Course Description

Focuses on disseminating innovations for the common good in developing countries. Students draw lessons from success stories and identify challenges, unintended consequences and failures in implementing technologies, projects and policies. Students acquire skills relating to building partnerships and piloting, implementing, and scaling-up a selected innovation for the common good. Teams develop an idea, project or business plan that is "ready to roll" by the end of the quarter.

Third in the Poly D-Lab trilogy of courses on "Development," "Design" and "Dissemination", students draw lessons from success and failure enterprises in international development and learn about appropriate and sustainable technologies. Students gain specific "how-to" skills related to building international collaborations and to piloting, implementing and scaling-up an innovation. Draws lessons from case studies and covers the range of implementation initiatives—private, public and non-profit. Addresses pros and cons of craft/local production vs. mass production and takes a systems approach to the issues of dissemination of innovations: technical, financial/economic, social/cultural, ethical, environmental, and institutional. Topics include defining vision & strategy, implementation models, mechanics of implementation, social entrepreneurship, micro-financing, monitoring and evaluation, challenges of targeting one's enterprise in a developing country context. Students will work in teams to develop an idea, project or business plan that they will learn to "pitch" to potential supporters and explore useful tools that can support realization of their innovation. Assignments will include a journal of notes on the assigned readings and team-led case study reviews.

Rationale

D-Lab III is a class related to D-Lab I and II, and provides students with an alternative or follow-up to the D-Lab II: Design class.

Course Topics

• Dissemination Models (What is the common good?)
• Defining Vision/Goals/Objective (What are you trying to do?)
• Monitoring and Evaluation Models
• Craft/Local Production vs. Mass Production
• Mechanics of Implementation

Case Studies

• Polio
• Solar Cooking
• Tube Wells
• Green Revolution/Organic Farming Revolution
• Low Cost Eye Glasses
• H2O-1B! - Clean Water for 1 Billion People
• Wheelchairs
• Renewable Energy, Biofuels, Lighting
• Composting Toilets in Haiti

Main Text

Rogers, Everett M. 2003. Diffusion of Innovations. 5th Edition. Free Press: New York. 2003