As my Walkabout progresses I’m getting more interested in emerging markets (i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China referred to as the BRIC) where design is being used to meet the demands of the growing consumer culture. It was great to learn more about the use of design at the Base of the (economical) Pyramid from attending Beyond Design at Delft, The Netherlands 7th September 2012. Here is Delft’s description from the event of what BoP is (remembering that 7 billion people are living in the world today):
“Four billion people live on an income of US$ 8 a day or less, often referred to as the ‘Base of the (economical) Pyramid’ (BoP). This enormous part of the world population has been overlooked and underserved for a long time by, amongst others, industrial design schools and ‘for profit companies’. Since the publication of ‘Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ in 2002 a big shift of interest and commitment can be observed. A range of companies and design schools started to get engaged in collaboration with NGOs, social entrepreneurs and local stakeholders to explore, develop and implement product (service) systems for the BoP.”
The event was held in honor of Prof. Prabhu Kandachar the key intellectual in this space, as he was about to retire he shared his learning and brought together an amazing range of speakers on the BoP subject from both design and business perspectives. Each speaker provided a truly engaging and amazing viewpoint on the subject, a summary is provided below: