Akshaya Patra
Akshaya Patra - Contributions towards a sustainable Mid-day Meal program for rural schools in Guwahati
Design Workshop with NTNU, Norway and DoD, IIT Guwahati:
The Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati conducted a three day Ideation Design workshop jointly with the Department of Product Design, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway from 13th April, 2011 to 15th April 2011, on the theme Design and Social responsibility. The workshop was coordinated by Prof. Ravi Mokashi Punekar and Prof. Casper Boks and included 22 student participants from Norway and 20 students from Department of Design, IIT Guwahati.
Students examined the activities of Akashaya Patra Foundation, a Bangalore based NGO to society achieved by organizational change and innovation at grass root level.
‘Product Service System Innovation and Social responsibility’ formed the focus of this workshop on ‘Design and sustainability’. Participating students from the two schools of Design viz. NTNU, Norway and DoD, IIT Guwahati, were split into groups of 4-5 members and were introduced to the activities of Akashaya Patra Foundation by their officials through video presentations and a walkthrough tour of their central kitchen at Guwahati. The student groups then identified a specific design block or a problem area and continued from there on into the different aspects of developing creative and innovative solution to the identified subject/ design/ theme. The importance of innovative design solution is that it can create a significant social impact affecting a large stratum of the society. The outcome of the workshop can be adopted in the existing system if found suitable.
