MUMBAI, India — NYUCT Design Labs, a venture design and innovation firm, launched the first Hack & the Beanstalk edition with a 5-day hackathon program in collaboration with Mumbai’s Rachana Sansad College of Applied Art and Craft (CAAC), a leading design institute. A curriculum for innovation, design thinking and business-led creativity was designed for the campus and 110 multidisciplinary design students got familiar with these tools to solve the business problem. 11 groups squared off for the winning titles and prizes.
Today businesses and organisations are challenged by out-of-syllabus problems. And these need out of the box solutions that are agile, original and untemplated. This is what Hack & the Beanstalk™, the first of its kind Design & Innovation hackathon does. It solves design problems at scale with young untemplated minds and business-design tools. The problems could be around product, service, experience, brand or go to market.
The first edition of Hack & the Beanstalk saw the students design solutions for a civic brand challenge. How would one reimagine Mumbai to become a leading destination brand for new businesses, startups, talents, and investors. How can Mumbai city uniquely differentiate and sustain itself especially in view of new emergent cities that compete for attention and capital.
In the words of the Principal in Charge, of Rachna Sansad CAAC Dr Prajakta Parvatikar, “The beauty of this collaboration lies in its dual focus on hackathon dynamics and venture design principles. Students aren’t just solving problems; they’re crafting solutions with a strategic and entrepreneurial mindset. It ensures that participants benefit from a holistic blend of academic excellence and business-led creativity.”
Co-Founder, NYUCT Design Labs, Manojeet Bhujabal feels that, “Design and business-led creativity can be unboxed with the right kind of innovative programs and curriculums. It can help businesses with unique solutions to their problems and enable students to become truly entrepreneurial and impactful with their ideas and knowledge. At NYUCT Design Labs, a Venture Design & Innovation firm, we constantly explore innovations and way in which businesses and organisations can use design, agile strategy, and technology to create new ventures, products, and experiences.”
Hack & the Beanstalk addresses multiple concerns of forward-thinking organisations looking for agile and creative business solutions. How does it do it
End to end management for multiple agile solutions
The entire hackathon program and pre-work is managed from end-to-end by professional venture designers. It uses Venture design & innovation tools and a curated curriculum to help solve from concept development to prototype design.
Agile program with time-bound outcomes
Run professionally, the entire duration including pre-work, hacking, prototype solutioning, storyboarding, pitches, and branding typically takes 5 to 6 weeks. An agile program, Hack & the Beanstalk is centred around business and design outcomes.
Learning by doing and growing an innovation culture
This helps organisations create a culture of design thinking and innovation, by giving associates and employees a back-to-school, hands-on experience of design thinking. It is fun with venture design tool kits, props, workshop sessions and design-sprints as one watches young minds hack their problem with amazingly original solutions.
Branding and content for your organisation (on & off campus)
With Hack & the Beanstalk, organisations, businesses, and brands can create their own branded innovation & ideation program on campus while the team of makers and creators at NYUCT Design Labs manage, design and market it for them with a suite of services.
Prototype execution & development with venture designers post-hackathon
As an optional engagement, the venture design team at NYUCT Design Labs helps the client bring to life the shortlisted prototype concepts and scale them for being launch-ready.
There would be more editions of Hack & the Beanstalk and discussions are on with clients and organisations who want to explore this model to solve some of their unique design and product challenges. NYUCT Design Labs also incubates and manages custom design programs for organisations and campuses to solve business and design challenges (depending on academic calendars and on request). For more information, head to https://
