underway Now to Solve Refugee Crises…
The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman draws a line that…
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Five Questions for Abdigani Diriye: Somali Startup and…
When Abdigani Diriye was five years old, his family fled the…
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Video: How the ITU Views ICTs for Global…
For four days in September, 2017, the International Telecommunication Union convened…
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Gallery: Impact.Engineered in Photos and Tweets
For three days in October, 2017, Impact.Engineered honored engineers and product…
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Latin American Kitchens Clear the Air with Stoves…
Stove design flourishes where the needs of a culture butt against…
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Shh.. Don’t Tell Kids but Playing with Soap…
Don’t tell the kids, but the colored mess they’re making with…
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Reinvented Toilets Take on a Lack of Sanitation…
Nine startups that are reinventing the toilet have won spots as…
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Where to Donate to Survivors of Hurricanes and…
The year has been marred by extraordinary natural disasters. Flooding in…
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ISO Standards for Clean Cookstoves Update
Diversity in clean cookstove design has climbed sharply as startups, mom…
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Five Questions for Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s…
Brahima Sanou has taken the wheel at the Telecommunication Development Bureau…
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A Visual Inspection Guide to Detect Faulty Solar…
Stores in Malawi and likely other developing countries carry defective and…
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Video: See a Suspension Footbridge Constructed over a…
If you’ve never seen the construction of a suspension footbridge, the…
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Five Questions for Dr. Chaesub Lee, Director of…
The mobile phone revolution in developing countries was possible in large…
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Ten ICTs Connecting Farmers to the World
Internet and communications technologies have transformed farms in the world’s developing…
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The Babajob story: How Blue-Collar India Finds Work
In 2004, Anirudh Krishna published a study that changed the life…
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Gallery: Ishow in Photos
If you’ve ever been to an iShow you’ll know that they…
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Fighting Latin American corruption with civic tech: Five…
Growing up in Romania, political corruption was a family dinner conversation,…
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Algorithmic analysis of satellite data and a new…
Despite its protected status, deforestation threatens the Leuser Ecosystem, 2.6 million…
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Fixing the world’s rural roads with a shovel…
For those of us who don’t know what it’s like to…
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Volunteer cartographers create open source maps to guide…
Spraying insecticide indoors remains one of the most effective weapons against…
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From Baby Monitors to Fishing Fleets: Ten Upgrades…
The cost of electronic sensors and mobile technology has dropped low…
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Equipping Ships to Monitor Oceans: Five Questions for…
From satellites to research ships, data is collected on oceanic conditions…
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Impact Design Hub explores meaning and contexts of…
PlayPumps have been a cautionary tale in global development engineering since…
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A “solar hooter” protects southern Indian farms from…
A low-cost “solar hooter” may keep animal intruders at bay on…
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Packable solar picnic grills subsidize sales in underserved…
The history of solar cooking as we know it reaches deep…
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Welcome to E4C’s Research Fellows of 2017
Our newest cohort has surprises in store for this second year…
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Ethiopia’s 8028 Hotline: Aiding farmers through text and…
Ethiopia’s new 8028 Hotline has handled a deluge of calls from farmers looking…
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Artificially intelligent traps alert farmers of insect invasions
A new bug trap in development applies artificial intelligence to the…
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Bees vs. elephants: From Chad to South Africa,…
African farmers have dug deep into their arsenals for tools to…
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A new charitable giving platform vets Indian nonprofits…
It’s easy to forgive indecision when it comes to donating to…
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What’s in a name? The words we use…
Organizations around the world have adopted at least a dozen names,…
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UVG’s courses in Guatemala teach engineers from the…
The differences that persist worldwide between the city and the country…
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The New Digital and Mechanical Tools on African…
A wave of agricultural machines and digital applications for farmers is…
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The versatile AgRover is like the Swiss Army…
A newly minted workshop in Lagos, Nigeria, is manufacturing some of…
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Robotics for global development: Five Questions with Raj…
Dr. Raj Madhavan has made a career connecting two concepts that,…
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Global Fishing Watch puts the crowd in charge…
Fishers encroaching on protected marine areas may have a harder time…
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A solar thermal aerator prototype could improve aquaculture…
A low-cost solar fish pond aerator could boost yields in most…
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Open source geospatial maps and cheap new tools…
Aerial drones, crowds of folks gathering soil samples and new analysis…
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Drones and other robotics for social good: Five…
Three robotics labs in Tanzania, Nepal and Peru put aerial drones…
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Data Scientists Pinpoint Sources of Lead Contamination to…
The Swiss mechanical engineer Lt. Eduard Rubin invented the copper-jacketed rifle…
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Promising Prototypes to Watch in 2017
Prototypes are pushing the field of global development technology forward as…
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An Overdue Remodel of India’s Artisanal Fishing Industry
In 2004, the earthquake in the Indian Ocean and the tsunami…
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Recycling on Tricycles in Lagos: Five Questions with…
Like many major cities in the throes of economic development, Lagos has a…
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The case for open-source design in low-cost medical…
People who need medical care in rural developing countries can be…
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Meet Yi Wei, ‘Sexy’ Loo Designer & One…
Yi Wei, Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at iDE is one…
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Our Most Popular Webinars of the Year, from…
In a year that started with a webinar on Food Security and ended with Electronic…
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Case study: How an offline CRM helps a…
Sistema Biobolsa began its operations developing and selling biogas systems in…
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A new digital tool takes the guesswork out…
An experienced soil analyst can discover clues about the dirt with…
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10 mThings Changing Lives in Developing Countries
Mobile applications are transforming the livelihoods of millions of people around…
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How mobile tech improves global sanitation: Research brief…
The mobile phone boom of the last decade has given rise…
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New open-source tools analyze sites for small hydropower…
Micro-hydropower generators rely on the natural flow of a river or…
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Why Is it So Hard to Do Something…
Three years is long in a person’s lifetime, longer in the…
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Old Fused With New: Sustainable Architecture Where It…
Sustainability in architecture has manifested as buildings that process waste and…
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A New WASH Working Group Targets an Overlooked Hazard:…
In a departure from the WASH community’s traditional focus on microbial contamination in drinking…
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The best of Siemens Stiftung EPA: A wearable…
A wearable thermometer for newborns, a medical insurance scheme for trash…
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Practical tips to distribute and scale your technology
The final module in E4C’s four-step course, Introduction to Engineering for Global Development…
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How to prototype and test your design
Insight into Module Three in the four-step online course, Introduction to Engineering for…
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The Manufacturing Conundrum: Local or Outsourced?
