Design is crucial to India’s manufacturing transformation. By 2020 India will need more than 60,000 designers in a 2.47 billion euros market. Progress to enhance design education is not uniform across institutions. Modern convergence of technology, design thinking, user-centred and experience design demand collaborative trans and inter/multi-disciplinary approaches to curriculum evolution. Bonds between industry and HEIs must be strong by growing collaborations for new product development, internships, joint projects and other educational and research activities. This project aims at establishing innovation capacities in the design sector of India through improved education built on transfer of good practices and curriculum content from the EU. It will establish 3 equipped Design & Innovation Centres in local universities. These will provide common ground, with industry, for (a) developing innovative and permanent methods for Research and Design approaches (b) establishing cross-sectoral projects for collaboration and co-learning, (c) establishing Inter-industry projects to facilitate the inclusion of design thinking approaches, (d) deploying extreme affordability principles, (e) developing community-based programs enabling designers, craftsmen and artisans, (f) modernization and internationalization of Indian HEIs by improving product and service design courses, following state of the art methodologies in design thinking, sustainability, social innovation, ethics etc.DESINNO seeks proliferation of similar centres in India and promotion of research and design projects by creating a permanent research innovation and training network and virtual tools. HEIs, researchers, students and industry are expected to benefit the most. The industry will gain access to modern value adding technologies, methodologies and highly trained professionals leading to drastic improvements of Indian Design for the benefit of the economy and society.

Robotics can offer numerous opportunities to a wide range of market domains in a developing country like India, such as manufacturing, agriculture, transport and logistics, space exploration, etc. However, the use of robotics in India has been mainly challenged by the high cost of adoption, lack of accessibility, and the lack of skilled talent in robotics technology. The current project, IRAS-HUB, addresses the lack of skilled talent in robotics technology in India by the establishment of three hubs in robotics and autonomous systems (RAS).Project IRAS-HUB will achieve the following results:1. 3 RAS hubs set up at and equipped with prototyping equipment and robotics software in three Indian HEIs.2. 22 faculties from Indian HEIs will be trained in RAS by reputable researchers and experts from EU HEIs.3. 8 courses in robotics at Indian HEIs will be developed and/or modernized. 4. 1 standardized training program will be developed for the continued learning of working professionals in RAS.5. 3 industry-driven pilot projects in RAS will be developed in India, one in each Indian HEI.6. 220 senior UG and PG students will be taught through the developed and modernized semester-long courses.7. 60 working professionals in RAS from other Indian HEIs and robotics industries will be formally trained in RAS through the developed training program.Project IRAS-HUB envisions to achieve the following impact:1. Development of highly knowledgeable and skilled human resources in RAS in India.2. Promotion of knowledge generation in robotics technology through basic and applied research. 3. Development of robotics technology for problem-solving in diverse sectors of India such as agriculture, transportation, etc.4. Promotion of competencies, capacity building, and training to nurture innovation and start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs in robotics.5. Internationalization and modernization of Indian HEIs by connecting Indian HEI’s with global efforts in robotics education.