S.P. Mandali’s WeSchool brings to India – The MIT India initiative ‘Design, Technology and Social Innovation workshop’

[caption id="attachment_7412" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="The MIT India initiative team and mentors; Chief Guest - Dr Rajan Welukar; S.P. Mandali’s leadership with Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, S.P. Mandali's WeSchool "][/caption]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology India Initiative and S.P. Mandali’s Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development, and Research (WeSchool), India’s leading B-School jointly presents a unique opportunity to Indian students and young professionals to invent new solutions at the MIT India Initiative’s ‘Design, Technology & Social Innovation Workshop 2020’ is being held on WeSchool’s Mumbai campus from 21st to 25th January 2020.

It is the first version of MIT India workshop series assimilating the drive of multiple departments from MIT and Harvard to address local challenges of India.

From 1225 high quality applications, 300 applicants have been shortlisted as participants. These youngsters would work with mentors from MIT and Harvard on solutions for India in areas such as fintech for social good, re-imagining education, community based health solutions, environmental resilience, and social empowerment through music among others.

The participants will go through a design studio experience and technology exposure to prototype functional projects in a span of five days. The workshops will involve an introduction to novel technology, need-finding, ideation and rapid prototyping. The last day of the workshop will culminate in a networking session/ public open-house open to students, colleges and industry professionals to view the projects developed at the workshop.

Addressing at the inaugural, Adv. Shri. S.K. Jain, Chairman, Managing Council and Chairman, College Development Committee, S.P. Mandali said, “The workshop brings together students from various institutes to solve local challenges through design thinking and technology. Innovation centric initiatives of such nature inculcate societal values among the youth thereby sensitising them to be contributors to nature and society at large.”

On this occasion Prof Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool said, “With the advent of technology the world around us has undergone a huge transformation. Inspiring the students to go beyond boundaries and cultures, the workshop would allow 300 participants from across disciplines to think unconventionally to be effective global leaders. We are extremely glad to partner with MIT India Initiative to provide students with a ‘learning by doing’ platform that will create an ecosystem fostering creative exploration of ideas. We believe that this initiative will lead them to a path of being successful business leaders broadening their horizon through the right global exposure. Our aim is to nurture talent, create future-ready innovators and develop global citizens who walk the extra mile in bringing about a positive difference in the society.”

The head of the MIT India Initiative - Mr. Piyush Verma (graduate student at MIT) said, “With the ‘Design, Technology & Social Innovation Workshop,’ we wanted to address local challenges that India faces across sectors and hope to develop creative abilities in students to help them tackle real life problems. We believe that preparing students for the future means having them engage in technology through hands-on activities. The students will work with a team of 30 researchers to get first-hand experience and training from these experts. We are happy to associate with WeSchool to help students learn to develop their Learnability Quotient by leveraging creative power of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through design thinking.”

About The MIT India Initiative: It is a not-for-profit effort of students and alumni from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to delve into pressing problems in novel, challenging contexts, and tackle these with technology and design.

The initiative attempts to foster creative exploration of ideas, social innovation, application-driven education system, and skill-based learning that resonates with the ethos of MIT.