Social Impact Design

Microsoft Hacking STEM provides affordable inquiry and project-based activities that use everyday materials to visualize data across science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum. Middle school standards-based lesson plans written by teachers for teachers.

Designed by: Microsoft Hacking STEM Team

Contact: cakling@microsoft.com; aka.ms/hackingstem

Current vaccine storage and delivery technologies use unreliable ice-based cooling technologies that freeze the vaccines and result in huge waste. The Stone Cold Systems Electric-10 is an actively cooled ice-less cold-storage device with no risk of freezing. It uses thermoelectric cooling technology to keep vaccines cool, and is powered by a high-performance battery that can be charged by a variety of power sources such as AC mains, DC from vehicles and solar panels.

Designed by: Robert Miros, IDSA, Barley Forsman, James McCrea, Jaquelyn Miyatake and Ramji Rengarajan for 3rd Stone Design Inc.

Contact: robert@3rdstonedesign.com, www.3rdstonedesign.com

Based on 10 years of research, Play Possible is a deck of cards that presents a framework for applied creativity with more than 45 forms of play possibilities. Each card defines and describes why that specific play element is a power, particularly for a future that requires increased creativity, flexibility and adaptation. Each card provides analogous examples of the play element and provocations to help students and teachers understand and leverage the power in a tangible real-world way. Ultimately, the deck of cards invites participants to create change in themselves and the world through the power of play.

Designed by: Laura Seargeant Richardson and Martha L. Fierro of argodesign for the Kirkwood School District in Kirkwood, MO

Contact: laurasgt@yahoo.com, www.argodesign.com

The Haechi is a handheld mobile device for public safety and disaster relief operations, integrating the functionality of a digital two-way radio and a smartphone to deliver secure and resilient voice communication and enable coordinated responses between police, paramedics, fire crews and the military in the event of a disaster. Public Safety LTE is a telecommunications technology for reliable and fast communications in disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery efforts. Haechi establishes a converged common network dedicated to 330 public safety agencies nationwide for prompt emergency response

Designed by: Sunwoong Ham and Hakdo Kim of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Contact: saejin.cha@samsung.com, www.samsung.com

Raw Factory envisions an alternative vision of human and nature interactions by proposing an innovative manufacturing
system called Biological Nutrition Control. Raw Factory’s customers are form curators, embracing worms and woodpeckers to reveal organic and artistic forms inside an industrialized system.
The ashtray is an example of how natural processes can offset industrial mass production by harnessing what nature already
does well. It also provides an alternative future for manufacturing.

Designed by: Shihan Zhang
Contact: shihanzhang.design@gmail.com  www.shihanzhang.com

ELEVA is an all-in-one wash sink and hand dryer system that can adjust its height to optimize the experience for children and people with disabilities. ELEVA features a mechanical structure that with the simple touch of an LED array, drives the sink and hand dryer up and down to adjust to the user's height. It also has a simple and intuitive user interface. 

Designed by: Jingwei Dang

Contact: dangjingwei@gmail.com

The High Risk Pregnancy Toolkit was designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality. It consists of a checklist, a waterproof pocket-sized booklet, and a dual function bag that when opened becomes a poster to facilitate training and group communication in primary care facilities and in the field when reaching out to pregnant women and their families. It also includes the Heart for 2 fetoscope, a battery-free device that supports the training of midwives and healthcare workers in finding and listening to fetal heartbeats to facilitate the timely referral of at-risk pregnancies. Pregnant women and their families also can listen to the fetal heartbeat to improve the experience of their healthcare visits. 

Designed by: Philips Design for International Committee of the Red Cross and Philips Foundation

Contact: inge.wagemakers@philips.com | http://www.philips.com/a-w/foundation/philips-foundation.html

AngelTalk is an augmentative and alternative communication application for children with Angelman syndrome and their caregivers. Most children with Angelman syndrome do not acquire functional speech because of genetic problems. AngelTalk helps children and caregivers communicate more easily and efficiently as a nonverbal communication tool.

Designed by: Jihyun Kim, Jeonga Choi, Heejoung Kim, Jeongeon Ju and Junhyoung Park of AngelTalk for Samsung SDS, CX Team

Contact: cxteam@samsung.com | https://www.samsungsds.com/global/en/index.html

The UNICEF Kid Power Band is a durable child-friendly Wearable-for-Good®. UNICEF Kid Power gives kids the power to save lives. By getting active with the UNICEF Kid Power Band, kids go on missions to learn about new cultures and earn points. The points are converted into funding from partners, parents and fans. Funds are used by UNICEF to deliver lifesaving packets of therapeutic food to children in need around the world. Since the Kid Power program launched in 2014, participants have walked more than 7 million miles to feed 30,000 severely malnourished children.

Designed by: Ammunition for US Fund for UNICEF

Contact: munday@ammunitiongroup.com | https://unicefkidpower.org

PlayPallets is an innovative shipping pallet that is also a self-contained play system. PlayPallets can be broken down easiliy and rebuilt into sturdy play equipment, but are the same size and can transport as much weight as standard pallets. For instance, our basketball model can be transformed into two complete basketball hoops in minutes. The goal is to let kids around the world have access to sports equipment, even if they are in refugee camps or disaster-stricken regions.

Designed by: Jon Robbins and Maddison Bradley for PlayPallets International, Inc.

Contact: info@playpallets.org | www.playpallets.org