My research is a journey to understand the real essence of Design that gets shrouded in the plethora of keywords and buzzwords that Design has generated over past few decades. Upholding the generalist and holistic spirit of Design I'm interested in the inter-disciplinary intersections of Design.
Starting with understanding role of Design in business strategy and management the journey so far has spanned areas such as Design For Development, Design for sustainability, Design and Innovation, Inclusive Design and Design History.
In the journey so far I have explored the various dimensions of Design have realized that a major gap in Design research has been holding up the benefits of Design reaching to its beneficiaries.This gap is due to lack of the engagement between Design and Economics. Economics and Design both share a common goal of effective and efficient allocation of resources in the society and draw their body of knowledge form a wide variety of disciplines of science and humanities.However, Design is just a black box in Economic theory and economics is glaringly absent in Design research.
So currently phase of my journey involves how various approaches and theories of Economics like Capabilities Approach and New Institutional Economics can serve as useful platform for developing relevant, impactful and effective Design solutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges and opportunities for higher education and one of the im... more The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges and opportunities for higher education and one of the important areas was online education. Especially in design field, Online Problem-Based Learning has emerged as a promising method. This paper explores the potential of online-PBL and how it can be developed through a prototype approach. An action research in Indian HEI shows insights regarding the potentiality of online-PBL and application of a prototype approach to educational development activities. A concept of “educational probes” was proposed as a method to design educational program.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nov 1, 2014
Abstract Businesses have traditionally contributed to inclusive growth primarily through philanth... more Abstract Businesses have traditionally contributed to inclusive growth primarily through philanthropy or CSR. However, these initiatives have a modest societal impact when compared to the impact of core business operations on society. So businesses now have to integrate the social responsibility in their core business operations. Business should address inclusiveness and sustainability in their business strategy and not just as an afterthought. Many companies are now adopting such new business models that can deliver affordable products and services to those living in the middle and bottom of the pyramid. This paper looks into examples of how inclusivity can be made an important aspect of business strategy. This paper will look into how select organisations are running successfully and also addressing the larger societal needs through creative solutions to issues like healthcare, livelihood security, poverty etc which are very characteristic of the developing economies.
It’s a well-established fact that educational institutes by making available talent across the sk... more It’s a well-established fact that educational institutes by making available talent across the skill set spectrum contribute to the economic activity of any city/region. This has been true in case of science, technology, engineering and management education. However, in the past few years flourishing entrepreneurial activity in Pune - India has changed the dynamics of the engagement between educational institutions and industry. The most interesting interplay is between the design schools and the start-ups. Pune has traditionally been a thriving city for entrepreneurship, specifically in manufacturing, IT services and automotive. In the last decade, Pune emerged as the destination for start-ups and this coincided with the rise of design education in the city. Start-up equipped with the attitude of building and making products, services and systems soon found value in design thinking being taught in design schools around them. The traditional models of industry engagement in terms of internships , projects and mentoring by industry experts although relevant were not matching up to the expectations of the start-ups. For the design schools as well it was difficult to re-orient their course structure and pedagogy to meet the rapidly changing- qualitative and quantitative requirement of the start-ups. Alternate models were required to enable a dynamic engagement between design and the start-up world. This paper discuss the initiatives of Pune based MIT Institute of Design where in multiple platform were created to facilitate the interaction between design and the various players of the with the start-up ecosystem. MIT Technology Business Incubator and Edugild were the two organisations that were formed in response to this growing need of engaging actively with the start-up world. The objective of TBI is to commercialise technologies that are identified / developed by students and incubate early stage ideas. Edugild is an accelerator that will help scale up the ideas that have already shown potential and need further support to go to the next level. Pune as the locus of these activities had a prominent role to play. Various geographical, cultural, historical, economic and social reasons had influenced the ethos and system of industries and academic institutions of Pune. Historically, Pune had a vibrant academic culture that complemented the industrial growth and development of the city. The paper explains how this synergy was leveraged and the various aspects of Pune as a city were considered in starting these two initiatives. The paper further discusses how these initiatives will connect up with the academic structure of MIT ID. Design being in critical at all stages of the stat-up life cycle there are multiple touch points for the design students to associate. Since the students contribute not only in traditional “disciplines” of design but look at the overall business scenario holistically, the rigour of the design process and maturity of the design solutions is enhanced. Lastly, the paper proposes a framework that can be used to map the “place” value and contextualise it to the design academics.
