design innovation conclave: integrating design in business strategy, ficci 2012, india

7/29/2019 DESIGN INNOVATION CONCLAVE: Integrating Design in Business Strategy, FICCI 2012, India

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Design Innovation ConclaveDesign Innovation Conclave was conceived through therecommendation of FICCIs National Committee on Science,Technology and Innovation, to promote excellence in design-based product innovation practices in Indian industry. Theevent, took place in the capital on November 29, 2012, broughttogether design experts, industrial researchers, corporateleaders, marketers, policy makers and consumers to engagein a high powered conferencing and networking platform todecipher strategies for Indian businesses to create competitive

advantage through aggressive adoption of design excellence inproducts, services and processes. The theme for the conclave wasIntegrating Design in Business Strategy.

Design as a key element of modern business strategy is stillfar from being adopted widely across Indian industry. In anextremely competitive market, crowded with ever increasingnumber of players with similar and comparable products, designis fast emerging as one of the most critical, and in some cases,the sole differentiator among competing offerings. Irrespectiveof class or category of product/service, integration and adoptionof design-driven innovation is imperative for most enterprises to

capture consumer mindshare, drive growth and create long-termbusiness value.

While traditionally, scientific and technological innovations hadbrought highest returns for enterprises, the future seems to bewith them who are not only advanced in terms of technologybut also posses the best and highest capabilities in designingtheir products. Advanced economies have had such realizationlong back and had been investing heavily in making design asan integral part of their innovation ecosystem. Some of the mostvaluable corporations of the world, namely - Apple, GE, Sony,Samsung, Microsoft, Google, Bosch, IKEA, Wal-Mart and hostof such others from global corporate Ivy League have created

their niche by bringing exemplary design innovations in manyof their products and services, which not only helped them reapenormous business returns but also established their leadershipacross the world.

DESIGN INNOVATION CONCLAVE:Integrating Design in Business

Strategy29 November 2012, Federation House, New Delhi

DESIGN INNOVATION CONCLAVE: A REPORTBy Indrani De Parker

Design as a key element ofmodern business strategy isstill far from being adopted

widely across Indian industry.In an extremely competitivemarket, crowded with everincreasing number of playerswith similar and comparableproducts, design is fastemerging as one of the mostcritical, and in some cases,the sole differentiator amongcompeting offerings.


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Design Driven Innovation Is Imperative For MostEnterprises

Shalendra Porwal, Co-Chair, FICCI National Committee onScience, Technology and Innovation and the CEO of Battelle(India), opened the forum by addressing the importance of

design driven innovation. The emphasis in most business,which was heretofore on science and technology, is now ondesign. Design is the key element in modern business strategyand it is still far from being adopted across Indian industryand we tend to look for only functional things so far. It is anextremely competitive market and often what distinguishesproducts and technology is just the design itself. Design isemerging as one of the most critical and in some cases thesole differentiator among competing products and competingofferings. Irrespective of class or technology or category ofproduct and service, integration and adoption of design driveninnovation is imperative for most enterprises. If India has to make

a global mark, then they have to integrate good design with goodinnovation.

Mr Porwal pointed out that while traditionally the focus has beenon scientific and technological innovations, the products that willbring higher returns to the industry, will be those that combinedesign with innovation. Advanced economies have realizedthat it is essential to incorporate good design elements in theirproducts.

The formation National Design Policy 2007, the India DesignCouncil 2009 and the subsequent introduction of the IndiaDesign Mark as a national standard of design excellence areall testaments of the progress towards this direction. Bettersynergies are expected to evolve in future among design andscientific/technological sectors as we move towards adoption anall encompassing a National Innovation Policy.

It is noteworthy that design as a discipline has multifacetedcharacter, intricacies and inter-linkages which are quite oftencomplexed. Design practices can transcend from soft artisticcreativity to hard innovation. It can be a source of competition orcomparative distinction among products and services. Realizingthe dire need for promoting design-based innovation in Indianindustry and increasing its awareness among all stakeholders,

particularly the SMES, was how and why FICCI Design InnovationConclave was conceived. The event aimed to bring togetherindustrial design firms, design experts, corporate leaders,marketers, policy makers and relevant thought leaders in theforum and at the end of which the questions like What policyinitiatives can be taken to combine design and innovation shouldbe addressed.