The eraser dust has settled, the tablet screen has dimmed, the foamcore…
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Potter’s guide to successful local manufacture
The caretakers of the ceramic pot water filter design are committed…
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Practical Steps to Place People at the Center…
Map, profile, model data and visualize findings in Step Two of…
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Putting the world’s impoverished communities online: Five questions…
Bob Marsh is a household name and the subject of dinner…
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How to define a strategy focused on user…
Step One in a four-step training program in engineering for global…
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Untreated Wastewater: A Growing Crisis and Its Solutions
Aerial photos reveal a plume of brown fecal sludge drifting off…
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3D Printing with E-Waste: Five Questions for Roy…
Roy Ombatti turns sobering e-waste statistics around by using the waste…
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Introduction to Engineering for Global Development: E4C’s new…
Engineering for Change offers an online course to students and professionals…
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How to make a wooden mold for biosand…
Household biosand water filters are proven effective and long lasting. Traditionally,…
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A Hardware Entrepreneur in Delhi Turns Soot into…
The accolades mount for Arpit Dhupar, who has collected two awards in two…
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TMI! How Knowledge Platforms Tame the Information Overload…
Despite the ubiquity of online information, and arguably because of it,…
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Humanitarian Engineering Principle Four: Be a Professional Humanitarian…
This is the fourth in a series on principles based on the textbook…
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How the Internet of Things Is Improving Lives…
Wirelessly connected sensors, actuators and other hardware have already changed global…
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Hardware start-ups get an upgrade from cardboard cutouts…
Hardware startups go through dozens or even hundreds of design changes…
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Gallery: Inside Burn’s Charcoal Stove Factory in Nairobi,…
On a dirt road inside a gated business park outside of…
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Welcome to E4C’s Fellows
We are pleased to welcome 11 fellows into our new Research…
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The iShow in Kenya According to Twitter
In photos, sketches, facts and less than 140 characters of commentary,…
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Five Questions with Kamau Gachigi, Head of Gearbox
Inventors and tinkerers who have had a place to build things in…
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Three devices in development now could improve health…
Health care and air quality in India and other emerging economies…
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Five Questions with Ken Banks: ICT4D Writer, Editor…
Ken Banks launched FrontlineSMS in 2005 as a tool that turns a…
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Upgrading electronics with paper cards smooths the work…
Mobile devices that replaced paper records in rural healthcare in Uganda…
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Hardware Innovator: Five questions with Ashwin Ramachandran
From Intel to Villgro, Ashwin Ramachandran left a career in the…
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Bacteria-breeding coconuts may control mosquitoes that transmit zika…
Salitral is a fine place for mosquitoes to breed. Species that…
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How to use mobile data collection tools to…
Mobile communications networks have surged in developing countries and so has…
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Nia’s 3D-Printed Prosthetic Limbs Cut Costs and Production…
Making a prosthetic limb the traditional way takes about a week.…
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Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award watch
Engineers know that uncounted thousands of graduate research papers and projects…
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Made in India: 10 life-changing Indian technologies
India has long been a technological powerhouse and the country’s engineers…
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Saving new mothers’ lives with birth kits: Five…
Zubaida Bai has built an award-winning business around saving women’s lives…
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Soap Operas by Phone Teach the Power of…
Ben and Joy dip into their box of cash and jewelry…
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A solar electric handcycle upgrades the wheelchair in…
An electric-assisted handcycle in development now could soon transport wheelchair users…
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A Plumber Without Borders: Five Questions with Fred…
Fred Schilling installed a toilet with a closing flap in a…
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Learn to create inventions that serve those in…
You can improve your design skills and learn to create a product…
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Cooking in Adelaide with experimental dung-burning stoves
We are glad to see another novelty in efficient stoves: dung…
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A solar sprayer puts pest control in reach…
A new lightweight and low-cost solar-powered sprayer could put pest control…
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How a loudspeaker in a cookstove can power…
This is the prototype of a thermoacoustic device that attaches to…
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A mobile phone add-on quickly diagnoses malaria
Diagnosing malaria with a cellphone add-on has become a product category.…
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Improving Farms in the World’s Drylands, Part 2:…
Part Two of a two-part series. Part One: Ancient Methods and…
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Improving Farms in the Worlds Drylands, Part 1:…
Part One of a two-part series. Part Two: Prototypes and Leading-Edge…
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Ten Technologies for Farming in Dry Climates
Farmers in dry climates manage to coax crops from sandy soil…
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What it takes to develop a prototype into…
The engineering and design firm D-Rev announced the public launch of…
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Impact matters: Five questions with Kevin Starr
Dr. Kevin Starr and the US-based Mulago Foundation say they are…
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The Hemafuse blood autotransfusion device heads to clinical…
A soup ladle is sometimes the best tool available to recycle…
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Sunzilla’s open-source, portable, do-it-yourself solar generator
Sunzilla travels as a box that fits on a standard shipping…
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Promising Prototypes of 2015
We polled our community of experts for this list of 14…
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A Closer Look at the Drinkable Book
Part of the struggle to treat drinking water in marginalized communities…
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The Grease Revolution: Guidelines for testing affordable farm…
One way to lose a southern Indian farmer’s interest in your…
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A $1 insert for cooking fires cuts wood…
Update: Please see below for a link to the research paper at…
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Hundreds of products for comparison in one place:…
Re-invention of the wheel is one of the biggest mistakes in…
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Emergency shelter for the people: Four questions with…
Tom Newby is a structural engineer who has led CARE International’s…
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Modular solar micro-grids light off-grid homes
Samuel Egbu used to pay 50 naira (US $0.32) to charge…
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The present and future of design education
Only a handful of institutions offer formal programs in engineering and…
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Gallery: A day in the life of a…
So, what does a work day look like for a global…
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Now is the Best Time to Work in…
Excerpted from Solving Problems that Matter (and Getting Paid for It): STEM…
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The rise of the micro-grid: Four questions for…
We need to take a critical look at centralized power, Dr.…
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Review: Solving Problems that Matter and Getting Paid…
[Editor’s note: Solving Problems that Matter’s editor Khanjan Mehta has made…
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How advances in long-distance Wi-Fi can connect rural…
In 2005, ophthalmologists in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu…
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A teenage inventor upgrades emergency rescue technology
At age 15, Alexis Lewis has designed and patented a bamboo…
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Design inspiration: Building playgrounds around the world
Kids learn construction skills when they build them, and their school…
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Five Questions with Eleanor Allen
Eleanor Allen turned a background in civil engineering into a globe-spanning…
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Coming soon in Nicaragua: A solar mobile dental…
Update July 2016: Engineering Smiles is in the midst of a…
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Five Questions with Louisa Brown
Louisa Brown has taken weeks and even months off from her…
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The mixed results of 25 years of Millennium…
Twenty five years after setting the Millenium Development Goals, the result…
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Five questions with Sabine Baumeister at Siemens Stiftung…
