China is determined to become a strong nation of new energy vehicles by 2020. Shanghai is one of the pilot cities carrying out China’s “Ten Cities, Thousand Vehicles” action plan. This plan gives financial support from the central government to the new energy vehicle industry in Shanghai until 2012.
Visit Grundfos to WeAre research in Dharavi
30 October 2011
Sacha Carina
Grundfos is one of the partners within the WBCSD's Technology Enablers Initiative. Grundfos LIFELINK is committed to improving the living conditions for the people in the BOP market by providing them with access to safe drinking water and other infrastructural platforms. Grundfos' Anna Pattis joined our research to learn from our 'Human Centered Design' approach and discuss the options of innovative supply chains.
Observation mission in Mali - A training before an emergency assignements
30 October 2011
Karen Monier
5 Comments
Last week, I joined the TNT Express France team for an observation mission to Mali.
During a week, we visited several WFP's operations : warehouses in Bamako and Mopti, P4P - Purchase for Progress and SFP - School Feeding Programm in Dogon's country at Logo and Tougoume. We had a good welcome everywhere we went. Three staff from WFP Mali (Bamako) prepared the trip and accompagnied us. Two more, from WFP Mopti, joined us in Mopti and Dogon's country.
Dharavi online
26 October 2011
Sacha Carina
Acces to a phone is not an issue in Dharavi. On every corner of the street you can find a mobile shop that sells both simple nokia phones, smartphones and china phones (copied smartphones) and airtime. And if you don’t have acces to a mobile phone you can use a landline phone at a local kiosk. Businesses comunicate face to face, via middlemen and via mobile phones to wholesalers, customers and suppliers. Smartphones have acces to internet and are available. Internet is mainly used for Facebook. The Bank of India, BOI, has already implemented mobile payments on the Indian market.
Mopti warehouse, Mali, west Africa
26 October 2011
Raphaële
This morning, TNT and WFP teams are on the road from Segou to Mopti. A hard and long trip in car on the main national road. We stoped on a little local market to buy some fresh peanuts, the best ever! With that energy taken, we kept on driving for hours. The road was bordered with baobab trees aside, in the whole savannah.
Drinking Chai as research method
25 October 2011
Sacha Carina
It is always good to start a good conversation over coffee or tea. The Indians have taken this ritual of 'drinking a cup of Chai' to another level. We are invited to drink a cup of chai (tea) almost every half an hour. Off course we cannot refuse... We use the time for drinking a 'chai' to talk about the local businesses and transport solutions. Drinking tea becomes a 'human centered design' method.
It is so simple, it cannot go wrong.
25 October 2011
Sacha Carina
The succes behind the dabbawalla system is that the supply chain is subdivided in different tasks. The lunch boxes are transported from restaurant to office via different knots, every dabbawalla is responsible for the transportation between one knot to another. The boxes are rearranged based on destination (color coding and symbols are used - see picture).
Addresses in Dharavi
25 October 2011
Sacha Carina
Dharavi residents have received a formal address in 1995. The addresses are based on different areas in Dharavi; plots. Because there are no visible street names and most streets look like a maze, people still rely on local knowledge when looking for a certain address.
Even though it is still difficult to find an address, the formalization of addresses has had a positive impact on the local businesses. Since they had an address, it became more easy to order goods and get it delivered.
Inspired by a French Victory
25 October 2011
Jennifer Loaiciga
The night before the Drive Me Challenge final, I met William Gicquel during the reception dinner. He arrived to the village La Ferté Gaucher, in France, eager to meet the other competing teams. His task was to represent France in this competition.
Human Centered Design
24 October 2011
Sacha Carina
The uniqueness of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, lies in its human centred approach. Human needs are the central driving force uniting technology and business. By tradition our Faculty has propagated the practise of designing products and services to meet the human needs. The BoP strategy has stimulated us to look also at the needs of the underserved, which represent a huge market.