Innovation Is Now Linked To Growth And EconomicProgress Of The Nation

Neeraj Sharma, Adviser & Head of the Policy Research Cell,Department of Science & Technology, Govt of India, in hisopening address, spoke about Promoting Industrial DesignInnovation in India. He said that in spite of the fact that Design

The emphasis in most business,which was heretofore onscience and technology, is nowon design.


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Innovation was not his domain area, he would however beaddressing industrial design innovation in India as Innovationwill be the key pillar in the policy. The Govt of India is about tobring out the Science Technology & Innovation Policy where hehoped to include deliberations of the forum to explore goodpolicy initiatives and new thoughts. This policy would be more

of a general policy rather than any specifics. He hoped that theforum would come up with a one liner, which would be more of aphilosophical statement and not direct program or activities thatneed to be implemented in future.

Innovation is different from invention. Invention is creatingsomething new; whereas innovation is making incrementalchange or improvement to products or activity or process.Innovation is doing things differently. Innovation is nothingnew and has existed since mankind. Using the example of thewheel, Mr Sharma illustrated that when the wheel was invented,innovations have been continuously been taking place to improve

the efficiency of its function. Innovation is now linked to growthand economic progress of the nation. Today, Innovation hasbecome a buzzword and is now seen as the prime mover for thegrowth and economy development of nations.

Mr Sharma pointed out that it is now important that Innovationbe given the due importance and due recognition in our societyin India, because if one has to move as a nation, growingeconomically, hand in hand with other developed nations,one has to focus and emphasize on Innovation. The ScienceTechnology & Innovation Policy would be brought out, andlaunched by the honorable Prime Minister of India during theIndian Science Congress in early 2013. This policy draws a clear

focus on Innovation. Scientific knowledge converts moneyinto knowledge and innovation converts scientific knowledgeforward into economical and social values. These are thethought processes which policy issues and activities are basedon. Innovation implies a S&T led solutions that are successfullydeployed in economy of society and today innovation hasassumed a centre stage in the developmental goals of thecountry. So the nation should be inline as a country and shouldnot be left out as far as innovation is concerned. Innovation hasalways been there as its a dynamic process. As a nation we havebeen innovating for many years, but now the focus is more onthis innovation policy.

Some key elements in the new Science Technology InnovationPolicy are going to be:

Promoting scientific temper amongst the societyEnhancing application of science amongst the youthMaking careers in science research and innovation attractive for

talented and bright mindsEstablishing world-class infrastructure for R&D. Thus it will not

only be a government initiative but would require the participation ofindustries as well.

Linking science and innovation systems into the course. The growthhas to be an inclusive growth, and any system that is to be developedshould be linked to the said growth.

Facilitating a S&T based high risk innovations through newmechanisms. Design could be one of the new mechanisms that couldcarry forward this innovation.

Combining excellence with relevance. The strong STI policy goalwould be to bring out is a strong and vital science and research andinnovation system for high technology path for India.

Innovation is differentfrom invention. Inventionis creating something new;whereas innovation is makingincremental change orimprovement to products or

activity or process.


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Mr Sharma urged the participants of the Design InnovationConclave to deliberate upon what policy initiatives can beincorporated. As a national policy it acts as a directive for allindustries, all societies and NGOs.

Great Opportunities in the New KnowledgeEconomy

Pradyumna Vyas, Director, National Institute of Design,Ahmedabad, in his keynote address, spoke of the ChangingParadigm in Design Innovation Science & Art of It. He definedInnovation as successful exploration of new ideas. It is theprocess that carries through new products, new services, newways of running or doing business. Innovation and design cannotbe separated. Innovation is an idea in a particular context and thecontext is very important. To create a product, service or system,a vehicle is required; and that vehicle is design. Design is the

process that converts an idea into a tangible product, service orsystem therefore design plays an crucial role in innovation whichconverts into tangibles.