Imperfect transparency and coordination slow the work of social entrepreneurs in…
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Global development engineering in America: How technology is…
The wild and starkly beautiful lands in US Native American reservations…
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Short films offer a glimpse inside engineering for…
Updated June 15, 2015 – Thirty-three engineering teams from around the…
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The effectiveness of MOOCs, TB detection app demos,…
More than 200 teams presented their research into Internet and communications…
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A new journal covers engineering for global development
Failure claims an elevated status among start-ups and global development practitioners,…
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Ten human powered machines that improve lives worldwide
There’s an amazing breadth of human-powered machines. There are brick presses,…
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Survey: Social enterprise investment is up but challenges…
Profit-earning social enterprise may be trending among social investors, but it…
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100 Under $100 catalogues technologies that improve women’s…
If there were doubts that technology can mediate social change, 100 Under…
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iShow spotlights three heavy-hitting innovations out of India
A remote medical diagnostic device, a shrimp farm monitor and biogas-powered…
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Emergency sanitation solutions for Nepal
Above is a panoramic view of the International Organization for Migration’s humanitarian base…
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Solar PCR and a phone add on detect…
You won’t find many polymerase chain reaction thermocyclers in rural Kenya,…
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Engineers take note: The Children’s Prize wants to…
The Children’s Prize has cast a wide net looking for the…
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Five questions with Kerstin Danert
Our recorded E4C Webinar with Kerstin Danert is now available: Manual Drilling: A Global Perspective…
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E4C Drawn Out | The user’s experience matters
Frame Changers takes a shot at design with unintended consequences. The…
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Earthquake in Nepal: Where to donate
Aid organizations and technology businesses are helping to unite scattered survivors…
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E4C Visualized | Start your engines
How the world’s farmers do their work varies about as much…
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What startups and governments can learn from Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola appears on store shelves worldwide, even in the most hard-to-reach…
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E4C Drawn Out | Design the Distribution Network…
Frame Changers points out that your distribution network is just as…
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Next-Gen Solar in Off-Grid Africa: Five Questions with…
One million Africans could have reliable solar power within the next…
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How to Build a Solar-Powered Electronic Circuit
Part One of a two-part series. Part Two: How to build a…
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Design Challenge: $10,000 to build a micro-data center…
Inveneo has announced a $10,000 prize for the best design of a chassis…
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Handpump standardization needs to balance quality control with…
The India Mark II is the go-to handpump model in the…
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Wanda Organic’s crowdfunding tips for hardware development
A Kenyan fertilizer startup called Wanda Organic that turned to Indiegogo…
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Future-proofing Water Systems in Developing Countries: A Q&A…
One hour was not enough time to field your questions from…
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Metered Micro Grids in India: Five Questions with…
Residents of 18 villages in rural India pay for solar electricity…
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E4C Drawn Out | Maintenance mysteries
New, “disruptive” technology can improve lives, create new markets and add…
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Nelson Engineering’s charity run raised money for E4C
E4C would like to give special thanks to Nelson Engineering Co.and the…
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Tweet roundup | SANKALP Forum edition
Our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology for global…
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E4C Visualized | Pollution: The silent killer in…
Pollution looks a little different in impoverished communities. It can look…
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Five Questions with Diana Keesiga
There might be a simple way to repair broken water pumps…
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Designing for climate change
Generations of farmers in the high desert of Ladakh have planted…
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A deep dive into data from university programs…
The manuscripts provide a snapshot of the practices employed by institutions…
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Quick Guide to Carbon Credits for Funding Global…
The carbon credits marketplace may have money for device inventors, infrastructure…
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A greener, wealthier future for farmers with village…
There’s a more efficient way to make charcoal using torrefaction plants.…
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E4C drawn out | High on climate change
Frame Changers highlights escapism through substance use as one of the…
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Ten technologies developing countries are using now to…
Disaster hits hardest against the poor, and people in developing countries…
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Five questions with Shyam Rajan, Chief Technology Officer…
Usability and human factors engineering will play a big role in…
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E4C Visualized | The challenges faced by energy…
The hardest challenge for renewable energy businesses in developing countries seems…
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Ram Pumps & Off-Road Wheelchairs – Tweets
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Expectations May Vary – Frame Changers Comic
Frame Changers portrays the futility of expectations about how new…
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10 Promising Global Development Technologies
2014 was a strong year for democratic design, funding and manufacturing.…
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Five Questions for Chris Ategeka
When Chris Ategeka delivered two of his bicycle ambulances to a…
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A new startup plans to introduce do-it-yourself cellular…
The technology startup Endaga launched to deliver “telcos in a box,”…
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Do it yourself cellular networks in rural communities
The technology startup Endaga launched to deliver “telcos in a box,”…
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Ebola, Toilets & Tech Talks – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Life-changing Innovations at Techcon
Eight labs showed off their innovations with the potential to improve…
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E4C drawn out | Fundraising fantasies
Frame Changers pokes fun at unrealistic expectations for donations to global…
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Bikes grow on trees in Uganda through a…
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of growing your own bicycle,…
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Engineers Without Borders-USA Intl Conference
Updated December 8, 2014 – At times the Engineers Without Borders-USA National…
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Tweet roundup | The interesting edition
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Engineering Updates – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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The next generation of technology for disaster preparedness…
Technology dulls the bite of disasters, even in impoverished communities with…
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Earthquake-resistant Homes in Haiti
A new kind of housing program delivers two things that Haitians…
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Karl Linden Interview – Five Questions
The future of water treatment and sanitation may be on a…
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An app in the pipeline diagnoses jaundice in…
A new smartphone application in development now may soon take the…
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Break into the field of technology for global…
Sanergy’s fellows at work. Photo courtesy of Sanergy Students and professionals…
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How to make a 3D-printed mold for rubber…
Here’s an idea for manufacturing rubber parts and for rapid prototyping…
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Tweet roundup: Hardware challenges edition
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Hardware Challenges – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Gallery | World Maker Faire showcases technology that…
Fascinating, curious people who love to learn gathered at World Maker…
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World Maker Faire Technology Showcase
Fascinating, curious people who love to learn gathered at World Maker…
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Five questions with Wayan Vota
Technology does not solve problems without people, Wayan Vota says. People…
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Surveillance Drones for Conflict Zones
Carrying just a single camera, surveillance drones have a light payload,…
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Darkness Was Gone
Light is one of those basic things like food, safe water…
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What’s funny about technology for global development?
