Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation has joined the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab contest to find student-led, high-impact, marketable solutions to sustainability issues and the climate crisis.
Alongside DIDI this year are India’s National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, Rhode Island School of Design, and the RCA. Two winners from each school will be announced in Autumn 2024 and will receive funding and mentorship.
The Sustainable Markets Initiative was launched by the then Prince Charle at the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Annual Meeting in Davos. The SMI presents itself as the go-to private sector organisation for global sustainable transition; its ability to get top organisations from industry and the financial services to talk to governments is seen as key to “innovating, accelerating and delivering on a just, sustainable and prosperous future”. Its guiding mandate is the Terra Carta, a statement of principles to 2030 that puts “Nature, People and Planet at the heart of global value creation”. In practical terms, the Terra Carta is manifested as an annually awarded Terra Carta Seal (right)which goes to organisations that have been judged as fulfilling the mandate.
The Terra Carta Design Lab is the other significant imitative. First announced in July 2021 as a competition for design students at RCA, it has now been expanded internationally. Said Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, CEO of the Sustainable Markets Initiative: “Scaling the Terra Carta Design Lab globally allows us to expand our search to uncover ground-breaking sustainability solutions, created by the next generation of leaders. We are delighted to be partnering with such prestigious design schools who each place sustainability at the core of their curriculum.”
From DIDI’s viewpoint, the Lab is an opportunity for more visibility on the world stage. As DIDI President Mohammad Abdullah put it: “The Terra Carta Design Lab is a prestigious opportunity for our students to test and showcase their innovative design thinking internationally and demonstrate how DIDI is nurturing well-rounded creators, innovators and entrepreneurs for sustainable future development and economic growth.”
The four schools will assess proposals internally and submit ten each to a Global Judging Panel headed by Sir Jony Ive (the former Chief Design Officer at Apple happens to be chancellor of the RCA and was instrumental in getting the Terra Carta idea off the ground). The winning eight designs will be announced in Autumn 2024; they’ll get some seed funding – amount unspecified, but for the inaugural version the four winners received £50,000 apiece – plus mentorship by Jony Ive (not sure how much actual hands-on mentoring he’ll be doing) and by members of the Sustainable Market Initiative’s network of contacts (again unspecified, but almost definitely top-quality guides from the private sector).
Jony Ive said: “Multidisciplinary collaboration has never been more important. It is incredibly rewarding to see an even broader group of students use deep creative collaboration to develop thoughtful ways of tackling the multifaceted challenges of the climate crisis.
“I’m incredibly proud to be part of the Terra Carta Design Lab and the momentum it has built over the past two years. The mission of addressing the climate crisis is more relevant and urgent than ever, and I’m very excited to see the ideas these international design students will have developed by next Autumn.”
As an example of the kind of proposals that might be offered, the inaugural RCA-only Design Lab came up with four winners:
Each team received £50,000 plus mentoring to further develop their ideas. Since then, between them the four winning designs have raised £18m in funding and completed a range of pilots; this initiative has real-world impact.
The Terra Carta itself is a detailed set of guidelines that aims to provide “an integrated roadmap towards an inspiring, inclusive, equitable, prosperous and sustainable future for the sake of present and future generations; one that will harness the power of Nature combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector … Broadening the definition of sustainability, beyond simply net zero transition, to be inclusive of Nature, People, Planet, Equality and Prosperity …” It’s not prescriptive, however, and there isn’t too much detail; but it is full of pointers and suggestions, and it is well worth reading – you can download a copy here.
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