We reached Continuum at 630pm (slightly behind schedule, in keeping with the IDDS style) and were delighted to find a huge array of food had been prepared for us. We were graciously received by all the Continuum staff and they even had the courtesy of providing name badges for those of us who had forgotten our IDDS versions! Continuum’s President, Gianfranco Zaccai, welcomed us with a short speech in which he stressed the importance of conferences such as IDDS for helping to foster new ideas and new ways of solving real life problems through design innovations. He pointed out that even though it was possible to send a man to the moon–using an almost unlimited amount of time and resources–the task of designing a simple, cheap, effective and implementable technology was in fact far more difficult and required far more innovation.

The participants and the Continuum employees then split into two groups, one of which went on a tour of the building, while the other listened to presentations given by IDDS participants. I was in the first group and we were treated to presentations from Mariela Molina, Bryce Butcher, Suprio Das and Bernard Kiwia. Mariela, of Universidad Rafael Landivar Guatemala and Bryce, of Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA), talked about two very different projects. Mariela told the group of the work she was doing on water purification through solar panels and then Bryce followed this with an interesting presentation on a latrine design project entitled “Eco Loo”. Bryce worked with fellow team members from the California Institute of Technology and her own college to attempt “to provide simple, efficient solutions to the latrine problem in developing countries”. Her team went on a field trip to Guatemala to discover more information and then developed a design that they believe could help to stop the spread of latrine caused disease. To find out more about Bryce’s project check out their website.

Suprio and Bernard then talked about different forms of energy they had created using a variety of parts from bikes they had dismantled. Both of these mechanisms represent innovation at its best and were very much appreciated by both the participants and the designers in the room. I’ll let the videos speak for themselves on this occasion…

Our group was then given a tour of the offices by Theresa Chiueh, one of Continuum’s employees. We were shown a number of interesting projects developed there, ranging from a modulating shower head to an innovative runner design! Theresa told us a little about the aim and vision of Continuum and focused on the challenge of striking a balance between sustainable and profit generating products. All the participants were very positive about their experience at Continuum and are very excited about working with some of the consultants there on designing their prototypes later in the week!