You might remember a certain moment if you have ever volunteered…
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Frame Changers Global Development Comics
You might remember a certain moment if you have ever volunteered…
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Become inspired by three influential minds in Engineering…
An industry giant, a US university and an influential non-profit design…
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How the Maker Movement Boosts Local Business
Makers around the world are launching small businesses, feeding their families…
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Tweet roundup | Drones, design failures and floating…
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Six global development engineers are honored in MIT’s…
At least six of the innovators honored in MIT Technology Review’s…
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Feedback sought on a prototype of a medical…
A schematic of the device with its bags and console. A…
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Engineering for Global Development Forum live streaming August…
Five leading engineers for global development will gather on August 20…
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Engineering for Global Development Forum
Five leading engineers for global development will gather on August…
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Composting Latrine vs. Flush Toilet
The composting pit latrine has long been the gold standard for…
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Maternal Health – Saving Lives at Birth Expo…
Nearly 500 design teams submitted their inventions for reducing the risk…
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How effective is biochar at removing pesticides from…
As part of a filtration system, biochar is a top-notch and…
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Misconceptions – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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5 Challenges Hamper ICT Hardware Development
Product designers know that Internet and communications technologies play key roles…
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Ten open source devices for global development at…
The worldwide network of Fab Labs held its tenth annual Fab…
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Biodigester Energy Generation
A cow’s digestive system churns out 250 to 500 liters of…
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Tweet roundup | Resilience, bioterrorism and 3D printing…
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Resilience & 3D Printing – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Hands-on Engineering Programs for Kids
Do-it-yourself building attracts aid organizations as a low-cost way to distribute…
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Five Questions with Sam Parker
Sam Parker has helped turn sanitation into a profitable business in…
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Design Advice & Pepper Spray Drones – Tweets
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Should We Deskill Technologies?
Making HIV tests simple enough for people to do at home…
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Mobile Data-Gathering Apps – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Homegrown Landmine-Detection Robots
A competition to develop autonomous landmine detectors has fused the awesomeness…
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What if Automation Puts People out of Work?…
Welcome to The Big Design Questions, a weekly series that tests…
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Simple Tech to Help African Farmers Thrive
Better information, tools, storage and seeds are helping lift 1 billion…
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The Big Design Questions | Can a technology…
Welcome to The Big Design Questions, a weekly series that tests…
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Early results look promising: A reusable ceramic tablet…
Drop one of these Madi Drops into a bucket of river…
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Banka BioLoo: Biotoilets are tough on waste in…
India’s sanitation problem needs a powerful, but low-cost solution. Half the…
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Five questions with Evan Thomas
Huge improvements in sensing technologies have begun to answer some of…
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The Big Design Questions | Should technology for…
Welcome to The Big Design Questions, a weekly series that tests…
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World report card on maternal health
The International Museum of Women created this report card on maternal…
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A new fold-up solar panel joins the field…
Wall sockets don’t need a eulogy, yet, but Harold Tan is…
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Design for Individual or Community Ownership?
Greenhouses, like this low-cost modular design from the Affordable Greenhouse Venture…
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DEMAND, ASME’s Global Development Review
It’s been a big month for DEMAND, the new magazine covering…
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Local Manufacturing vs. Outsourcing
Welcome to The Big Design Questions, a weekly series that tests…
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How a microscope lens for phones might improve…
Several years ago, Lia Marshall and a group of fellow undergraduate…
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Haitian Tablets & Education – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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A home-grown bike business rolls out emergency health…
Unpaved roads and a lack of vehicles don’t stop bike ambulances…
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Build Your Own Robot Affordably
Lollipops, a joystick, a bottle cap and a whistle fill out…
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Ways to Ventilate Smoky Kitchens
In laboratory tests, clean-burning stoves smoke only a little and emit…
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Mark Talesnik Interview – Five Questions
Mark Talesnik asks tough questions in his TEDxHiriya talk held in…
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How the mobile industry is improving water and…
The GSM Association’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year featured…
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GSMA Mobile World Congress – Notes
The GSM Association’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year…
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NYSAE honors us with its Outstanding Information Technology…
We’re excited to share that the New York Society of Association Executives…
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School Attendance Improves with Clean Water and Handwashing…
Filtered water at schools and handwashing programs at home in underserved…
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Ten Tips to Cut Costs & Design Affordably
Three and half billion people in developing countries make for a…
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Ten tips to cut costs and design for…
Three and half billion people in developing countries make for a…
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The life of a girl in the developing…
The birth of a girl is a sad occasion in some…
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Gallery | The surprising and inventive ways that…
On a bike ride in Uganda, William Peterson shot pictures of…
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Bicycling in Uganda
On a bike ride in Uganda, William Peterson shot pictures of…
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Tweet roundup: Simple solutions for traffic death, mushroom…
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Improve ICT Hardware in Developing Countries
The developing world is hard on electronic devices. Power surges and…
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Meet E4C’s Contributing Editors
Updated July 1, 2015 – A network of engineering and design professionals…
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Solar LEDs replace kerosene and lower household expenses…
Haitians see better health and lower costs when they use the…
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Three solar concepts win jury’s awards at Greenpeace’s…
This demo shows technology proposed for a battery-less, portable, high-flow solar…
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Proven and popular drug safety and agricultural tools…
IEEE’s Global Humanitarian Engineering Awards set a tone for the field…
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3D Printers Take Off in Developing Countries
3D printers remain confined to technical universities and specialized labs in…
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The Big Biogas & ICT4D – Tweet Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Peruvian PV & Diesel Pumps – Twitter Roundup
We present our twice-monthly snapshot of interesting tweets in the technology…
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Low-Cost Calibrators & Hearing Tests
A good design idea or the right tip could help a…
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The Link Between Rain and Diarrhea
Rain pours from a rooftop in the Ecuadoran coastal city of…
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Promising Prototypes and Projects of 2013
In 2013 we saw hundreds of irrigation pump prototypes, power tool…
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New monitoring devices measure the impact of improved…
Nathan Johnson, an assistant professor of engineering at Arizona State University…
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From the E4C community: Low-tech irrigation with the…
Photo courtesy of Dirk Long Some farmers living along streams and…
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Five Questions with Lina Nilsson
Lina Nilsson noticed a common theme on a tour of South…
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Water Forever?
