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For some people philosophy and engineering may sound like a strange combination. Philosophers are often seen as thinking long and hard about abstract problems, while engineers are seen as hands-on people that meanwhile look for practical solutions to the world’s small and large problems. One may then wonder what added value philosophers have for engineering practice. Today, at the CEPHAD 2010 conference (”The Borderland between Philosophy and Design Research”) Pieter Vermaas, a… Read more .. From December 2-4 the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA) organized a conference in Valencia, with this time a focus on “how various social actors can and ought to take responsibility for acting on poverty and expanding human development” (see here for info about this conference). I submitted and presented a small paper arguing for more attention for technology and the responsibility of engineers within development ethics. I drew a bird’s-eye view of relevant changes… Read more .. The 3TU.Center for ethics and technology organized a meeting about innovation and sustainable development in preparation for the New Manifesto. This is meant to give direction to the discussions on development and sustainability. Being part of the meeting I was triggered by the contribution of Jasper Grosskurth on Africa.  He showed beautiful examples of what technology is doing in Africa in line with the base of the pyramid approach. If NGOs and government institutions cannot solve the persistent… Read more .. On Tuesday, November 24th I organized a round table in the Hague about the future of innovation, sustainability and development, as part of a project that should result in a New Manifesto in this area, to be launched in 2010. The ‘old’ manifesto in this case is the Sussex Manifesto, which was published in 1970 and in need for an update. Six speakers gave their perspective on the topic. As the organizer of this event, I asked them to stick to a short inspirational or provocative statement. … Read more .. Does one have to be multidisciplinary to do multidisciplinary research? A ‘yes’ was in the air at the event about ‘responsible innovation’ organized by NWO (the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) today. The research being funded by their unique grant program ‘Responsible Innovation’ should have the following four features: (1) a ‘design’ or ‘make’ perspective, (2) multidisciplinarity, ideally between ethicists, social scientists… Read more .. What is the function of a lamp? Silly question - obviously it should provide us with light. But Jan Carel Diehl, an industrial design engineer, gradually changed his mind about this as he gained experience with the design of lamps for poor communities in the South. In December 2008 he participated in the workshop Technology and Human Capabilities, which I organized. And there he shared his insight that lamps are not about light, at leat not really. What he had increasingly realized is that a lamp… Read more .. What is the iconic example of how ICT may make a difference in the life of the poor in the South? I bet you are immediately thinking of a poor farmer that - thanks to his mobile phone - is now able to make more money on his crops by using his mobile phone to inquire after crop prices and in doing so cutting out the middlemen. It is a simple picture of how ICT has the power to change human lives and one that has been used well by NGO and development agencies in communicating about what ‘ICT4D’… Read more .. This year (2009-2010) the Dutch initiative ’De Derde Kamer‘ will revolve around “the possibilities of new technologies in the field of development cooperation”. De Derde Kamer is a sort of shadow parliament in the area of development cooperation, consisting of 50 Dutch citizens and 20 people from a developing country. Each year it tackles a particular theme - they study it, make recommendations and start up public campaigns. The opening session of this year was held last Saturday,… Read more .. Yesterday’s Euronews dedicated an article to the Sicilian landslide which, by now, killed 26 people. The landslide occurred in the South-East part of the island, nearby Messina and in the hilly areas surrounding it. A torrential rain swept away entire roads and buildings; this time killing residents besides destroying their houses, as it already happened in 2007 and periodically before. The area of the landslide is considered one of the most hydro-geological risky areas of the already quite fragile… Read more .. The neighborhood Hoograven in the Dutch city of Utrecht is in need of a fix up and last week newspaper De Volkskrant reported about the plans (article here & here). This article drew my attention for several reasons. First of all, because of the two people that were hired to make the plans: Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner. I have to admit that I had never heard of them before, but according to the lead of the article, these two Venezuelans are “well-known for their unorthodox slum… Read more ..

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