In the iLab students will dive directly into a human-centered design process by being presented with a current real-world problem. By going through various iterations of the process they will try to find the real roots of the problems, the needs of the affected people and create a solution that will meet these needs and create value for the users. Throughout the design process, the students apply user research methods to gain a deeper knowledge about the users and find insights about their ways of thinking, their behavior, and their need in general. Creative and visual methods will accompany the students the whole process, allowing them to look at the problems and solutions from different perspectives and holistically.

Two gates will take place where students have to pitch their solutions and prototypes to judges from different professional fields, giving them the chance to get constructive feedback to further develop their solution or rethink their approaches. Also these gates will decide which problems/solutions will get further in the process or drop out. So after Gate 1 and 2 there will be new formations of the teams to continue working on possible solutions.

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My Project in the iLab was based on the 7th SDG defined by the UN.

I will start by describing the meaning of SDG. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. These are 17 in number. The 7th SDG is on Affordable and Clean energy for all. This brought up the challenge: How can we assure access to clean, affordable and modern energy for all?

Between 2000 and 2018, the number of people with electricity increased from 78 to 90 percent, and the numbers without electricity dipped to 789 million.

The Goals of this SDG are By 2030:

• To increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

• Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

• Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

• Expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and land-locked developing countries.

This gives a brief description of our main solution and its components

Minimum Viable Product

For this year's iLab a total of 18 students were selected from the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Greece, Germany, with myself being the youngest student at 19 years old and the oldest 34 years old