Water pumps have broken and failed at a staggering rate in…
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Make a Biomass Processor
Jed Guinto has puzzled over how to improve a chopping machine…
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Solar cookers make a surprise appearance on Nepal’s…
Smoke frames the memories of the trail for trekkers in Nepal.…
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Five Questions with George Roter
Does Malawi really need more water pumps? George Roter posed the…
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Architecture, Tools & People
The architect Charles Newman has spent the last several years wandering…
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Why Waste Water?
The ways we use water, and waste it, doesn’t make a…
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AFRICOMM is mapping the future of ICT research…
Until now, technology research has largely been leaderless in Africa, its…
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Five questions with Damian Miller
“There is no solution to climate change that doesn’t involve emerging…
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RFID cards could streamline rural health care in…
A teetering stack of documents on a storage-room shelf can pass…
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Greenpeace Design – Solar Powered Water Pumps
Inventors have responded with thoughtful, detailed ideas for Greenpeace’s challenge to…
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World Maker Faire’s DIY With a Difference
Builders, inventors and hardware hackers let their geek flags fly at…
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We are more than engineers
Jay Thrasher signed on for two years in the US Peace…
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MakerFaire – Tweet Roundup
3D printing, Cuba’s garage innovation, Coca Cola’s water kiosks, the Internet…
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15 concepts to replace diesel-powered water pumps on…
Sputtering diesel pumps are a common sight on Indian farms. The…
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Jonathan Cedar Interview – Five Questions
In 2006 Jonathan Cedar and Alec Drummond partnered to amend two…
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How indigenous communities guard their heritage with map-making…
Residents of the Indonesian community Pandumaan make their living from the…
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A call for abstracts for the UNESCO Chair…
In June 2014, attendees of the UNESCO Chair in Technologies for…
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How design can boost the growth of renewable…
Power cuts were frequent in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, and when…
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Research brief: Communities should move to the center…
Philosophers of design have been calling on humans to move to…
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Ten common and uncommon technologies boosting grades in…
This list may hold some surprises. We blended the new with…
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Five questions with Erna Grasz
The hardest question that Erna Grasz has answered came from a…
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E4C Visualized: What’s a Toilet Worth?
Poor sanitation and contaminated water supplies may cost the world as…
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Facebook’s Internet.org: What the experts say
A sign at an Internet cafe in New York City, New…
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Is Air Travel Sustainable?
Does air travel negate the “sustainable” part of “sustainable engineering for…
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Coders Converge in Cambridge to Solve Problems in…
Over a weekend of white-knuckled typing, whiteboarding and brainstorming, 12 teams…
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Thailand’s clean-tech showroom
One block north of the walled old city in the heart…
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New forecasting and analytics tools could improve wind…
Still, dead air and clouds hobble wind and solar energy generators.…
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Tweet roundup: Kite wind power and community co-creation…
Why low-tech mechanical hydro power can sometimes beat hydro-electric, how kite…
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Five Questions with Jack Sim
We need an international conversation about poop, Jack Sim says. We…
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Steam cleaning: Nanoparticles and sunlight heat up the…
In the end of the 1994 bomb-on-a-bus blockbuster Speed, Keanu Reeves…
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Ten Rural Healthcare Technologies
Engineering research labs are churning out a solid line up of…
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These Cell Phones are Not Technically Urine Powered
Recent headlines raised eyebrows at E4C when Bristol Robotics Laboratory announced…
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Common Household Items that Fight Poverty
Low-cost and often low-technology household items are improving lives in developing…
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Tweet roundup: The wrong biofuel and the right…
Do-it-yourself glaciers, unsuitable algae biofules, low-tech mosquito deterrents and colorful sanitation…
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How to Make a Biochar Gasifier
Add biochar to a garden or farm to improve the soil’s…
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Ten technologies to manage a crowding world
The UN estimates a world population of more than 9 billion…
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‘The Spark’ Documentary Celebrates Two Visionary American Farmers
On an 18-month journey across the United States, the film producer…
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Streamlined and pedal-powered velomobiles
Human-powered cars have come a long way since the Flintstones. Today’s…
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E4C Solutions: A solar autoclave for off-grid medical…
Photo courtesy of Adam Compton In this series, we feature technological…
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ASME iShow – Coriolis Hematocrit Centrifuge – Engineering…
Low-budget engineering virtuosos at MIT have transformed a gear box from…
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Solar Home Systems in Off-Grid Thailand: Five Questions…
Salinee Tavaranan heads a new kind of solar company that supplies…
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Himalayan solar cooking comes to the city
Solar cookers designed for nomads in Western China could also barbecue…
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Bicycle-Powered Irrigation Pump
In this series, we feature technological solutions to problems in underserved…
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How mHealth Curbs HIV & Malaria – Engineering…
Mobile technology and programs that rely on mobile communications are helping…
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Photo essay: Nepal’s clean tech showcase
Fuel briquettes little larger than hockey pucks dry on string runners…
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Clean Tech in Nepal
Fuel briquettes little larger than hockey pucks dry on string runners…
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Tweet roundup: It’s back
Our news staff went on vacation for most of this month…
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Five questions with Alan Spybey
Until the 1990s, small-holder farmers in developing countries had few, if…
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Research brief: Children with diarrhea have a higher…
A Tippy Tap hand-washing station like this one may prevent the…
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How solid design supports good social marketing: reports…
Marketing is the dirty word that can sink or sail a…
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Five questions with Sam Dargan
Sam Dargan founded a music production company to promote the solar…
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E4C Visualized: How to fight hunger
Nearly 1 billion people do not have enough to eat, but…
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EWB-USA’s Global Innovations Forum – Tweets
Leaders in developing technology for sustainable development took the stage April…
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A call for papers to increase academic rigor…
The International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and…
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Tweet roundup: Design tips and targets edition
Penetrate design jargon, succeed as a hardware startup, solve the water…
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Seven prototypes from the Gandhian Technological Innovation Awards
