GUWAHATI: Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) here has taken up an initiative to introduce among trainers and youths of the Northeast the concept of solving problems through design thinking with an eye on promoting entrepreneurship and developing sustainable business models.
As part of the initiative, a programme, “Impact Week” will be organised on the IIE premises here from Wednesday.
Coaches from the German Design Thinking Impact Week have associated with IIE to organize the programme which aims to foster entrepreneurship, innovation and help develop sustainable business models.
The training of trainers will be held from December 12 to 14 while 100 youths will be groomed at a design thinking camp from December 17 to 20, 2018.
“Design thinking is a new concept where we adopt a human centric concept to solve problems. It revolves around a deep interest in developing an understanding of people for whom we are designing products and services. Universities such as Stanford, Harvard and MIT apart from leading brands such as Google and GE have adopted the approach,” Dr Sriparna B. Baruah, head, Centre for Industrial Extension, IIE, told reporters here on Tuesday.
The teachers have been selected from universities and institutions across Assam.
“The idea of training them is to allow them to take the concept to the students of their respective institutions. Besides, 100 youths will be trained in batches where they can develop business ideas in sectors such as health, tourism, rural economy, supply chain, et al,” Dr Baruah said.
Asked about plans to cover other states of the Northeast, she said, “We would require sponsors and government support for reaching out to the other states. So far, Mizoram University has shown interest.”