The S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, held a Design Thinking Fair on February 20, 2024. The fair showcased innovative solutions from 360 PGP-1 students aimed at addressing the challenges faced by residents in the K-West Ward area which is in Andheri.
The gathering was attended by assistant commissioner of Mumbai Police, P. R. Shinde, along with several BMC officials.
Rishikesh Dutta, a student who worked on a water storage project, said, "This fair helped us grasp the concept and process of finding innovative and practical solutions to problems, which will be useful once we enter the business world. We also understood the concepts of feasible, viable and desirable."
Prototype prepared by the students to tackle water storage issue. | File
Expressing his opinion on the field visit during the research, Kedar Mehta, a student who worked on a project related to household issues, said, "Through practical research, we can provide prototypes for actual problems rather than just perceived ones. It is completely different game when you are on a field visit."
Additionally, Muskan Soni, another student who worked on a water management project emphasised that field work is important to understand the problems firsthand and find viable solutions.
"Through this fair, I learned that we have to cater to the needs of the people, keep the cost low, and provide solutions that are acceptable to society," she said.
Prototype prepared by the students to tackle household storage issue. | File
The students were asked to create a prototype to address a problem within one of the eight design thinking categories namely Education, Home, Empowerment, Safety, Water, Waste Management, Health, and Wellness.
Ronak Adak, a student who worked on a waste management project highlighted the challenges faced during the research when coming up with a prototype like making it usable, cost effective, finding out the real problem and more.
He said, "We needed to visit several places to understand the majority of the problems faced by the community. We had to think all of our steps through and overcome the challenges which took most of our time."
Prof. Suranjan Das, who oversees the event and teaches design thinking and innovation, spoke to the Free Press Journal about the fair, which was conducted for the first time for the design thinking course adopted by the institute in 2015.
Das shared, "To understand a skill, there has to be relevance in the study, and it can only come when you apply yourself. This fair is a means to get students to go on field and see for themselves how things actually work."
The fair organised at the Bhavan's Campus, Mumbai. | File
Furthermore, Das revealed that the students received support during their research, such as sessions, a LEGO kit, materials, mentors, discussions, a lab, and more to help them overcome the challenges.
He also shared the students' experiences and the challenges that they encountered during the project. He mentioned that these challenges, including knowing what to ask, being sensitive when questioning, choosing the right people to talk to, and handling different situations, contributed to their learning and understanding of the design thinking process.
Discussing the students' efforts, Das shared that in the last one month, the students remained at the institution until 10:30 or 11:00 pm to come up with solutions and have shown enthusiasm towards their projects.
Moreover, Das expressed surprise at the unexpected success of the event and indicated that, despite the difficulties, there are plans to organize it again in the future.
