Responsible Production and Consumption is Vital for Sustainability

[caption id="attachment_6420" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="World Industrial Design Day 2017 _a conclave on 'Sustainable Design' at WeSchool"][/caption]

Responsible Production and Consumption is Vital for Sustainability

The Manifesto for Sustainable Design Practices Emerges at the Designers And Innovators Meet on World Industrial Design Day at WeSchool

Design is no longer perceived as an aesthetic aspect of a product that brings to mind a myriad of colors, textures and patterns, and Business Design as a discipline holds a larger picture as its vision. A league of business design professionals have been working on how a finite change in patterns of process design could reduce carbon footprint and increase energy efficiency across the globe . In keeping with the global spirit, corporate chiefs, educationists and design professionals deliberated upon how businesses are linked to 'sustainability' as the objective ,at the panel discussion held at S.P. Mandali's Prin L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) on the occasion of World Industrial Design Day 2017. With Design Thinking taking center stage in all the academic endeavors at WeSchool, it is the only B school in India that is the member of the World Design Organization (WDO).

A galaxy of eminent speakers that included Ms. Tamar Akov, Industrial Designer and Teacher of Sustainable Design, Avni Institute of Art and Design and ORT; Shri B. V. Upadhye, Advisor, Bank of India ; Shri. Cajetan Pinto, VP, Global R&D Head, ABB; Shri. M.V.Ashok, CGM, Department of Economic Analysis & Research, NABARD; Ms. Anjali Parasnis, Associate Director, TERI, Western Regional Centre (WRC); Shri. Naresh Patil, Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group; Shri. Jitendra Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, SAI-Sustainable Agro and Shri. Sudhir Sharma, CEO, Indi Design, Editor, Pool Magazine, shared insights, experiences and real life case studies on sustainable design with a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goal #12: Responsible Consumption & Production from their respective organizations.

While Shri. M. V. Ashok, CGM, Department of Economic Analysis & Research, NABARD, presented the efforts undertaken for sustainable development across Indian states through watershed development program, self-help groups in villages and so on, Ms. Tamar Akov, Industrial Designer and Teacher of Sustainable Design, Avni Institute of Art and Design and ORT, showcased Israel ,the tiny middle eastern country’s strong efforts towards sustainability through cutting-edge technologies to recycle tires, environmental packaging to improve shelf-life of fresh produce, extensive solar panel usage, waste-water treatment plants and so on . Ms. Anjali Parasnis, Associate Director, TERI, Western Regional Centre (WRC), stressed the need to bring change in our mindsets and take steps to design our thinking and approach in order to bring farming to the city, Shri Jitendra Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, SAI-Sustainable Agro from the backward tribal belts of Odisha,unfolded the success stories of how the NGO was transforming the lives of the marginalized people by creating sustainable livelihood options through a combination of agro-forestry and farming.

While addressing the august gathering , Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool said, “At WeSchool, we firmly believe that design thinking has to be the core fabric to make a better tomorrow. There is a speedy transformation by #Industry4.0 with new technologies disrupting every sector in the world. It is imperative for us to keep our focus on the sustainable growth aspect of this dynamic change. As one of the leading B-school, we believe that we have a larger role to play and have been undertaking significant steps towards creating awareness and finding solutions to all the challenges towards achieving sustainable growth.”

As the views began to emerge on green banking, efforts of the hotel industry on sustainability, motors focused on reducing harmful emissions, sustainable agriculture, increased use of new sources of ‘clean’ energy, it was clear the ‘sustainable design’ is the key to developing new technologies to create more environmentally responsible products and product life cycles that can influence the behavior and choices of consumers, with larger consequences for the whole world.

Keeping the industry’s current needs and future trends in mind, ‘Design Thinking ‘ is a unique concept introduced in each of WeSchool’s academic programs that nurtures its students as thought leaders and practitioners. It is the first B-school in the country to have set up INNOWE –the Innovation lab at Mumbai and Prototype lab at Bengaluru campus. WeSchool has collaborated with leading international institutions such as MIT Media Lab, Stanford D School, IDEO, Rotman School ,WDO and many others to create opportunities to learn and be inspired by thought leaders from across the world. Firmly keeping in view its role as a collaborator and contributor to the philosophy of sustainable development that WeSchool has adopted reflects in many other measures taken to make its campus eco-friendly. These include installation of solar panels at hostels, recycling of grey water, minimization of packaged water bottles, discontinuation of offering floral tributes to guests at functions, and many others. As a manifestation of its commitment to sustainability through environment protection, WeSchool is the first B school to set up a Bio-Gas Unit (FOV biogas) at its campus in Mumbai that enables the institute to manage the solid waste at source in an efficient manner and bring in reduction in the usage of LPG gas cylinders.