Associate Professor, School of Design Strategies, Parsons
DREAM:IN Project: www.dreamin.in

The DREAM:IN Project is a design-driven open innovation platform to promote sustainable development in emerging markets. Through extensive field work, it harvests the dreams and aspirations of individuals and communities, which are then framed, debated and transformed by entrepreneurs, experts, business and community leaders, investors, and students into entrepreneurial large scale ventures. The goal is to design alternative futures for emerging markets that balance social development, economic growth, and sustainable use of the local environment. The project was first piloted in India in January-February 2011, and then replicated in Brazil in August 2012. In both countries the legacy has been the implementation with local partners of an open innovation platform that can continue to design and prototype innovative visions for individuals and communities experiencing the transformations happening in emerging markets.