This paper traces Pune’s journey to become one of the leading manufacturing, educational, IT and ... more This paper traces Pune’s journey to become one of the leading manufacturing, educational, IT and now the Design hub of India. This journey of Pune has had far reaching implications on the Design ecosystem of the city. This paper attempts to identify the historical, cultural, economic, geographical and other factors that have shaped up the Design landscape of Pune. The paper takes a case study based approach and discusses the dynamic interplay of these factors is discussed with reference to select Pune-based Design schools. From choosing Pune to be location for the Design school to the pedagogy, context and content of the courses offered, Pune has played an important role in shaping the academics at these Design schools. Nestled in the scenic Sahyadri mountain range and with a living tradition of more than 1000 years, Pune is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerates in India. Starting off as capital of the Maratha Empire it gained importance as strategic location for defence related activities during the British rule in India. With a large number of educational and R&D institutions and a strong presence of engineering and automotive industries Pune emerged as one of the important manufacturing hubs of India. In past few decades, Pune has become a prominent player in the digital economy and is home to a number of IT/ ITeS companies. With 8 Universities and 800 institutions, education is one of the important sectors in Pune. Pune has witnessed many “firsts” in education sector, one being the foray of private sector in engineering education spearheaded by MAEER (Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education & Research). In 1983 MAEER set up the first private engineering institute and has grown to be one of the largest educational groups with 60000 students studying across 10 campuses, 15 disciplines and 75 institutes. Having established in all major disciplines of higher education Design education was identified as new area to enter and it was decided to set up MIT Institute of Design (MIT ID) in Pune. Pune’s rich cultural heritage offers right grounding and value system for MIT ID. Interplay of city’s layered socio-cultural fabric and economic developments provide diverse touch-points for Design opportunities and challenges. City’s thriving academic culture enabled easy access to a well-qualified faculty who become the medium to transmit these values in right spirit. Learners imbibe these values from the environment around them and also contribute back through relevant Design solutions. The academic learning supported by a strong presence of industries and design consultancies provides ample professional opportunities for the students. These industries drive and define the economic activity of the city and effect of city reflects in the projects that the students do. Pune now has the largest no of design schools in India and strong presence of design industry leading to emergence of Pune as a design hub – both at an Indian and global level.
Design is increasingly seen as a transformational power and basis for innovation. Design methods,... more Design is increasingly seen as a transformational power and basis for innovation. Design methods, design attitudes and approaches are being looked upon as tools to create and deliver sustained value. Commercially motivated Businesses see design as source of competitive advantage to innovate; socially motivated organisations are increasingly using design thinking as holistic problem solving tool and governments are exploring how design make their systems and process effective.
All the three sectors are important constituents of a nation’s economy. However, the challenges and opportunities of developing nation are different from those of a developed economy. Therefore, even though design is already making inroads in the developing economies, a serious thought needs to be given to what role should design play in such scenario.
This paper explores the rationale and objectives of developing nation’s design policies, the way design is adopted by the business organisations and the use of design in the social sector. The paper further discusses the capabilities approach and the concept of external capabilities. A framework based on this approach is proposed. This framework outlines the relationship of design with the constituents of the economy. Separate recommendations for academic institution in developing nations are proposed.
The paper proposes a more inclusive and broad based approach towards Design History and how it ca... more The paper proposes a more inclusive and broad based approach towards Design History and how it can make Design history more relevant in the wake of the glocalised role of Design
The paper looks at how Design can be made more open to leverage the existing skill sets and capab... more The paper looks at how Design can be made more open to leverage the existing skill sets and capabilities of non-designers who have Designerly characteristics. The paper further discusses how this can be leveraged by businesses to engage with Design on larger canvas.
The paper focused on the cultural traits and behavioral practices observed in the Indian society ... more The paper focused on the cultural traits and behavioral practices observed in the Indian society and understanding the implications on Sustainability.
