Innovation By Design

Course Overview

In a world full of challenges and problems that need to be urgently addressed, innovation is what makes it possible to come up with solutions that will benefit the maximum number of users. And such, innovation is often enabled by design. The MOOC ‘Innovation by Design’ familiarizes students with the concept of innovation. It traces the journey of a design idea from the identification of a problem to a final solution that has a positive impact on a large group of users. Through case studies that focus on the “seven concerns of innovation”, the course shows how the innovation process requires empathy, meticulous effort, constant user interaction and effective collaboration.

This course has eight modules. The first module is an introduction to the seven concerns of innovation: the cause, the context, the comprehension, the check, the conception, the crafting and the connection. Each of the seven concerns is taken up for detailed discussion in modules two to eight. The course emphasizes the iterative nature of the innovation process and points out why ideas often fail when they encounter pitfalls at critical points in this process. The course also acquaints students with the ‘collaborative model of innovation’, a concept that captures the kind of teamwork and collaborative effort required at each stage of the design journey. 

About Instructor

Prof. B.K. Chakravarthy teaches Innovation by Design at the Industrial Design Centre (IDC), IIT Bombay. He has set up the Shenoy Innovation Studio at IITB, where students and young designers are given the opportunity to work on live projects and benefit from expertise in a range of interrelated fields. Prof. Chakravarthy works closely with other academics engaged in cutting-edge research at IIT Bombay and has played a key role in translating such research into products that reach the hands of users. ‘A Collaborative Model for New Product Innovation’, an outcome of Prof. Chakravarthy’s doctoral research, has had wide application in the industry. Prof. Chakravarthy has also worked frequently with government departments and occupational communities engaged in essential services.