leadership through design

With the government announcing a national design policy earlier this year, it has now become imperative for design institutions and designers to rethink their role in the context of global economies, especially in Asia. With this in mind the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, is focusing on creating new talent, while designing new programmes and organising exhibitions in collaboration with institutes abroad. While announcing its seventh design summit, which takes place on December 12 and 13 in Bangalore, Darlie Koshy, director, NID, stated: "The summit this year assumes a greater significance from the perspective of implementation of the national design policy. It is poised to become a roller coaster of ideas." The summit, titled 'Leadership through Design', being held in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), aims to assess the current scenario, future trends and promote design in the Indian industry. This year, Italy is participating as a partner country at the summit and will also showcase Italian design from the post-war period to the present. NID also plans to launch a Master's programme in design entrepreneurship, to be delivered in collaboration with Stanford University, US. It would be in line with Stanford's global team-based design innovation programme 'Course 310'. Once the modalities of the joint venture are finalised, a few of NID's students would be sent to Stanford for a period of nine months as part of their ongoing Master's in design entrepreneurship programme. "The training in Stanford will cost us $1,50,000 per student. For funding, we have already requested help from some corporate houses in India," informed Koshy. The other two Master's programmes that NID plans to launch are contemporary retail management and design for health.