A cutting machine for turning old sarees into floor mats, an…
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Capturing indigenous knowledge: Thirteen videos that show the…
Thirteen video interviews in a YouTube playlist and a research paper…
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The $1 million prize to save children’s lives
How would you spend $1 million to prevent the deaths of…
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Promising Inventions for Global Development at NCIIAS Open…
Meliza Mitra, Sproxil’s Global Business Coordinator, explains the problem of drug…
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Five Questions with Sam Hamner
Knees can be challenging to make. Think about how your knee…
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How to Build a Compressed Earth Block Home
Building with compressed-earth blocks makes sense, and not just because most…
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Our Favorite YouTube Videos
What is Snoop doing in our YouTube favorites list? We’ve placed…
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Mud brick and wood storehouses save grain after…
There are a lot of good ways to coax more crops…
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Scaling Energy Access in Developing Countries
In this webinar, Mitra Ardron, CEO of Lumeter Networks, shares the…
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Spray-on inks and CdTe research may cut the…
Drastically cutting the cost of solar power could put it in…
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E4C Visualized: How to boost global food production
How can the world increase global food production to meet the demand…
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Tweet roundup
Solutions for donations of medical equipment that go unused, communication problems…
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The Internet and other ICTs as tools for…
The Internet may help solve some of the problems that bog…
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An inside look at a new documentary on…
Updated Dec. 11, 2013 – For six months, the documentary film maker…
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Ten TED talks in humanitarian design
Design features prominently at TED, but we combed through the dozens…
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Data mapping has a new look with Akvo…
In 2006, two water aid professionals used GPS devices to plot…
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A new low-cost device diagnoses HIV in developing…
Results are in from a test run in Rwanda for a…
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E4C Visualized: Maximizing mobile for development
The developing world is now “more mobile” than developed countries, the…
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Engineering for Global Development: Academic Programs Worldwide
(Updated March, 2018) – A small-but-growing contingent of academic programs courses offer…
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E-readers may be the future of books in…
Designers in our field often hammer home the point that the…
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Paper diagnostic tests: Coming soon to Kenyan dairy…
Tests for milk on Kenyan dairy farms may soon be ultra…
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Wanted: An easy test for bacteria in drinking…
Updated December 13, 2013 This post began as outreach to crowdsource…
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Five questions with Dr. Daniel Mollura
Medical imaging for diagnosis and treatment saves lives. But this crucial…
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Rabbit Ceramic Water Purifier
Access to safe drinking water is a huge problem around the…
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Promising prototypes and projects of 2012
In 2012, we saw low-tech robots, high-tech toilets, computer games that…
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Ten top fundraising platforms
Updated November 2019 – Big names like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have risen…
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Solar Power and the Energy Grid
There may be as much as 25 times more solar energy…
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Sisal Twine Manufacturing Machines
One broad, pointed leaf plucked from the sisal plant can earn…
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E4C at age 1: The best of our…
E4C’s first, action-packed year will close in January, and we’d like…
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Interview with Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen has achieved a double coup in global development engineering:…
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An Ancient Filtration Material Removes Pesticides from Drinking…
Charcoal has been a part of water treatment for at least…
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The E4C Webinar Series connects people and ideas
Engineering for Change’s Webinar Series is gaining momentum, bringing together hundreds…
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Video: Construcción de hogares de las familias con…
Bienvenidos al primer webinar de E4C en Español. Un billón de…
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Made in Cameroon: Low-cost, heavy-duty farm truck prototypes
If farmers in the west central African nation of Cameroon were…
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E4C Visualized: Saving moms at birth
Childbirth is surprisingly deadly to mothers, especially those in developing countries.…
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10 Ways to Put Human Waste to Use
It was hard to limit the list to just ten. With…
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Five Questions with Daniele Lantagne
Daniele Lantagne has spent more than a decade fighting against a…
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The Wound Pump can triple patients’ healing rate
This innovation is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Build your own open-source machinery with plans at…
An ambulance pulled by a donkey, one of the open-source machines…
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Tweet roundup: Hurricane edition
Our Hurricane Sandy edition of the bimonthly tweet roundup features big…
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Sunblazer Solar Trailers could electrify 7 million homes…
Today, nearly 4000 Haitians power their lights and electronics devices from…
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Ten things to put in your emergency kit
Hurricane Sandy is blacking out homes on the US East Coast…
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Packed particle bed filters: A simple solution for…
Reid Harvey may have hit on the simplest method yet for…
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Tweet roundup
Researchers are tracking malaria with cell phones, a bus equiped with…
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Ten technologies for rural water supplies
Safe drinking water saves lives, and fortunately, technologies to deliver it to…
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How to make a worm composting bin
Last year, trash clogged the gutters and alleys between of Los…
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Five Questions with Francesco Piazzesi
Francesco Piazzesi is helping tens of thousands of people in rural…
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Tips and tools for rapid prototyping
Boards studded with the sliced halves of ping pong balls lean…
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Video: Building technical capacity in resource-poor hospitals
Hospitals in developing countries tend to lack healthcare technology, and even…
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The unexpected incubators of appropriate technology
Maker Faires, Burning Man and even last year’s Occupy Wall Street…
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Solar WiFi Links Micronesian Islands
Editor’s note July 2019: Dr. Laura Hosman and Bruce Baikie have…
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New peer-reviewed journal fills a gap in humanitarian…
One of the wishes we’ve heard from experts in humanitarian design…
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Video: Open source software opportunities for social innovation…
Three experts in open source software for education, sustainable development and…
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A pocket guide to plugging in off the…
A surge in new power supplies presents an interesting challenge: What…
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Video: Revo-LOO-tionary toilet design
Why would someone in rural Cambodia want a toilet? Finding out…
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Five questions with Ayorkor Korsah
