IIT Roorkee launches Design Innovation Centre to address regional issues

With a view to bring innovation to the ground level and to address the general issues and issues specific to the Himalayan region, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee has launched the Design Innovation Centre (DIC) named Navonmesh with a project outlay of Rs 10 crore.

Funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, the centre aims to address issues of the Himalayan Region using locally available resources as well as to cater to national priorities.

Inaugurating the centre, Director-IIT Roorkee, Ajit K Chaturvedi, said: “The technical/non-technical colleges/institutes and schools can involve themselves in mentoring and supporting innovation and design activities to address general issues and issues specific to the Himalayan region.”

He said this will help Indian farmers develop innovative means and ways to enhance their growth and productivity.

The centre will usher in a new culture among the stakeholders of the state to address the difficulties faced by common people in their daily life. The emphasis is on the development of a design culture and interdisciplinary work. All the infrastructure support will be provided to the centre to make it one of the leading centers, he added.

He also emphasised on exploring the opportunity to take technologies to the farmers through the KVK (Krishi Vikas Kendra) network, developed by partner institute College of Technology and GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology.

The key objective of DIC is to develop innovative designs primarily to address the local issues that need low-cost solutions and to nurture and advance the culture of design and innovation in the region to improve the quality of life.

The DIC aims to produce region-specific products and will support innovative proposals for product development. The DIC has already identified several products like green furniture using the forest waste to be developed under its aegis. Such innovation will help minimise the hazards caused due to forest fire and advanced crop harvester will make the life of the farmers easy.