It’s widely acknowledged that Design and Engineering should go hand in hand to result in successf... more It’s widely acknowledged that Design and Engineering should go hand in hand to result in successful product. However, to bring about such balance in Design education requires an approach that combines best of both –Design and Engineering and gives an opportunity to the learners to appreciate their complementary nature. This paper describes the experience of a live project-work undertaken to strike such balance. The project work was to develop a fully functional ground-up vehicle in the Institute using the in-house facilities and resources. The project familiarized transportation design learners with the basic functional and constructional aspects of automotive systems. The learners could better understand how engineering, vehicle packaging, regulatory guidelines, safety framework and concurrent engineering influence the final design solution. We believe it is essential for future Designers to take more ownership and have better control of the products that they Design. However, to come to such level they need skills sets and conceptual understanding that is not yet covered in Indian Design education programs. The project undertaken demonstrates how such skills sets and capabilities can be developed in future Designers.
Integrating ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in design education, 2018
Abstract
In the last decade the design education in India is witnessing a substantial growth and ... more Abstract In the last decade the design education in India is witnessing a substantial growth and the number of Universities offering design program is steadily increasing. Although lesser than the global average, India now has around 70 Universities and institutes that offer design programs. (British Council, 2016) As elsewhere, one of the key characteristics of Indian design education is project based learning. On an average the design students carry out 8-10 projects of varying complexity during the program. As a result, the students end up doing a variety of projects and develop a diverse range of skill sets. However, as each course has its own deliverables and learning objectives, possibility to link the projects is minimal. As the project based courses are time bound, once the course is over the students are not interested to build on the project further. There are some promising projects which if built further, have a potential to be a starting point for an entrepreneurial venture. Further the capstone project offers a most relevant opportunity to test and validate the business proposition. The paper is based on the study of 200 undergraduate and post graduate students from different disciplines of industrial and communication design. The students were interviewed to understand their attitudes towards entrepreneurship, their aspirations and role of design education to prepare themselves for the future possibilities. Of these 25 students were found to be interested in entrepreneurship in general. Finally 4 cases were chosen where the students have pursued their academic projects in an integrated way and have gone ahead and converted their projects to ventures. In each case the journey was different and the process and time it took also varied, however there were certain commonalities that the paper identifies. Commitment to the topic and problem to be solved stands out as the most important parameter that kept the students motivated throughout the journey. All the students had excellent networking and people management skills which enabled them to collaborate effectively with other professional and resources other than design to keep moving forward. The study opens up one of the pertinent issues that directly connect with the nature of design entrepreneurship. Till now the dominant model of design entrepreneurship was that of a design agency but recent developments like automation, acquisition of design agencies by larger corporations, strengthening of in-house design teams in technology and consulting companies etc. (Maeda, 2018) raise questions on how sustainable the design agency model will remain in future. (Lockwood, 2015) Given the ever increasing complexity of the problems that designers are expected to solve, taking ownership and finding the appropriate business models for innovative design solutions is going to be a key characteristic of the future designer. The paper reflects on the need for a new model of design education that integrates ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in the design education so that the future designers can create a positive impact on the society and industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges and opportunities for higher education and one of the im... more The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges and opportunities for higher education and one of the important areas was online education. Especially in design field, Online Problem-Based Learning has emerged as a promising method. This paper explores the potential of online-PBL and how it can be developed through a prototype approach. An action research in Indian HEI shows insights regarding the potentiality of online-PBL and application of a prototype approach to educational development activities. A concept of “educational probes” was proposed as a method to design educational program.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nov 1, 2014
Abstract Businesses have traditionally contributed to inclusive growth primarily through philanth... more Abstract Businesses have traditionally contributed to inclusive growth primarily through philanthropy or CSR. However, these initiatives have a modest societal impact when compared to the impact of core business operations on society. So businesses now have to integrate the social responsibility in their core business operations. Business should address inclusiveness and sustainability in their business strategy and not just as an afterthought. Many companies are now adopting such new business models that can deliver affordable products and services to those living in the middle and bottom of the pyramid. This paper looks into examples of how inclusivity can be made an important aspect of business strategy. This paper will look into how select organisations are running successfully and also addressing the larger societal needs through creative solutions to issues like healthcare, livelihood security, poverty etc which are very characteristic of the developing economies.
