A product designed for one market does not always work in another. For engineers and innovators, creating solutions that can travel across borders requires a different approach to design.
Amos Winter, Germeshausen Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center, joins Cool Science Radio to discuss his book Global by Design: How to Create Innovations That Scale, Travel, and Transform. Winter explains how his “engineering for impact” approach helps innovators create affordable, high-performance technologies for resource-constrained communities.
The conversation explores examples including a low-cost portable camera for eye care, a new framework for improving prosthetic feet, the Leveraged Freedom Chair for rural mobility and solar-powered water purification. Winter also discusses the three-part test he uses to determine whether an idea is worth pursuing and how thoughtful design can help products succeed in markets around the world.