Mr Vyas divided Innovation into 3 categories1. Technology break through which requires tremendous R&D,investments and better ideas.2. Incremental Innovation, making thing cheaper, better, faster ormore convenient3. Future Focus: Understanding society well (people, sensitiveissues, etc)

The paradigm shift that has occurred, according to Mr Vyasfrom manufacturing base (Material & Manufacturing Society) toinformation base (Information or Knowledge Society). Innovationis certainly focusing on better, cheaper, faster, more options andconvenience. Mr Vyas claims that this convenience has turned outto be the biggest enemy. It has given designers the advantage todevelop new products and create induced need in the system andprovide product, service and system that may not be required andpush it in the use it and throw it market. While it has createdconvenience, it has after effects, which are both environmentaland social. While on one hand it has improved the quality of lifebut on the other hand, it has affected the quality of life.

Mr Vyas urged all to rethink the design approach and definedesign thinking in the coming times because of the issuesof environment, issues of inclusive development, issues ofsustainability etc, which can certainly be addressed with design. Itcan be addressed by merging organic, scientific and technologicalapproach where all stake holders come together to co-createsolutions. This multidisciplinary approach where the socialscientist, technocrats, designers, science experts all sit togetherwhere design is not considered as a form of beautification orjust dealing with the superficial but where design begins with aseeding of an idea.

According to Mr Vyas, the paradigm shift, which has occurredfrom the industrial society to information society, and thisknowledge economy, has given us a great opportunity. Theseopportunities which will shape the future certainly, if one looks


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into it in a collective way. And also pave opportunities for manyjobs or many services or many products for the future. Mr Vyaselaborated this by comparing the design scenario in Asia quotingstatistics in China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan and established theneed for India as a nation to catch up.

He began with the examples of two cities; Seoul and Beijing. InSeoul, in a 3 year old survey, recorded 1,600 design companiesand Beijing has 20,000 design companies. There are 10,000designers in Seoul and 250,000 designers helping the economyin Beijing. There exists 15,000 design related patents have beenfiled in Seoul in one year and around 3,000 plus in Beijing. Thereare 80 design schools in Seoul and 112 in Beijing. There are25,000 design students in Seoul studying design and 30,000in Beijing. In just about 30 years, Mr Vyas pointed out that inChina, from 1980 to 2008, the design industry has grown 2,000percent.

Comparing statistics of two countries, that of Japan and Taiwan,Mr Vyas continued to establish the rapid growth of the designindustry. In Japan there are 170,000 designers and in Taiwanthere are 26,000 designers. There are 150 design institutes inJapan and 52 in Taiwan. Considering the population of Japanis 128 million and that of Taiwan is 23 million, the number ofdesign students in Japan is 32,000 and 14,000 in Taiwan. Thenumber of design patents registered per year in Japan is 9,000and 4,000 in Taiwan.

In India, with a population of about 1.2 billion, there are about 30design institutions with about 1,500 design students graduatingper year. Taking into consideration industrial, communication

and environmental designers, there would be only about 10,000in number in the country. India as a nation, Mr Vyas pointed outis way behind in design education and design practice. With thisbackground, the Govt of India has announced 4 new nationaldesign institutes (Jorhat, Kurukshetra, Hyderabad and Bhopal)based on the recommendation of the National Design Policy tobenchmark design education.

India Design Council alongside is focused on design awareness,design education, design promotion, design protection anddesign investment. It aims to establish that design is a soundinvestment for any enterprise as it ensures multifold returns on

it. A major sector that IDC is concentrating on is the micro smalland medium scale industry. This is the second largest employerof the country after agriculture and is also the most vulnerable.There are innumerable entrepreneurs working on productdevelopment depending on their own capability and who requireprofessional approach in improving their products or services.The Govt of India and the Ministry of MSME has made NID a nodalagency to promote design concepts in these sectors.