It’s a well-established fact that educational institutes by making available talent across the sk... more It’s a well-established fact that educational institutes by making available talent across the skill set spectrum contribute to the economic activity of any city/region. This has been true in case of science, technology, engineering and management education. However, in the past few years flourishing entrepreneurial activity in Pune - India has changed the dynamics of the engagement between educational institutions and industry. The most interesting interplay is between the design schools and the start-ups. Pune has traditionally been a thriving city for entrepreneurship, specifically in manufacturing, IT services and automotive. In the last decade, Pune emerged as the destination for start-ups and this coincided with the rise of design education in the city. Start-up equipped with the attitude of building and making products, services and systems soon found value in design thinking being taught in design schools around them. The traditional models of industry engagement in terms of internships , projects and mentoring by industry experts although relevant were not matching up to the expectations of the start-ups. For the design schools as well it was difficult to re-orient their course structure and pedagogy to meet the rapidly changing- qualitative and quantitative requirement of the start-ups. Alternate models were required to enable a dynamic engagement between design and the start-up world. This paper discuss the initiatives of Pune based MIT Institute of Design where in multiple platform were created to facilitate the interaction between design and the various players of the with the start-up ecosystem. MIT Technology Business Incubator and Edugild were the two organisations that were formed in response to this growing need of engaging actively with the start-up world. The objective of TBI is to commercialise technologies that are identified / developed by students and incubate early stage ideas. Edugild is an accelerator that will help scale up the ideas that have already shown potential and need further support to go to the next level. Pune as the locus of these activities had a prominent role to play. Various geographical, cultural, historical, economic and social reasons had influenced the ethos and system of industries and academic institutions of Pune. Historically, Pune had a vibrant academic culture that complemented the industrial growth and development of the city. The paper explains how this synergy was leveraged and the various aspects of Pune as a city were considered in starting these two initiatives. The paper further discusses how these initiatives will connect up with the academic structure of MIT ID. Design being in critical at all stages of the stat-up life cycle there are multiple touch points for the design students to associate. Since the students contribute not only in traditional “disciplines” of design but look at the overall business scenario holistically, the rigour of the design process and maturity of the design solutions is enhanced. Lastly, the paper proposes a framework that can be used to map the “place” value and contextualise it to the design academics.
This paper traces Pune’s journey to become one of the leading manufacturing, educational, IT and ... more This paper traces Pune’s journey to become one of the leading manufacturing, educational, IT and now the Design hub of India. This journey of Pune has had far reaching implications on the Design ecosystem of the city. This paper attempts to identify the historical, cultural, economic, geographical and other factors that have shaped up the Design landscape of Pune. The paper takes a case study based approach and discusses the dynamic interplay of these factors is discussed with reference to select Pune-based Design schools. From choosing Pune to be location for the Design school to the pedagogy, context and content of the courses offered, Pune has played an important role in shaping the academics at these Design schools. Nestled in the scenic Sahyadri mountain range and with a living tradition of more than 1000 years, Pune is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerates in India. Starting off as capital of the Maratha Empire it gained importance as strategic location for defence related activities during the British rule in India. With a large number of educational and R&D institutions and a strong presence of engineering and automotive industries Pune emerged as one of the important manufacturing hubs of India. In past few decades, Pune has become a prominent player in the digital economy and is home to a number of IT/ ITeS companies. With 8 Universities and 800 institutions, education is one of the important sectors in Pune. Pune has witnessed many “firsts” in education sector, one being the foray of private sector in engineering education spearheaded by MAEER (Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education & Research). In 1983 MAEER set up the first private engineering institute and has grown to be one of the largest educational groups with 60000 students studying across 10 campuses, 15 disciplines and 75 institutes. Having established in all major disciplines of higher education Design education was identified as new area to enter and it was decided to set up MIT Institute of Design (MIT ID) in Pune. Pune’s rich cultural heritage offers right grounding and value system for MIT ID. Interplay of city’s layered socio-cultural fabric and economic developments provide diverse touch-points for Design opportunities and challenges. City’s thriving academic culture enabled easy access to a well-qualified faculty who become the medium to transmit these values in right spirit. Learners imbibe these values from the environment around them and also contribute back through relevant Design solutions. The academic learning supported by a strong presence of industries and design consultancies provides ample professional opportunities for the students. These industries drive and define the economic activity of the city and effect of city reflects in the projects that the students do. Pune now has the largest no of design schools in India and strong presence of design industry leading to emergence of Pune as a design hub – both at an Indian and global level.
