Design Project 1 | Preparing for Elevator Pitch

Use this page to collect your initial thoughts about issues to be addressed in your Elevator Pitch. Plesae jot down a few ideas in each of the follow sections.

Adoptability

• What are the considerations that will affect peoples’ decisions about whether to adopt and use your design idea. Because my sustainable product involves public infrastructure, my my design would have to be approved and implemented by a government ministry. In order to compete against other contractors in the market, the idea must have political/communal popularity, a competitive cost, a short construction period, and be easy to fix/replace (aside from the solving the main problem of pot-holes and poor water management).
• Are there potential barriers that will slow down adoption, or that you’ll need to overcome. Competitors (other contractors, products, materials), government entities (bureaucracy, politicians, etc.), existing infrastructure legislation, high costs
• What aspects of the existing situation will need to change? The current design for paved roads is structurally weak, and leads to dangerous and unpopular outcomes. Because they need to be constantly repaved, at the citizen's expense, there must be a more sustainable approach to road infrastructure in Panama.

Pricing Model

• What’s the pricing model for your idea? Adoption of “” would cost approximately -, according to material and installation costs. I believe the product makes up for these costs by environmental and structural benefits.
• Is there an upfront cost? Or a subscription cost? While the installation of the product does imply an upfront cost, there is also a secondary cost for general road maintenance and surveillance.
• Are there any rebates or other financial incentives that will help lower the cost and reward the behavior? Political popularity, short construction times, cost effectiveness

Sustainability Impact

• How does your design idea improve sustainability? Extends life of the road, prevents excessive maintenance, uses more sustainable materials, benefits ground water deposits.
• How big is the problem now? What’s the baseline that you’ll compare your idea to? The problem of road maintenance has gained political traction over the past year, as road conditions get increasingly worse.
• What delta will this make? How can you quantify or measure the impact of your design idea? And how big a difference could your design idea make? Hopefully, “” can be Panama's introduction to sustainable urbanism. By showing people in Panama City the improvements of “”, I want to gradually create discourse for sustainable public infrastructure. Reforming Panama's infrastructure through a sustainable eye.

Competitive Advantage

• What else is available to your users now? What options do they have? Panama’s government currently implements roads with two kinds of materials: reinforced concrete and asphalt. The price ranges for both of these materials is similar, however, concrete tends to be 20% more expensive than asphalt. Concrete would cost around $937,500.00 per km ($156.00 x m2) while asphalt would cost $750,000.00 per km ($125.00 x m2). These are provided several different contractors (ex. Concreto Asfáltico Nacional S.A).
• Are there other products or services that promise similar results? AquiPor Tech uses similar drainage designs for a concrete-like material
• How do you compare to them? My idea combines technologies such as AquiPor's with blocked design to allow for greater water management.

Use of Design Thinking / Human-Centeredness

• How does this design idea address the essential need identified in your POV statement? It increases road safety and extends usage for longer time.
• How did your design idea evolve based on the steps in the design thinking process? (Observing > Interviewing > Defining a POV > Ideating > Prototyping > Testing > Interating) This idea came to me based on my own experiences driving in Panama City. As a communal issue, poor road conditions have become increasingly prevalent. The idea evolved as I conducted my interviews and I adapted my design to consumer needs. Finally, the idea was shaped with the help of Engineer José Karameñites, who gave me current metrics in Panama.

What’s the Roadmap?

• Is there an path of future development that could evolve from and extend your design idea? Greater green urbanization, extending road systems
• How could your design idea grow? It can also include educational and/or research aspects, to increase the sustainable aspect of the design.