Montreal (Canada) – The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) is pleased to announce the finalists (in alphabetical order) for the 2015-2016 World Design Impact Prize: HappyTap, RE:BUILD, and Warka Water. The finalist projects showcase the power of design to solve the world’s most intractable problems.

From 82 nominations this cycle, six were shortlisted by an international expert review panel in September 2015. Icsid’s more than 140 member organizations, representing 40 countries worldwide, then voted on the shortlist.

Using a sustainable, market-based approach to hygiene, the HappyTap is helping combat the spread of diarrhea and other transmissible diseases through the promotion of handwashing. With the help of USAID funds, the device is now available for sale throughout Vietnam and Cambodia.

Built by the refugees who will benefit from it, RE:BUILD is a re-deployable, modular, durable structure that uses local materials to create the walls. A RE:BUILD school is currently in use at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan.

The Warka Water, currently piloted in Dorze, Ethiopia, is a community-run structure that is meant to provide up to 100 litres of safe drinking water a day collected from either rain, fog or dew. It also acts as a shaded meeting point for the community.

“These projects are a testament to the ingenuity of designers. They are the kind of projects the world needs to hear more about,” stated Dr. Brandon Gien, Icsid senator and facilitator for the international review panel process over the last two cycles of the Prize. “At Icsid, we feel that we have a responsibility to do what we can to spread the word and raise awareness for the solutions proposed by Prize nominees.”

The three finalists will be invited to present their projects on 18 March in Taipei (Taiwan, Chinese Taipei) in front of an international design audience. That same evening the winner will be announced at the International Design Gala, one of the signature events of World Design Capital® Taipei 2016.

All nominated projects can be viewed on the World Design Impact Prize website at www.worlddesignimpact.org.

For more information please contact
Sarah Montpetit
Communications Officer
t: + 1 514 448 4949 ext. 238
e: smontpetit@icsid.org


About the World Design Impact Prize

The World Design Impact Prize is an international prize awarded every two years by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) to an industrial design driven project that aims to benefit society. A multi-disciplinary panel of experts selects a shortlist for the Prize, which is then voted on by the more than 140 Icsid member organizations. The first project to be awarded the Prize was the Community Cooker in 2012, followed by the ABC Syringe in 2014.