Design is increasingly seen as a transformational power and basis for innovation. Design methods,... more Design is increasingly seen as a transformational power and basis for innovation. Design methods, design attitudes and approaches are being looked upon as tools to create and deliver sustained value. Commercially motivated Businesses see design as source of competitive advantage to innovate; socially motivated organisations are increasingly using design thinking as holistic problem solving tool and governments are exploring how design make their systems and process effective.
All the three sectors are important constituents of a nation’s economy. However, the challenges and opportunities of developing nation are different from those of a developed economy. Therefore, even though design is already making inroads in the developing economies, a serious thought needs to be given to what role should design play in such scenario.
This paper explores the rationale and objectives of developing nation’s design policies, the way design is adopted by the business organisations and the use of design in the social sector. The paper further discusses the capabilities approach and the concept of external capabilities. A framework based on this approach is proposed. This framework outlines the relationship of design with the constituents of the economy. Separate recommendations for academic institution in developing nations are proposed.
The paper proposes a more inclusive and broad based approach towards Design History and how it ca... more The paper proposes a more inclusive and broad based approach towards Design History and how it can make Design history more relevant in the wake of the glocalised role of Design
The paper looks at how Design can be made more open to leverage the existing skill sets and capab... more The paper looks at how Design can be made more open to leverage the existing skill sets and capabilities of non-designers who have Designerly characteristics. The paper further discusses how this can be leveraged by businesses to engage with Design on larger canvas.
The paper focused on the cultural traits and behavioral practices observed in the Indian society ... more The paper focused on the cultural traits and behavioral practices observed in the Indian society and understanding the implications on Sustainability.
It’s widely acknowledged that Design and Engineering should go hand in hand to result in successf... more It’s widely acknowledged that Design and Engineering should go hand in hand to result in successful product. However, to bring about such balance in Design education requires an approach that combines best of both –Design and Engineering and gives an opportunity to the learners to appreciate their complementary nature. This paper describes the experience of a live project-work undertaken to strike such balance. The project work was to develop a fully functional ground-up vehicle in the Institute using the in-house facilities and resources. The project familiarized transportation design learners with the basic functional and constructional aspects of automotive systems. The learners could better understand how engineering, vehicle packaging, regulatory guidelines, safety framework and concurrent engineering influence the final design solution. We believe it is essential for future Designers to take more ownership and have better control of the products that they Design. However, to come to such level they need skills sets and conceptual understanding that is not yet covered in Indian Design education programs. The project undertaken demonstrates how such skills sets and capabilities can be developed in future Designers.
Integrating ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in design education, 2018
Abstract
In the last decade the design education in India is witnessing a substantial growth and ... more Abstract In the last decade the design education in India is witnessing a substantial growth and the number of Universities offering design program is steadily increasing. Although lesser than the global average, India now has around 70 Universities and institutes that offer design programs. (British Council, 2016) As elsewhere, one of the key characteristics of Indian design education is project based learning. On an average the design students carry out 8-10 projects of varying complexity during the program. As a result, the students end up doing a variety of projects and develop a diverse range of skill sets. However, as each course has its own deliverables and learning objectives, possibility to link the projects is minimal. As the project based courses are time bound, once the course is over the students are not interested to build on the project further. There are some promising projects which if built further, have a potential to be a starting point for an entrepreneurial venture. Further the capstone project offers a most relevant opportunity to test and validate the business proposition. The paper is based on the study of 200 undergraduate and post graduate students from different disciplines of industrial and communication design. The students were interviewed to understand their attitudes towards entrepreneurship, their aspirations and role of design education to prepare themselves for the future possibilities. Of these 25 students were found to be interested in entrepreneurship in general. Finally 4 cases were chosen where the students have pursued their academic projects in an integrated way and have gone ahead and converted their projects to ventures. In each case the journey was different and the process and time it took also varied, however there were certain commonalities that the paper identifies. Commitment to the topic and problem to be solved stands out as the most important parameter that kept the students motivated throughout the journey. All the students had excellent networking and people management skills which enabled them to collaborate effectively with other professional and resources other than design to keep moving forward. The study opens up one of the pertinent issues that directly connect with the nature of design entrepreneurship. Till now the dominant model of design entrepreneurship was that of a design agency but recent developments like automation, acquisition of design agencies by larger corporations, strengthening of in-house design teams in technology and consulting companies etc. (Maeda, 2018) raise questions on how sustainable the design agency model will remain in future. (Lockwood, 2015) Given the ever increasing complexity of the problems that designers are expected to solve, taking ownership and finding the appropriate business models for innovative design solutions is going to be a key characteristic of the future designer. The paper reflects on the need for a new model of design education that integrates ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in the design education so that the future designers can create a positive impact on the society and industry.
