What’s New at Duke Design Climate
Access the latest news, events and success stories from Duke Design Climate.
That’s a Wrap! Design Climate I, 2024
December 2 | News
Finals week caps an exciting semester of adventures in Design Climate. This week, two dozen professors, investors, community integrators, collaborators, and advisors will gather to watch our students’ final exam presentations and provide feedback. This feedback will guide next semester’s prototyping efforts and beyond. Stay tuned as our students continue their work into 2025 and beyond!
Design Climate Students Featured in WRAL Techwire
November 14 | News
Since 2009, members of the MBA Energy Club at Duke University have organized an annual energy conference. Today the event provides over 1,000 students and professionals with opportunities to learn more about energy policy, technology, and business. This year, Design Climate student teams rocked the Energy Week Innovation showcase with displays of their proto-businesses, and their work caught the eye of reporter Liz McLaughlin of WRAL Techwire. Read Liz’s article here.
Design Climate Receives Duke Climate Commitment Award
October 24 | News
Design Climate received an award for our work during the Duke Climate Commitment annual ceremony. A university-wide, impact-oriented initiative, the Duke Climate Commitment creates sustainable and equitable solutions that place society on the path toward a resilient, flourishing, carbon-neutral world. Through education, research, external engagement, and campus operations, the Commitment seeks to imagine, design, and implement a sustainable future for all. Read more here.
Solarfest and The Role of Community in Design Climate
October 7 | News
Today, community engagement takes center stage in funding and co-creation of climate tech solutions. Design Climate is uniquely positioned in this work because the design thinking methodology places community at its core. As our student teams work to scale solutions, they are also prototyping novel approaches to community engagement. One example of this work is Duke’s involvement in this year’s Solarfest event at the Center for Energy Education in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Our student team is co-creating a business plan to help address energy challenges facing Enfield, one of the poorest towns in the United States. Solarfest presented an opportunity to meet a variety of stakeholders from Enfield and surrounding towns, and our students were proud to be there.
Community Conversations and Blue Economy Technologies
September 26 | News
This week, three Design Climate teams scaling ‘blue economy’ technologies traveled to Carteret Community College and the NC coast for a stakeholder roundtable focused on coastal sustainability, living shorelines, and resilience. Another team working in clean energy production toured the NC Global Transpark. The stakeholder relationships our students will build as a result of these experiences will bring unparalleled benefits to the proto-businesses they are scaling.
Duke Design Climate Hosts Community Integration Day
September 13 | News
Communities play a critical role in Design Climate projects; the businesses and products we develop serve these communities, hence the importance of their involvement from the start. On Friday, September 13, Design Climate hosted a community orientation day in our classroom with special guest “community integrators” who conducted workshops with our teams and will help guide our projects over the coming months.
Design Climate I, Fall 2024, Kicks Off!
September 6 | News
Design Climate is a student-led climate tech incubator at Duke University; a year-long course for environmental and engineering students to investigate and scale climate tech ideas. Combining design thinking with business-building, this year we will be embedding teams of students into communities and stakeholder groups to scale five proto-businesses: three blue economy projects, a clean fuels / e-methane project, and a project to help one of the poorest communities in the United States access clean energy opportunities.
Duke Magazine Features Design Climate Students’ Sustainable Innovations
June 21 | News
Discover how Duke Design Climate students are revolutionizing sustainable business ideas with a focus on profit, people, and the planet. Featured in Duke Magazine, these future green entrepreneurs are turning classroom concepts into impactful real-world solutions. Read More>
Introduction to Design Climate
June 7, 2024 | Video
Design Climate is a project-based design thinking program that merges design and innovation to cultivate solutions for climate resilience. It targets environmentally conscious students and corporate investors interested in idea development with a climate focus.
Judy Ledlee to Lead Duke’s New Design Climate Program
May 24, 2023 | News
Judy Ledlee, a rising star in the field of green technology development, has been named executive-in-residence at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and Nicholas School of the Environment. Read More>