Slowly but surely, robots are rolling into African schools. And it’s…
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E4C visualized: Poop and the $42 million challenge…
Poor sanitation is one of the biggest killers and causes of…
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Tweet roundup
Boring photos of Africa, dysfunctional medical equipment, questioning foreign aid, Apple’s…
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Appropriate technology at World Maker Faire 2012 in…
Go for the arduino robots and fire-breathing dragon sculpture, but stay…
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Coming soon: The global women’s tech catalog
Economic development needs women. Research shows that creating opportunities for women,…
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Ten medical devices for off-grid healthcare
Power is scarce at medical centers in some of the world’s…
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Five Questions with Anand Shah
Using leading edge, low-cost technology and an important vision, Anand Shah…
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Five Questions with Jessica Vechakul
For the inventor, one of the draws to design in developing…
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Women, Water and a Whole Lot of Work
Every day, millions of women worldwide work for an estimated 200…
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How to Make Penetrating Oil
WD 40 lubricating spray may have some low-cost, do-it-yourself competition: vegetable…
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Video: Designing with the bottom of the pyramid
Technology designers tend to overestimate their own capacity to solve problems…
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Solar textiles: An interview with Sheila Kennedy
The head of a program that is equipping off-grid communities with solar…
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Tweet roundup
Notes from a base-of-the-pyramid design webinar, the best inventions from collegiate…
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Portable Light’s solar textiles generate mobile power off…
Like most good ideas, making solar power wearable is a solution…
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What’s wrong with our food system?
Here’s a fact that may surprise you: As many as 80 percent of the people…
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ReadySet: One company’s bid to rally hardware makers
Last year our news blog left off with a ReadySet cliffhanger.…
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A newly designed sorghum press is under construction…
The women in Dissan, in southern Mali, turn a hand-cranked press…
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Five Questions with Sasha Kramer
Sasha Kramer’s enthusiasm for recycling poop is contagious. After hearing from…
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Tweet roundup
We’ve rebooted our Twitter roundup to bring you a digest of…
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10 Great Sites for a Free Online Education
[Updated August 2016] – The cost of universities may be rising – it…
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Solar Fire’s beautiful concentrators: An open source secret
Production stopped at a small solar concentrator manufacturing facility in Burkina…
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Green roofs boost solar panel efficiency
If anyone is keeping score, machines might have beat plants at…
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E4C Visualized: Power generators in developing economies (infographic)
It’s tough to navigate the boon of new low-cost and sustainable…
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Foot-powered washing machine: From sketch to product
As a laundry machine, this five-gallon bucket that spins on pieces…
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How Playing Games can Diagnose Malaria
Do you have a video game on pause while you’re reading…
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The best of iShow’s cost-saving and sustainable technologies
Two trends caught our attention at this year’s iShow in Montreal:…
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Five Questions with Ashok Gadgil
Ashok Gadgil’s name is attached to huge, and hugely influential projects…
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How to successfully distribute water filters
Distribution can be the highest hurdle in technology development in areas…
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Pipes, Pallets, Snowboards and Jars: How to upcycle…
Three fates await the typical empty plastic bottle: refuse, reuse or…
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E4C connects leading innovators in Washington, DC
We held Washington, DC’s most appropriate-technology-friendly meet-and-greet of the year at…
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Promising new tech for developing countries at the…
A wetlands in a hair salon, a solar water purifier in…
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Improving the improved cookstoves: standards, test centers, and…
New standards in cookstove design have helped instill a much-deserved formality…
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How to make solar affordable
Kelley Blue Book’s survey in 2010 found that, in the United…
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Engineering for Change’s webinars are a new way…
You might have noticed a crop of new ideas and…
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How to make a sack garden
A garden in a tall sack is a simple home project…
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Five Questions with Nathan Johnson
Nathan Johnson lived for a day with each of five families…
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A 12-year-old engineer designs a life-saving travois for…
Chase Lewis, age 12, has designed a life-saving device that refugees…
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Five Questions with Jim Hallock
Jim Hallock is America’s spokesman for earthen construction. He crafts beautiful…
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Ten Low-Cost Ways to Treat Water
Clean water solutions for low- and middle-income countries don’t have to…
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A modular irrigation pump that grows with the…
An experimental water pump starts small and builds up with modular…
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PVC pipe and chlorine: Cheap and lasting water…
Officials in the Matagalpa health ministry in Nicaragua convened late last…
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Five Questions with Venkat Natarajan
Dr. Venkat Natarajan’s Frugal Innovation Program is Intel’s answer to a lazy…
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A unique solar thermal plant is on track…
An ambitious experiment in solar thermal energy generation is on track…
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The biosolar race is on
Within the next decade, people in off-grid villages may be able…
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10 Solar Cookers That Work at Night
The solar cooker is finally getting a practical overhaul. With few…
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Video: How ICT business models reduce poverty
Information and Communication Technology can provide access to education, healthcare, agro-services…
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Ten low-tech ways to irrigate crops
Irrigating a farm can double the amount of food it produces.…
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Five Questions with Josh Sperling
Josh Sperling (front-right) poses with Imrul Kayes, co-founder of Architecture for…
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How Kibera is turning trash heaps into businesses
Update – Feb. 13: Kounkuey is hiring engineers and accepting interns. See below for…
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10 things you can do with sunlight
Sunlight: it’s not just for charging calculators anymore. In off-grid communities…
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Our kite aerial photography camera rig scores on…
The world is on the look out for a cheaper aerial…
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Rats are on the front lines of the…
Predictably, the rats at APOPO have an image problem. At health…
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Five questions with Josh Nesbit
The cell phone has been a lifesaver for patients in developing…
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Finished! A construction manual for an open-source, low-cost…
Update June 2022: Removed bad links and information. The duo behind…
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A waste-treating hydrogen production plant in a shipping…
This innovation is one of ourPromising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Snap-on bike-powered generators electrify rural India