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Papers by Harshit Desai
The most interesting interplay is between the design schools and the start-ups. Pune has traditionally been a thriving city for entrepreneurship, specifically in manufacturing, IT services and automotive. In the last decade, Pune emerged as the destination for start-ups and this coincided with the rise of design education in the city. Start-up equipped with the attitude of building and making products, services and systems soon found value in design thinking being taught in design schools around them.
The traditional models of industry engagement in terms of internships , projects and mentoring by industry experts although relevant were not matching up to the expectations of the start-ups. For the design schools as well it was difficult to re-orient their course structure and pedagogy to meet the rapidly changing- qualitative and quantitative requirement of the start-ups.
Alternate models were required to enable a dynamic engagement between design and the start-up world. This paper discuss the initiatives of Pune based MIT Institute of Design where in multiple platform were created to facilitate the interaction between design and the various players of the with the start-up ecosystem.
MIT Technology Business Incubator and Edugild were the two organisations that were formed in response to this growing need of engaging actively with the start-up world. The objective of TBI is to commercialise technologies that are identified / developed by students and incubate early stage ideas. Edugild is an accelerator that will help scale up the ideas that have already shown potential and need further support to go to the next level.
Pune as the locus of these activities had a prominent role to play. Various geographical, cultural, historical, economic and social reasons had influenced the ethos and system of industries and academic institutions of Pune. Historically, Pune had a vibrant academic culture that complemented the industrial growth and development of the city. The paper explains how this synergy was leveraged and the various aspects of Pune as a city were considered in starting these two initiatives.
The paper further discusses how these initiatives will connect up with the academic structure of MIT ID. Design being in critical at all stages of the stat-up life cycle there are multiple touch points for the design students to associate. Since the students contribute not only in traditional “disciplines” of design but look at the overall business scenario holistically, the rigour of the design process and maturity of the design solutions is enhanced. Lastly, the paper proposes a framework that can be used to map the “place” value and contextualise it to the design academics.
Nestled in the scenic Sahyadri mountain range and with a living tradition of more than 1000 years, Pune is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerates in India. Starting off as capital of the Maratha Empire it gained importance as strategic location for defence related activities during the British rule in India. With a large number of educational and R&D institutions and a strong presence of engineering and automotive industries Pune emerged as one of the important manufacturing hubs of India. In past few decades, Pune has become a prominent player in the digital economy and is home to a number of IT/ ITeS companies.
With 8 Universities and 800 institutions, education is one of the important sectors in Pune. Pune has witnessed many “firsts” in education sector, one being the foray of private sector in engineering education spearheaded by MAEER (Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education & Research). In 1983 MAEER set up the first private engineering institute and has grown to be one of the largest educational groups with 60000 students studying across 10 campuses, 15 disciplines and 75 institutes. Having established in all major disciplines of higher education Design education was identified as new area to enter and it was decided to set up MIT Institute of Design (MIT ID) in Pune.
Pune’s rich cultural heritage offers right grounding and value system for MIT ID. Interplay of city’s layered socio-cultural fabric and economic developments provide diverse touch-points for Design opportunities and challenges. City’s thriving academic culture enabled easy access to a well-qualified faculty who become the medium to transmit these values in right spirit. Learners imbibe these values from the environment around them and also contribute back through relevant Design solutions. The academic learning supported by a strong presence of industries and design consultancies provides ample professional opportunities for the students. These industries drive and define the economic activity of the city and effect of city reflects in the projects that the students do. Pune now has the largest no of design schools in India and strong presence of design industry leading to emergence of Pune as a design hub – both at an Indian and global level.
All the three sectors are important constituents of a nation’s economy. However, the challenges and opportunities of developing nation are different from those of a developed economy. Therefore, even though design is already making inroads in the developing economies, a serious thought needs to be given to what role should design play in such scenario.
