The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has awarded Yves Béhar and fuseproject the 2010 IDSA Bronze Design of the Decade Award for their contribution to the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project.

The One Laptop per Child initiative was launched in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab and seeks to provide a better future for 2 billion of the world’s poorest children, who have limited access to formal education.

Béhar devised the first-generation XO laptop, designed to cost 100 USD and be at once light, attractive, durable and easy to operate.

“We are honoured to be recognised for our important work with OLPC,” said Yves Béhar.

“We spent more than four years on the research and design of the XO, and created a device that was tailor-made to the needs of children in the world’s developing countries.”

The model is currently being used by 2 million children worldwide in over 40 countries, including Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Rwanda, Thailand and Uruguay.

A new-generation XO-3 model is set to be released soon, and consists of two touch screens that act as a keyboard and display area, can be read like a book or lie flat and provide a surface for collaborative learning.

The XO-3 will be more technologically advanced and, most importantly, at 75 USD will be even more affordable for bulk purchase by developing countries.

The IDSA is the world’s oldest and largest society for industrial design. The Design of the Decade competition seeks to discover and reward the best contributions of industrial design to the professional industry.

One Laptop per Child
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