This innovation is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
Post
An acoustic landmine detector sweeps fields at 7.5…
This innovation is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Field your prototype: $650k in awards for mHealth…
Two influential mobile technology organizations are offering four awards of up…
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Wave-powered desalinators could ease the water crisis
This innovation is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Solar-powered antennae for off-grid communications
This innovation is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Poultry Pharm: How Eggs Become Drug Factories
Poultry Pharm is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Promising prototypes at IEEE’s Global Humanitarian Technology Conference
We saw the surge of ingenuity that engineers can attain when…
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Salinity sensors boost yields on shrimp farms
This innovation is one of our Promising Prototypes of IEEE’s Global Humanitarian…
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Five questions with Tony Marjoram
In October 2010, UNESCO issued a report that placed the engineering on…
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Ten great emergency shelter designs
Occupy Wall Street protesters around the world and refugees escaping drought…
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Four organizations join the E4C coalition
We’re proud to announce today that four leading technical organizations have signed agreements…
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Notes from Maker Faire Africa 2011
For its third year, Maker Faire Africa’s change in venue marked…
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Local production: The case for and against
A version of this interview was originally published in the first edition of…
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Five questions for Patrick Ball
Patrick Ball may be one of the few people who does…
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When not building can be the best decision
An E4C member asked for a device to help a child with…
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How to develop a product cradle-to-grave at Maker…
For a few days every year at Maker Faire, the world…
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Help finish the open source lathe construction manual
The construction manual for an open source screw-cutting lathe is nearly complete,…
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The best appropriate technology DIY plans
In off-grid communities where lights at night could improve grades and…
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Communities learn to build low-cost schools made from…
Chip off a chunk of cement from the wall of the…
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What a cheap Android smart phone means to…
At about $85, Huawei’s IDEOS shows that smart phones are becoming…
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A sneak peek at IEEE’s upcoming Global Humanitarian…
Preparations are underway for one of the world’s most unusual, and…
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How to Build a Wood-Burning Institutional Stove
The clean-burning stove is an old warhorse of design for developing…
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Five Questions with Peter Haas
In 2005, Peter Haas founded the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group as a…
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A Bronx high school tests integrated green roof…
Four helpful facts outline an experiment in green roof technology at a…
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A solar water sterilizer takes aim at rural…
This solar water sterilizer treats 10 liters of water in two…
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Help improve rainwater cisterns on Indian farms
Monsoon rains in Melva, a village in the northwestern Indian desert,…
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The concrete lathe: World War I technology meets…
In the fall of 1917, the United States had declared war…
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Call to action: Help fix a well at…
A well that supplies water for a Guatemalan girls’ home and…
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How can rural villages manage mountains of empty…
[Updated May, 2019] What can rural communities in Guyana do to…
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3D modeling and satellite imagery on a budget
Part Two in a two-part series. See Part One, on DIY aerial…
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Meet Aaron Melamed, E4C’s 5000th member
In June, the number of Engineering for Change members hit 5000…
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Do-it-yourself aerial photography: A guided tour
Part One of a two-part series. See Part Two, on 3D modeling…
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Clean tech for off-grid villages
Two-watt solar panels jut incongruously from thatched roofs in a rural Ethiopian village,…
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A new blood transfusion device can replace soup…
Medical device innovators pulled off a coup at this year’s Innovation Showcase, taking all…
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An implant could reduce costs and complications of…
A new device in development at Johns Hopkins University could could…
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A new syringe pump can save babies’ lives…
Medical devices swept the show at this year’s Innovation Showcase, the annual…
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Dataloggers boost bee farms in India
The Palni Hills are 770 square miles (2000 square kilometers) of…
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How to make green energy education affordable
In our ongoing coverage of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s P3…
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Bone char filters block arsenic at the faucet
In our ongoing coverage of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s P3…
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Cameroonian tinkerers are getting schooled in DIY hydropower
This is the first story in our coverage of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s…
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Ultrasound is Now on Smart Phones – Engineering…
Worldwide, Star Trek has sunken its fictional hooks into our daily…
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High school engineers build wind turbines from salvaged…
Discarded fence posts, go-cart frames, leftover PVC pipe and electrical conduit, welding…
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How to light up rural Africa, an E4C…
City lights in this image from the Defense Meteorological Satellite System…
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E4C’s YouTube project: Essential playlists for appropriate design
Take a look at our playlists, in the right-hand margin of…
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Urine is fertilizing crops and saving money in…
Consider these facts about urine: Adults produce about four to eight…
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How SMS is streamlining healthcare in developing countries
Josh Nesbit tells the story of a man named Dixon, who…
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Can open source hardware change how we farm?
Marcin Jakubowski has a vision of a DIY utopia in which…
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Water filters: First Ghana, then the world
With enough clay, rice husks, plastic buckets, time and training, Susan…
Magnets, Not Freon: Solid-State Magnetic Heat Pumping for a Sustainable Future
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E4C Seminar | Pathways toward Sustainable Construction in Africa
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The Shift to Clean Energy, with Stanford’s Dr. Diana Gragg
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Seminar Series | Decarbonizing Institutions Through Circular Economies, by Dr. Abdelghani El Asli
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Seminar Series | Nature-Based Solutions to Flooding
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Engineering Design for Sustainability: Learning from Nature’s Systems to Actually Achieve Waste Equals Food
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E4C Fellowship Closing Ceremony
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Innovators in EV Battery Recycling Are Upending Incumbent Technology
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Three E4C 2024 Fellowship Information Sessions
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How You and Your Organization can Benefit from E4C’s Impact Projects
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