This paper explores the rationale and objectives of developing nation’s design policies, the way design is adopted by the business organisations and the use of design in the social sector. The paper further discusses the capabilities approach and the concept of external capabilities. A framework based on this approach is proposed. This framework outlines the relationship of design with the constituents of the economy. Separate recommendations for academic institution in developing nations are proposed.
Conference Presentations by Harshit Desai
In the last decade the design education in India is witnessing a substantial growth and the number of Universities offering design program is steadily increasing. Although lesser than the global average, India now has around 70 Universities and institutes that offer design programs. (British Council, 2016) As elsewhere, one of the key characteristics of Indian design education is project based learning. On an average the design students carry out 8-10 projects of varying complexity during the program. As a result, the students end up doing a variety of projects and develop a diverse range of skill sets. However, as each course has its own deliverables and learning objectives, possibility to link the projects is minimal. As the project based courses are time bound, once the course is over the students are not interested to build on the project further. There are some promising projects which if built further, have a potential to be a starting point for an entrepreneurial venture. Further the capstone project offers a most relevant opportunity to test and validate the business proposition. The paper is based on the study of 200 undergraduate and post graduate students from different disciplines of industrial and communication design. The students were interviewed to understand their attitudes towards entrepreneurship, their aspirations and role of design education to prepare themselves for the future possibilities. Of these 25 students were found to be interested in entrepreneurship in general. Finally 4 cases were chosen where the students have pursued their academic projects in an integrated way and have gone ahead and converted their projects to ventures. In each case the journey was different and the process and time it took also varied, however there were certain commonalities that the paper identifies. Commitment to the topic and problem to be solved stands out as the most important parameter that kept the students motivated throughout the journey. All the students had excellent networking and people management skills which enabled them to collaborate effectively with other professional and resources other than design to keep moving forward. The study opens up one of the pertinent issues that directly connect with the nature of design entrepreneurship. Till now the dominant model of design entrepreneurship was that of a design agency but recent developments like automation, acquisition of design agencies by larger corporations, strengthening of in-house design teams in technology and consulting companies etc. (Maeda, 2018) raise questions on how sustainable the design agency model will remain in future. (Lockwood, 2015) Given the ever increasing complexity of the problems that designers are expected to solve, taking ownership and finding the appropriate business models for innovative design solutions is going to be a key characteristic of the future designer. The paper reflects on the need for a new model of design education that integrates ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in the design education so that the future designers can create a positive impact on the society and industry.
The most interesting interplay is between the design schools and the start-ups. Pune has traditionally been a thriving city for entrepreneurship, specifically in manufacturing, IT services and automotive. In the last decade, Pune emerged as the destination for start-ups and this coincided with the rise of design education in the city. Start-up equipped with the attitude of building and making products, services and systems soon found value in design thinking being taught in design schools around them.
The traditional models of industry engagement in terms of internships , projects and mentoring by industry experts although relevant were not matching up to the expectations of the start-ups. For the design schools as well it was difficult to re-orient their course structure and pedagogy to meet the rapidly changing- qualitative and quantitative requirement of the start-ups.
Alternate models were required to enable a dynamic engagement between design and the start-up world. This paper discuss the initiatives of Pune based MIT Institute of Design where in multiple platform were created to facilitate the interaction between design and the various players of the with the start-up ecosystem.
MIT Technology Business Incubator and Edugild were the two organisations that were formed in response to this growing need of engaging actively with the start-up world. The objective of TBI is to commercialise technologies that are identified / developed by students and incubate early stage ideas. Edugild is an accelerator that will help scale up the ideas that have already shown potential and need further support to go to the next level.
Pune as the locus of these activities had a prominent role to play. Various geographical, cultural, historical, economic and social reasons had influenced the ethos and system of industries and academic institutions of Pune. Historically, Pune had a vibrant academic culture that complemented the industrial growth and development of the city. The paper explains how this synergy was leveraged and the various aspects of Pune as a city were considered in starting these two initiatives.
The paper further discusses how these initiatives will connect up with the academic structure of MIT ID. Design being in critical at all stages of the stat-up life cycle there are multiple touch points for the design students to associate. Since the students contribute not only in traditional “disciplines” of design but look at the overall business scenario holistically, the rigour of the design process and maturity of the design solutions is enhanced. Lastly, the paper proposes a framework that can be used to map the “place” value and contextualise it to the design academics.
