Given that 2017 saw a lot of startups in India, it is another step forward for the startups of India that The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), teamed with Facebook and WeWork, started a studio called Design4India in Bengaluru on 12th March.
“Catalysing the innovation ecosystem in India,” – is the tagline of Design4India. The initiative intends to bring together design and technology creating an area for startups and designers to research and develop together. Startups and aspiring designers can reach out to each other and mentors for support and advice.
“There are a lot of engineers coming out of India … but not an equal number of designers that would help them design better apps,” The Hindu quoted Satyajeet Singh, head – strategic product partnerships, Asia and South Asia, Facebook, in a media interaction. “And, that is one of the reasons [why] we took this initiative of building a program around inspiring design thinking in India,” said Mr. Singh.
The studio has been built in WeWork, a co-working space that understands the needs of a young crowd of entrepreneurs and designers. The Hindu quoted Mr.Gururaj, a serial entrepreneur, “This is something Facebook and WeWork understand well that to succeed in this new world you need to have ‘design’ built into the process early, it can’t be baked in later.”
Design4India presents several programs such as design dialogues, design studio, design lounge, and design storm, which will be imparted through the studio’s online courses, sessions, and a blog.
NASSCOM claims to have reached out to around 1,468 startups in all sectors and over 11 cities in India. It plans to train over 5,000 design professionals in over 500 companies. “The initiative will create a resilient ecosystem for startups to meet the requirements with the right mentorship involved in the platform” the Entrackr quoted Satyajeet Singh, Head of Strategic Product Partnerships, Asia and South Asia at Facebook.
Last year, NASSCOM and Facebook launched the second edition of Code for the Next Billion (CFNB 2018), a part of the tie-up, NASSCOM and Facebook 10,000 startups. The aim of this tie-up is to provide a boost to the developer community and help India become a hub of digital progress on a global scale. The beginning of this initiative goes back to 2015, when ‘Leaders Building for the Next Billion’ was started.
