The Design and Innovation Centre @ IIT Gandhinagar: learning how Design creates Innovations
‘Design is the bedrock of Innovation’
In the present times, design-driven innovative approach has occupied a very prominent position across all the sectors of evolution. Rather than being just a process of developing a product, this approach forms the core of enhancing new creations on a whole different and more efficient level in academia and industry. Innovations having design as their backbone strengthen competitiveness as well as the quality of production in India and Abroad.
However, promotion and education of design are still at their very young stages, especially in the context of academia and SME sector of our country. Hence, there is a dire need to amalgamate the design, philosophy, technology and sustainability aspects in order to create a positive impact on the national economy and upgrade the quality of life.
IIT Gandhinagar understands that the design element is crucial for any type of innovation in the 21st century and wants to promote the same in its students. As an effort in this direction, the Design and Innovation Centre (DIC) was established in the year 2011. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary viewpoints leading to collaborative research and education in design and innovation form the baseline of this Centre. The focus areas of the DIC include conceiving and developing innovations that aid in the betterment of the society and it follows a human-centric design philosophy by means of its numerous curricular and extracurricular activities.
The interactions between technology, innovation and sustainability have played a major role in shaping the modern age society. Innovation, of course, has its roots in the advancement of science and technology. Exactly how specific technologies ultimately lead to the resolution of burning issues and problems of a country and the entire world often depends on how these technologies interact and connect with each other systematically, as well as on various factors such as political and economic conditions, public acceptance and ethical considerations. The aim of the DIC is to develop practical solutions that address the most pressing and complex challenges across the globe.
IITGN is aware that design thinking should be an integral part of the course curriculum along with humanities and social sciences. Critical design thinking for creative problem solving is an attribute that any person can benefit from- be it a student, a professor, a researcher or an entrepreneur. Hence, the DIC seeks to create courses for students and professionals in various capacities and introduce platforms for nurturing the creative side of the brain.
Supported by an interdisciplinary faculty, this Centre offers semester long courses and internships to inculcate an understanding of how design positively and significantly affects technological innovations in students. Design March, a two-day informative yet fun event conducted recently by DIC was all about making the students aware of the latest growing areas like game design, automotive styling, packaging design and waste-metal recycling. 3-D scanning, 3-D printing, laser cutting and engraving are some sectors in which workshops have also been conducted by this Centre.
“Design thinking is the buzzword these days. It is an integral part of a campus which is truly interdisciplinary in nature. Design thinking coupled with interdisciplinary interactions lead to problem solving capabilities that can contribute significantly to every field of professional practice and get actively involved in finding the most feasible solutions. This is exactly what we want our students to grasp and perceive,” said Manasi Kanetkar, Assistant Teaching Professor in Design.
The Centre also plays an important role during the five week Foundation Programme, the first of its kind in India, organized at IITGN every year which introduces first year students to a variety of activities like sketching, artwork and paper engineering, among many others. It also coordinates the creative aspects of the Invent@IITGN, another first of kind in India, a unique summer annual programme which inspires students to conceive, develop and patent their inventions and innovations in a short span of six weeks.
“DIC extensively promotes the concept of hands-on experience. It is always interesting to watch how students come up with out-of-the-box creations and solutions during these programmes, events and projects. Design always has a great influence on technology, in terms of shape, size, usability, accessibility and cost- and it is quite evident in each of the products they come up with,” Prof. Kanetkar added further.
In today’s world, design and innovation go hand in hand. Development of novel products and services is not possible without design thinking which involves system thinking. It forms the backbone of latest solutions to real life day-to-day problems and hence becomes extremely important to be integrated in the course curriculum of the Indian Education System at different levels. The Design and Innovation Centre at IIT Gandhinagar continuously strives to introduce and develop this approach and inspire a type of learning in students which would help them in creating, developing and improving the technological innovations that are more contextual and more human centered.
‘Design pushes and expands the boundaries of innovation like none other’
(This is the fourth article of the series about the 7 interdisciplinary centres @ IIT Gandhinagar. The third article can be found here and the fifth article is available here.)
