Microsoft Design Expo 2020 Info Session
ITP has a long history of working with Microsoft on their annual Design Expo. Each year, the Expo gives students the opportunity to work in teams to create and develop designs that bring technology to important societal challenges. Microsoft has just announced the 2020 Expo and the topic this year is “Designing for a Healthier Future.” Come join an introductory session on June 10 at 10 am to learn more about this opportunity and how to participate.
The topic of health is complex, challenging, vast and especially exciting in today’s times. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed systemic vulnerabilities in the U.S. and around the world; it has stressed our capacity to provide care and highlighted the challenges in influencing people’s behaviors and in coordinating the responses of countless different organizations. It has also led to the lifting of longtime rules, sparked rapid innovation, and opened people’s minds to the possibilities of real change. Health is both a societal issue and a highly personal one, thus designing for health requires combining knowledge of systems and context with a human-centered sensibility.
This year’s Design Expo program will be led at ITP by Steve Downs. Steve is the co-founder of Building H, a project to build health into everyday life and is the former chief technology and strategy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Steve, supported by designers and other experts at Microsoft, will organize the program, provide educational content and mentor the student teams. This extracurricular program will take place from June through mid-fall. Due to COVID-19, the program will initially take place online, through the summer; the format for later activities, including the final presentation to Micrcosoft, is still to be determined
To learn about the program, please attend an introductory session on June 10, at 10:00 am ET, to learn more about the program and the topic and to meet Steve Downs, the program leader.