Bhubaneswar: Indian Institute of technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar in collaboration with the Planning and Convergence Department, Government of Odisha  organized a one-day workshop on “Innovation in Education and Engineering Design – IEED2016” on 5th November, 2016. Design Innovation Centre (DIC) at IIT Bhubaneswar coordinated the event with the prime objective of bringing together the two prime stake holders, namely, the ‘teaching community’ and the ‘policy makers’ to a single platform in order to discuss various aspects of Innovation that can be brought into education in general and particularly in Engineering Design.

Shri R. Gopalakrishnan, Ex-Director, TATA Sons Ltd., graced the occasion as the Chief Guest while Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar presided over the event. The Chief Guest shared his vast experience in the field of innovation and suggested that IIT Bhubaneswar and Government of Odisha should collaboratively introduce an MBA Degree in Design Management. He envisioned this program to have six possible verticals such as Arts & Architecture, Botany & Biology, Digital Robotics & Artificial Intelligence, Neuro Science, Design Engineering and Integration.

While sharing his more than three decades of teaching-learning experience, Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar lucidly explained various innovative approaches in Engineering Design Education that should be followed in order to impart a holistic development of our students.

 Mr R. Balakrishnan, Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha, and Shri. N. K. Nayak, OSD, Planning and Convergence Department, Govt. of Odisha graced the occasion as Guests of Honour for the inaugural ceremony.

The inaugural session was followed by three sessions of brainstorming deliberation. Many eminent speakers like Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar, Prof. B. Gurumoorthy, IISc Bangalore, Dr. Satya P. Dash, Head Strategy, Partnership and Entrepreneurship Development, BIRAC, Mr H. Senapaty, Director NCERT and Prof. K. R. Srivathsan, IIT Bhubaneswar enthralled the audience with their talks and interactive sessions with the participants.

Also, during this workshop the Planning and Convergence Department, Govt. of Odisha offered two Awards under Awards for Innovative Ideas and one Award under Awards for successful innovative proven concept/projects/prototypes.