{"id":4212,"date":"2014-03-05T15:16:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T07:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=4212"},"modified":"2014-03-05T15:20:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T07:20:19","slug":"autodesk-creates-foundation-accelerate-design-led-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2014\/03\/05\/autodesk-creates-foundation-accelerate-design-led-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Autodesk creates Foundation to accelerate design-led revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Autodesk, Inc. today launched the Autodesk Foundation, which will invest in and support the most impactful nonprofit organizations using the power of design to help solve epic challenges, such as climate change, access to water, and healthcare, among others.\u00a0 In partnership with the company, the Autodesk Foundation will provide select design-oriented grantees with software, training and financial support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been delighted by the number of people using our technology to design a better world and solve global problems,\u201d said Autodesk President and CEO Carl Bass. \u201cThese are the people who inspired us to align our philanthropic giving with our core business, to support more of these nonprofits to bring their ideas to market.\u00a0 We will also be encouraging the thousands of Autodesk employees to get involved in Foundation programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that design offers humanity our greatest hope for addressing some of the most urgent, inter-connected and non-negotiable challenges of our time,\u201d says President and CEO of the Autodesk Foundation and Autodesk Senior Director of Sustainability Lynelle Cameron. \u201cWe want to support and accelerate the design-led revolution currently underway, by investing in design-driven entities that are pursuing scalable solutions with measureable impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tackling Epic Challenges Through Impact Design\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nImpact design focuses on generating significant, measurable progress toward solving today\u2019s epic challenges \u2013 access to healthcare and education; clean energy and water; efficient transportation; or the many other global problems we face. Through the Foundation\u2019s Impact Design Program, carefully selected nonprofits will receive funding, and in partnership with Autodesk, Inc., software and training to create solutions that address these challenges.<\/p>\n

\"Autodesk<\/a><\/p>\n

The program\u2019s first grantees also include:<\/p>\n

KickStart International, one of the Foundation\u2019s pilot grantees, exemplifies impact design.\u00a0 The Foundation recently hosted four of their engineers from Kenya to come to San Francisco for a multi-week design software immersion and fabrication workshop. KickStart designs simple agricultural irrigation tools that help African farmers start profitable businesses and rise out of poverty.<\/p>\n

MASS Design Group, which designs health facilities in parts of the world where they\u2019re needed most.<\/p>\n

The Autodesk Foundation is supporting its efforts in rural Malawi to design maternal waiting homes, which are shelters for expectant mothers, enabling women who once waited until the onset of labor to travel to receive medical care and a safe hospital birth.<\/p>\n

D-Rev, which designs and develops devices and products to improve the health and income of people living on less than $4 a day. Autodesk has helped fund crucial durability testing of the next generation of the organization\u2019s ReMotion Knee, an inexpensive and easy-to-fit prosthetic for those in the developing world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Autodesk, Inc. today launched the Autodesk Foundation, which will invest in and support the most impactful nonprofit organizations using the power of design to help solve epic challenges, such as climate change, access to water, and healthcare, among others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[121,1371],"class_list":["post-4212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software","tag-autodesk","tag-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}