About
Sally Madsen is a designer and project leader at IDEO, and a leader of IDEO’s Social Innovation domain. She brings a holistic view to the design of products, services, and systems – believing that good design usually touches on all of these, and more.
Her experience at IDEO includes programs for social and commercial clients in India, Ghana, Kenya, Bangladesh, Mexico, and the US. Before coming to IDEO she co-founded Cosmos Ignite Innovations, a start-up providing solar-powered lights as a replacement for kerosene lights in India and other countries. She holds degrees from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering.
Sally is also a 2010 Aspen First Movers Fellow.
Speaking Highlights
November 2010, Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future West Coast Summit, San Jose, CA
October 2010, “Design Thinking for Social Innovation: Methods for Unlocking Value,” Net Impact Conference 2010, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, Ann Arbor, MI
October 2010, “Crowdsourced Campaigns for Causes,” Net Impact Conference 2010, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, Ann Arbor, MI
October 2009, Clean Water Solutions for the Developing World Roundtable, The Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
September 2009, Social Capital Markets Conference 2009
June 2009, India Water Summit 2009
Speaking Topics
Design thinking
Social innovation
Sustainability
Social innovation
Sustainability
Published Work
August 2010, "Design for Social Impact," Ergonomics in Design
May 2010, "Discussion of Ripple Effect Project," Korea DESIGN Magazine
April 2010, "Quality Design for the Poor," PATTERNS
September 2009, "How Might We Celebrate Learning through Evaluation?," GOOD Magazine
August 2009, "Seeding Innovation," socialedge.org
April 2006, "Ignite: Developing a product in the developing world," Ambidextrous Magazine