There is upsurge in design activities in India, but when comparedwith other countries, it is nowhere near the per capita investmentnor the designers in this country and this a definite challenge.The design movement has started in India and the policymakers must take design and innovation seriously to contributeproductively towards the nations economy. Designers need to bean integral part of the nations innovation system and be part ofthe multidisciplinary team that undertakes any project.


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Industry-Academia Collaborations in DesignInnovation

Prof. GG Ray, Head, Industrial Design Centre (IDC), IIT Mumbai,is also an honorary professor at the School of Biotech Engineeringof the institute and a specialist in the field of ergonomic design

and largely contributed in this field through teaching, researchand many prestigious industrial projects. His areas of expertiseare product and consumer ergonomics and design for physicallyhandicapped. He has a large number of publications to his credit,presented both at national and international forums.

Prof Ray, in his theme address, divided his deliberations into2 parts. The first part of the presentation had a wide range ofsuccessful projects from IDC, which integrated technology,education and industry. Projects spanned from Rocket Science,which was not shared because of confidentiality issues toa simple needle for the elderly and simple implements for

construction laborers. He emphasized the importance oftechnology, without which Prof Ray felt neither design norinnovation can succeed. He began by sharing the Indianrupee symbol, which was designed by a PhD Scholar, UdayKumar Dharmalingam whose thesis was on typography andattributed the success to a strong research background. Hedemonstrated a large collaborative team endeavor in the projectIncorporating behavior of people in ATM machines (NCR Group)in collaboration with upper middle scale manufacturer where theteam worked with an existing global technology and adapted andmodified it to a local context. The brief was to design a low costATM machine interface grounded in Indian context and Prof Rayemphasized that the project required a strong understanding ofsociety and human behaviour in design.

Other case studies that was shared were as follows:Integrating work postures in the tablet making machines in

collaboration with upper middle scale manufacturer. The brief was to

design human machine interaction for the tablet producing technology.

Innovation by Design: Learning from Postbox design in collaboration

with middle scale manufacturer.

Stove design inclusive to vision impaired people in collaboration with

electrical engineering small-scale manufacturer.

Walking aid for the elderly in collaboration with electrical

engineering small-scale manufacturer.

Fitness for the elderly interdepartmental collaboration with electrical

engineering department.

Ghemela, a small container used by workers in the construction

industry in collaboration with basic research, small-scale manufacturer

and local blacksmith.

The second part of the presentation highlighted the pros and conof both the industry and the academic arenas and how they needto merge. Prof Ray addressed why industry and academia mustjoin hands by pointing out the following:

Design: A process for improvement in performance/efficiency with

cost reduction.Industry: More concerned about actual deliverables.

Academia: More concerned about the process to arrive at the details

of the deliverables.


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INVOLVEMENT OF THE TWO GROUPS: ACADEMIA & INDUSTRY

*LOW **MEDIUM ***HIGH

THE STATUS TODAY

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE

Academia Industry

Finding a gap in the market ***

Developing a product briefincluding the timeline and cost

***

Understanding therequirements-defining theproduct brief

* **

Understanding the user- Userstudy

***

Design research, stimulationconcept development/evaluation

***

Manufacturing/marketing ** ***

Feedback * ***

Industry: Academia:

Competitive Market Hardly concerned about marketIncomplete product brief Develop complete product brief

Fast time line Slow time line for research

As much cost reduction as possible Cost reduction requires technology

Hardly any investments in research Development & research multi disciplinaryapproach Time consuming

Ill equipped with design understanding Highly equipped with design understanding

Hardly any research mindset Mostly inclined to iteration for perfection,missing time line

Industry: Academia:

Think ahead in terms of future design Think ahead in terms of future technology

Research is essential for survival and taking alead role

Understanding industry requirements andformulate future research direction

Research is exclusive and expensive investment Enroll more research for frontline research

Personnel must have exposure on creatingdesign mindsets

Conduct program on manpower developmentfor industry

Make collaborative approach with academia onconsumer awareness

Join hands with industry on consumerawareness


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Designing Systems of Engagement - TCSPerspective

K Ananth Krishnan, VP & CTO, Tata Consultancy Services, inhis theme address, focused on information technology which hefelt was relevant to the conference because of several factors.

