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- Goa Heritage Project Workshop
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During the course of a five-day workshop and crash course held at NID with students from the NID Exhibition Design program, Salil and Hugo, two Quicksand design researchers explored new possibilities in storytelling through the creation of unique virtual spaces in Unity using a mix of digital content and items 3D scanned using photogrammetry.
- WDHB’s Learning Expedition
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Quicksand hosted an executive team from Schneider Electric as part of a Learning Expedition program organized by WDHB. The team had the chance to meet local energy and micro-grid experts through a facilitated discussion format on novel best practices in emerging markets:
- Deploying microgrids in rural communities through regional Energy Service Companies (ESCO) with Sidhartha Vermani.
- Providing roof top solar energy services to commercial & industrial entities throughlong term power purchase agreements with Nalin Agarwal.
- Providing lighting solutions to the real estate sector with Sidharth Kumar.
- Providing custom built switchboards and turnkey energy solutions to real estate sector with Meera Kumar Chauhan.
- UX India
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Quicksand Co-Founder and Partner Ayush Chauhan and Principal & Communications Lead Kevin Shane led a daylong workshop at UX India, India’s largest international user experience conference. The theme of the workshop was Design for Social Impact, and Ayush and Kevin led the participants through several design activities and games using case studies from Quicksand’s decade-long experience in the sector.
- Under 25 Summit Panel Discussion
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Principal & Communications Lead Kevin Shane was part of a panel discussion on “Design for Social Impact” at the Under 25 Summit, India’s largest youth festival. Leaning on his experiences working in the development and humanitarian sectors, Kevin highlighted the key role of the design thinking process in driving both innovation and impact in the work Quicksand does.
- Channel News Asia’s “Field Guide to Innovation”
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Senior Design Researcher Rikta Krishnaswamy was featured in Channel News Asia’s premiere episode of the series “Field Guide to Innovation”. Along with our partners on the project, Rikta discussed our recent work in Cambodia to reduce the use of plastic bags in the country, whilst also advocating for a human-centered approach to designing new, innovative solutions to longstanding problems and challenges.
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- Reinvent the Toilet Fair (Delhi)
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In the second edition of the fair (the first was in Seattle in August 2012), more than 700 participants from about 47 countries gathered to discuss how to bring safe sanitation to the 2.5 billion people who lack access to it. The fair in India was co-hosted by the Government of India's Department of Biotechnology and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the support of India's Ministry of Urban Development, and it showcased innovative products and approaches from various Gates Foundation grantees from across the world that aim to bring safe, affordable and sustainable sanitation to those who need it most.
The fair showcased prototypes from several of the research grantees of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, where innovative approaches are being used for the safe and sustainable management of human waste. In addition to these there were also several other projects from other investment areas of the Gates Foundation's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program – Urban Sanitation Markets, Building Demand for Sanitation, Policy & Advocacy, Monitoring & Evaluation. As part of this, Project Sammaan was also showcased at the fair by Quicksand.
- Bihar Innovation Forum
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Quicksand co-founder and director, Ayush Chauhan, was invited to be a part of the jury panel to select the winning innovations at Bihar Innovation Forum - a platform set up jointly by Bihar Rural Livelihoods Society and Bihar State Innovations Council to identify and support grassroot innovators from across the state in areas like agriculture, livestock, farming, horticulture etc. Out of a total of 1700+ grassroot innovations selected, 173 were shortlisted and 5 winners were eventually selected by the jury. The eventual aim of the platform is to codify these innovations and help entrepreneurs take them to scale through government supported programs.
- Grand Challenges Explorations
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Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE), an extension of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supports hundreds of scientists and early-stage research projects by funding innovative ideas that could lead to new vaccines, diagnostics, drugs, and other technologies having potential for great social impact. As of Fall 2013, the foundation has committed over $130 million in funding support to various projects. By virtue of its continued work in the sanitation sector since 2010, Quicksand has been invited to be on the jury for three successive rounds of sanitation related GCE proposals in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
- SuSana Expert Discussion on Urban Sanitation
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The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) is an open international alliance with members who share a common vision on sustainable sanitation and are dedicated to understanding viable and sustainable sanitation solutions. As part of its efforts to afford more visibility and create opportunities for collaboration amongst sanitation practitioners around the world, SuSanA hosts webinars with select experts and an invited audience. Quicksand was invited for a webinar on “Innovative sanitation solutions for urban areas" to share its work in urban community toilets.
- Papanek Symposium
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Quicksand was invited to the Papanek Symposium in 2013 to present and talk about the challenges of attempting to provide 'design solutions' for social challenges in the real world. The symposium brought together international experts from China, Europe, India, Singapore, and the US, to examine the social and political imperative of design in emerging economies. Quicksand partner Babitha George touched upon learnings from extensive work in urban sanitation and talked about challenges in working with the government, in large scale solutions that impact lives of the poor as well as the importance of listening to and understanding from users.
