Bangalore: The National Association of Software and Services Companies, (NASSCOM) on Friday hosted the third edition of its ‘Design4India DESIGN SUMMIT’ in Bengaluru. With a focus on connecting the holy trinity of Design, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for startup and software technology product companies, the summit witnessed the presence of academic heads and leaders of some of world’s leading design schools, corporations, start-ups and design studios.
The theme for this year, “EMBED 3.0: Unleashing The Power Of Design Disruption”, explored sessions on a human-centred design that augment technologies like, robotics, AI, AR/VR/XR, sustainable systems, blockchain and connected mobility among others.
On the sidelines of the Summit, NASSCOM also announced the winners of its prestigious annual Design awards. Commemorating its second edition this year, the Design Awards witnessed the participation of more than 160 applications from the Design-in-Technology Community, out of which 25 innovative companies, students, NGOs and start-ups were awarded.
Speaking at the Summit, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said, “Design as a tool for innovation has developed rapidly in recent years and is now incorporated in developing strategy and management of the final technology, product or service. Businesses today call for creativity and a creatively capable workforce to deliver a minimum viable product to the user. NASSCOM Design4India initiative is a stellar example of collaboration between the best designers and corporates, aiming to engage young entrepreneurs into becoming problem solvers and solution builders in the country.”
Sharing his thoughts, K S Viswanathan, Vice President, Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM, said, “We received a phenomenal response for Design Awards entries this year. We were impressed with the sheer quality of extraordinary and transformational solutions that the Design Teams have submitted, to address complex humanitarian problems. Design Awards reiterates that design needs to be adopted and celebrated on a much larger scale than ever before.”
This year the award applications were open to startups, corporates, design agencies, NGOs, design students and other design-led companies in the ecosystem in five categories — Web Design, Mobile Design, Immersive Design, Connected & Intelligence Design, and Digital Ergonomic Product Design. These categories reflected areas that exhibit great potential in terms of opportunity and demand in the design industry. Applications were further evaluated by an eminent jury based on parameters such as the product’s differentiator value, innovation level, sustainability, overall creativity, user-friendliness and aesthetics.
One of the major pillars on which NASSCOM stands today is innovation, and creative designing is intricately linked to this facet. Design4India is an open platform that enables the design and technology ecosystem to come together and drive design adoption at scale. Continuing its focus on supporting startups who have excelled in the field of software product design and spur innovation in the fast-growing experience design sphere, these awards commend great design solutions impacting communities.
The two-day-long Design Summit witnessed the presence of leading software technology companies & design experts from all corners of the globe.
Leaders from the top companies, took center stage to discuss a range of topics including design as a state policy, creativity in the age of digital, innovation & entrepreneurship, critical importance of STEAM and more. The Summit hosted industry experts like Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM, Valerie Casey, Head of Design, Walmart, Ravi Gururaj, Founder & CEO, QikPod, Thomas Garvey, Associate Professor, Carleton University, Nikhil Arora, Managing Director and Vice President, Go Daddy, among others.
The annual Summit also hosted industry-specific workshops that explore new ideas and methodologies around design education, sustainable design for businesses & interaction design.