The key factor being size, scale and penetration of informationtechnology today which has reached critical mass. Something like60% of the worlds population today has access to informationtechnology either through the mobile phone or some othertechnology based interface and therefore it is relevant to explorethe role design can play in this revolution.

In the Indian context as well, the IT industry is close to 5% of GDPand it employs almost 2 million people. IT from India has becomea bit of a global brand. When TCS started in 1968, informationtechnology in India was unknown. Software in India meantundergarments and IT was income tax. IT has come a long way

and as an industry it needs to pay more attention to this. The ITover the years, has been designed for a very small and restrictedconsumption audience. This can be understood from the fact thatthe industry itself is probably about 60 years old and computersin the early days were very expensive. It was practically rocketscience to use a computer and very few people had access tothese machines. Functionality was the predominant designelement and the computer had to work in a trustworthy manner.

So for the first 20 to 25 years, the end user had to be an expertin many ways and therefore very little attention needed to bepaid to the right brain aspects of design. Everything had to bethe left-brain, logical, functional, engineering capability that wasthe focus. So much so that design, while it was an integral partof software engineering, had a very special connotation in IT. Itwas a phase which came right after requirements which is whatan end user would articulate and design would turn that into atechnology plan, implemented in the form of a programminglanguage or database. Design would essentially be very functionalregarding what needs to be done rather than what the non-functional characteristics like consumerability, usability etcshould be which was indicative that design was much aboutengineering.

The change that has happened since the personal computer

revolution, in the mid 80s and now with the internet in the90s and the mobility revolution in the last decade means thatthe usage pattern of information technology has changeddramatically. They are no longer designing systems for experts;they are no longer designing for restricted audiences incompanies, government or back offices. They are now designingapplications and systems, which are meant for everybody. Thosewho use mobile phone or tablets or laptops or ATMs or any kindof activity, which is technology-intermediated, would know agood well designed system from a boring ill designed system.When one sees a movie, which has computer-generated imagesone recognizes quality immediately.

The perverseness of consumption is now the frontier, whichhas suddenly made information technology industry realize thatthere is a huge opportunity. Products like the ipad has set the


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bar very high giving rise to questions like what is it that a verywell designed information technology product (hardware andsoftware) can do for customer experience.This change in the Indian IT industry has started happening inthe last 4 years. It is now time to make a mindset change frombuilding systems of record, systems of transactions, which has

been the system for the last 40 to 50 years to building systemsof engagement. The IT systems now need to engage with the enduser in their personal space.

The IT system is no longer used in a very isolated way but whichis integrally part of peoples lives and therefore this is wherethe mindset change has to happen. This means that there isa tremendous need for the predominantly left brain kind ofcapability that the IT industry in India has today which is basedon software engineering, technology skills, programming,databases etc, which built the 100 billion dollar industry andwhich is clearly still required and needs to continue.

But it is equally urgent to engage with the design community.In India its time to think about how is it possible to makethe IT systems an integral part of peoples lives. People willnow be using applications at home, in hospitals, on trains, atpassport offices and so many different areas of usage that it isnow essential on the IT industry to start thinking of systems ofengagement across peoples lives rather than single standalonegood-looking application with some good screens. If there issomething that I would like to highlight as potentially somethinga global advantage teacher leveraging of course the brand ofIndian IT is this junction of IT and frugality.

India has thanks to products like the Nano, which the TataMotors created, Swach the water filter, which TCS and TataChemicals have invented, a surprising brand that India is verygood for frugal innovation. We create products, which are meantfor a very large mass market and are designed extraordinarilywell for cost and ease of production and potentially disruptiveprice points. People are even writing books on this, JugaadInnovation has become a buzz word that a lot of people expectto see in a lot of jugaad innovation in India. People who visit Indiaoften want to drive down the old Delhi Agra Expressway to seeJugaad at work, namely he super modified tractor trailer whichhas got a pump set engine. The combination of Indian IT and

Jugaad/Frugal innovation will give us the leverage to very rapidlybuild the kind of skill that Mr Vyas mentioned.

