The Walker Art Center (in Minneapolis) has a great exhibit this summer – Design for the Other 90 percent. We went to see it on Saturday. OK really we went because on the fist Saturday each month admission is free and they have kids’ activities– but the coolest thing was the Design stuff.

Here’s the gist of the exhibit:

Of the world’s 6.5 billion people, 90 percent have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted. In fact, nearly half do not have reliable access to food, clean water, healthcare, education, affordable transportation, or shelter. The exhibition Design for the Other 90% features more than 30 projects that reflect a growing movement among designers, engineers, and social entrepreneurs to create low-cost solutions for everyday problems. Through local and global partnerships, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor.

So I got to see a $100 Laptop – those are the super durable laptops for kids in third world countries. I learn about them on 60 Minutes last year and have been looking forward to seeing one. It’s cool. The fun thing is that it wasn’t part of the exhibit so much as one guy had one it and decided that he would take it upon himself to show it to others.

The other very cool thing was the Internet Village Motoman. Here’s the description:

The Internet Village Motoman was launched for fifteen solar-powered village schools, telemedicine clinics, and the governor’s office in Ratanakiri, a remote province of Cambodia, using five Honda motorcycles equipped with mobile access points and a satellite uplink. Each of the schools can send and receive email and browse the Internet using a non-real-time search engine.

I was just amazed at how innovative and driven people are to make lives better – and was excited to see the prevalence of the Internet. It made me think about quickly the world really is becoming so flat. So if you’re around Minneapolis – the Design exhibit at the Walker is worth a visit. (It’s free on Thursday nights, if you’re economical like me.)