The FINANCIAL — Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Royal Philips Electronics is proud to announce the launch of a new online social innovation platform, related to the Low Smoke Chulha stove.
The Chulha was developed in response to the fact that over 1.6 million deaths each year in underserved areas of the world are caused by indoor smoke inhalation. The Low Smoke Chulha has been designed and enabled by Philips in close co-operation with NGOs, self-help groups, local entrepreneurs and potential users and is developed for rural households keeping the local cooking styles in mind.
Via the new platform www.lowsmokechulha.com NGOs can connect to each other, share knowledge and insights and collaborate to deploy the Chulha in developing countries. The Low Smoke Chulha can be produced and assembled locally with the help of resources and training available on this new platform. It offers contact information of experienced entrepreneurs that have successfully installed Low Smoke Chulhas in communities.
“We created this platform for people who want to actively be involved in a Low Smoke Chulha project. In the true spirit of open innovation, we have launched an online platform where everyone can participate and contribute. It is my strong belief that only through knowledge sharing and co-creation you can enable community empowerment and boost local entrepreneurship,” says Simona Rocchi, program owner of the Philanthropy by Design program at Philips Design and Creative Director of the Low Smoke Chulha project.
Philanthropy by Design
The Philips Philanthropy by Design program was founded by Philips’ Chief Design Officer Stefano Marzano in 2005. It is aimed at philanthropic giving through design by providing meaningful solutions that empower some of the more fragile categories of society. The program launched with a workshop entitled "A sustainable design vision – design for sense and simplicity‟, where NGOs shared some of their biggest challenges with Philips Design. From this starting point Philips’ creative design force created a number of potential design solutions. The first realized outcome of the program was the Chulha project that already won several awards such as: Bronze IDEA Ecodesign Award 2008, Red Dot Award for Design Concept 2008 and INDEX Award 2009. Another philanthropy by Design solution – the breath counter – was recognized with a bronze award by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in 2009.
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