Europe is well known for a brand in design. In Asia we haveChina Japan and now increasingly have Singapore as emergingbrands in design. In India we are starting off on our journey. Wehave 12 thousand designers in the community; this is where theIndian IT industry was in 1985.

Today the IT industry has into a community of over 2 million. Wehave the opportunity to combine these factors, the brand thatwe have, the information technology and the capability that thistechnology brings to millions of people through mobile phonesand computers. And frugality, a brand that is building up, isgiving us a competitive advantage. This can be achieved throughCo-innovation, which as a business model brings togetherdifferent capabilities and skills from different participants, from


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the industry, the academia and design specialist. TCS is lookingat creating a Global Design Eco System by looking at design as aco-innovation opportunity.

So to summarizeThe role of information technology as an important part of systems

of engagement with very large sections of the population, running intomillions and billions.

Leveraging that opportunity with what the Indian IT industry is today

which has reached certain critical size and mass as a brand. Combining

that with frugality, which is again an opportunity set, which is in a global

context, is relatively unique.

Lastly to use the power of co-innovation to bring these parties

together.

The Rest of the Sessions Included:

Session I: Success by Design Local & Global Case Studies

Chair: Prof. G G Ray, Head, Industrial Design Centre, IIT MumbaiNarendra Ghate, Head-Innovation Labs, TATA ElxsiSuresh Sethi, VP-Global Consumer Design, WhirlpoolRavi Kaushik, Director-Marketing, GE HealthcareRatna Chatterjee, Chief Consultant, Automotive R&D ManagementConsulting

Session II: Unlocking Business Value Through Design BestPractices Practitioners Perspective (Panel Discussion)Moderator: Narendra Ghate, Head-Innovation Labs, TATA ElxsiAmit Kishn Gulati, Managing Director, Incubis Consultants

Manoj Kothari, Director & Principal Strategist, Onio DesignNiladri Mukherji, Founder & CEO, Glue DesignLipika Sud, Principal Designer, Lipika Sud Interiors Pvt. Ltd.Ektaa Aggarwal, Creative Director, Landor AssociatesNeha Modgil, Director, Techved Consulting India Pvt. Ltd.

Session III: Making Difference Through Design Business &Social Innovation Case StudiesChair: Dr. Sumer Singh, Asst. Professor, IDDC, IIT DelhiD D Kapoor, Jt. Managing Director, Korus Engineering SolutionsAnshul Aggarwal, Director-Operations, Design for ChangeAnuj Prasad, Director, Desmania Design

Sudhir Kumar, Director, SKM Design

Expert Address:Aspiration of Indian Design IndustryManoj Kothari, Director & Principal Strategist, Onio Design

Expert Address:Managing Intellectual Property of Product DesignVikrant Rana, Managing Partner-IP Practice, S S Rana & Co.

Forum Objectives

Establish the concept of design as a creative element ofinnovation among industry players

Reinforce the rationale of design as a significant factor of


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competitive distinction in local and global markets

Create industry appreciation for design as an essential tool

for planning and problem-solving

Emphasize the importance of design as an approach to

systems thinking

Advocate and influence policy makers to create progressivedesign policy to spearhead growth of domestic design industry

Encourage public and private investment in design education

and capacity building

Showcase local and global case studies in design-based

innovation

Create a vibrant platform for free flow of ideas and inspiration

among design practitioners, experts and industry leaders

Understand emerging opportunity landscape for design-based

innovation

Assess current business environment for growth of design

industry in India

Learn best practices in design strategy and leadership

Exchange local and global case studies in design excellence

Foster industry-academia partnerships in design projects

Network with design professionals, senior experts and

practitioners

Meet new clients, customers and benefactors

design innovation conclave: integrating design in business strategy, ficci 2012, india

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