The Institution Innovation Council (IIC) of Ranchi-based Central University of Jharkhand hosted the sessions. Wikimedia Commons
The Institution Innovation Council (IIC) of Ranchi-based Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ) organised an expert talk on ‘Strategies for Innovation and Creativity’ and a workshop on ‘Design Thinking, Critical Thinking and Innovation Design’.
The programme was initiated by Devdas Lata, associate professor of Energy Engineering at CUJ. The welcome address was by Ashish Sachan, associate professor of Life Sciences at CUJ.
R.K. Dey, director, IQAC, CUJ, presented the inaugural address on Day I and Sarang Medhekar, dean of Research and Development at CUJ, on Day II. Medhekar emphasised the role of critical thinking in day-to-day life.
Ashutosh Saxena, professor and dean, Research and Development, CMR Technical Campus, Hyderabad, discussed invention and the role of imagination, creativity, innovative thinking and entrepreneurship in the invention cycle. He spoke about how the cycle of innovation has reduced from years to months and days.
Citing the example of COVID-19, Saxena said the accuracy of the prediction process has evolved since the start of the pandemic. He shed light on patents, discussing four criteria — utility, eligibility, novelty and non-obviousness. He also discussed the procedure, legal requirements, and stages of filing a patent.
Prashant Kumar Jha, former manager-CHR, Essar; former development specialist, Deloitte; and former senior manager, Bank of America; gave a detailed description of design thinking and elaborated on the design thinking processes as given by IDEO and Stanford Design School along with various creative problem-solving models. He also emphasised on the implementation of design thinking in all aspects of life.
Around 80 participants attended the sessions virtually on both days. Both the workshops were conducted on the advice of CUJ vice-chancellor Kshiti Bhusan Das.