Nestled in the scenic Sahyadri mountain range and with a living tradition of more than 1000 years, Pune is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerates in India. Starting off as capital of the Maratha Empire it gained importance as strategic location for defence related activities during the British rule in India. With a large number of educational and R&D institutions and a strong presence of engineering and automotive industries Pune emerged as one of the important manufacturing hubs of India. In past few decades, Pune has become a prominent player in the digital economy and is home to a number of IT/ ITeS companies.
With 8 Universities and 800 institutions, education is one of the important sectors in Pune. Pune has witnessed many “firsts” in education sector, one being the foray of private sector in engineering education spearheaded by MAEER (Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education & Research). In 1983 MAEER set up the first private engineering institute and has grown to be one of the largest educational groups with 60000 students studying across 10 campuses, 15 disciplines and 75 institutes. Having established in all major disciplines of higher education Design education was identified as new area to enter and it was decided to set up MIT Institute of Design (MIT ID) in Pune.
Pune’s rich cultural heritage offers right grounding and value system for MIT ID. Interplay of city’s layered socio-cultural fabric and economic developments provide diverse touch-points for Design opportunities and challenges. City’s thriving academic culture enabled easy access to a well-qualified faculty who become the medium to transmit these values in right spirit. Learners imbibe these values from the environment around them and also contribute back through relevant Design solutions. The academic learning supported by a strong presence of industries and design consultancies provides ample professional opportunities for the students. These industries drive and define the economic activity of the city and effect of city reflects in the projects that the students do. Pune now has the largest no of design schools in India and strong presence of design industry leading to emergence of Pune as a design hub – both at an Indian and global level.
All the three sectors are important constituents of a nation’s economy. However, the challenges and opportunities of developing nation are different from those of a developed economy. Therefore, even though design is already making inroads in the developing economies, a serious thought needs to be given to what role should design play in such scenario.
This paper explores the rationale and objectives of developing nation’s design policies, the way design is adopted by the business organisations and the use of design in the social sector. The paper further discusses the capabilities approach and the concept of external capabilities. A framework based on this approach is proposed. This framework outlines the relationship of design with the constituents of the economy. Separate recommendations for academic institution in developing nations are proposed.
In the last decade the design education in India is witnessing a substantial growth and the number of Universities offering design program is steadily increasing. Although lesser than the global average, India now has around 70 Universities and institutes that offer design programs. (British Council, 2016) As elsewhere, one of the key characteristics of Indian design education is project based learning. On an average the design students carry out 8-10 projects of varying complexity during the program. As a result, the students end up doing a variety of projects and develop a diverse range of skill sets. However, as each course has its own deliverables and learning objectives, possibility to link the projects is minimal. As the project based courses are time bound, once the course is over the students are not interested to build on the project further. There are some promising projects which if built further, have a potential to be a starting point for an entrepreneurial venture. Further the capstone project offers a most relevant opportunity to test and validate the business proposition. The paper is based on the study of 200 undergraduate and post graduate students from different disciplines of industrial and communication design. The students were interviewed to understand their attitudes towards entrepreneurship, their aspirations and role of design education to prepare themselves for the future possibilities. Of these 25 students were found to be interested in entrepreneurship in general. Finally 4 cases were chosen where the students have pursued their academic projects in an integrated way and have gone ahead and converted their projects to ventures. In each case the journey was different and the process and time it took also varied, however there were certain commonalities that the paper identifies. Commitment to the topic and problem to be solved stands out as the most important parameter that kept the students motivated throughout the journey. All the students had excellent networking and people management skills which enabled them to collaborate effectively with other professional and resources other than design to keep moving forward. The study opens up one of the pertinent issues that directly connect with the nature of design entrepreneurship. Till now the dominant model of design entrepreneurship was that of a design agency but recent developments like automation, acquisition of design agencies by larger corporations, strengthening of in-house design teams in technology and consulting companies etc. (Maeda, 2018) raise questions on how sustainable the design agency model will remain in future. (Lockwood, 2015) Given the ever increasing complexity of the problems that designers are expected to solve, taking ownership and finding the appropriate business models for innovative design solutions is going to be a key characteristic of the future designer. The paper reflects on the need for a new model of design education that integrates ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in the design education so that the future designers can create a positive impact on the society and industry.