One of the 5E's articulated by our Prime Minister at the 103rd Indian Science
Congress is "Empathy" (the very first step in Design Thinking).(Click)
He seemed to be echoing what Harvard
Business School is doing right now – i.e., focusing
on design thinking in its leadership teaching courses. According to Prof.
Anthony Mayo, it requires a different kind of leadership skills for driving
change - "What it requires is empathy...and so you have to put yourself in
the shoes of the customer and that can be difficult for leaders because it
requires humility. It requires vulnerability, it requires you to be comfortable
saying I don't know," said Mayo. [Click
here]
Indian establishments need a lot of that to stimulate "Make in
India" in its true sense. See an earlier post titled “[PLMSS-2015]
Design Thinking for Steering PLM Implementation @DRDO [Sat, 26 Dec 2015]”
As part of cooperative federalism and global collaboration, it is
worthwhile to note the NITI Ayog’s suggestion for Research in India through various
“Make in Universities” programs. All these require the leadership in our
scientific, research and industrial establishments to partner with Universities
for pursuing transformational changes rather than transactional changes. Some may find this news report useful: 'Research in India', Contracted Foreign
Defence Firms Told [Tue, 29 Dec 2015, TNIE]. Here is an
excerpt: [Quote] With the aim of
promoting universities as hubs of research, the committee on 'innovation and
entrepreneurship' has recommended steps like encouraging professors to be
stakeholders or partners in entrepreneurial and incubation ecosystems in
universities by offering 'faculty entrepreneurial
fellowships' [Unquote]. These developments also support the ideas in
my previous posts on University-Industry research-interactions around the PLM
Centers of KIIT University and other similar establishments elsewhere in
the country.
Here is a related post w.r.t Indian Science Congress-2010 carrying the
former PM's message on similar lines: Design Thinking in the Upcoming IITs, IIMs, NITs.
Also, here is one excerpt from this editorial titled “Stop
The Circus, Stick to Science” [Sat, 9 Jan 2016, TNIE]. “Disbanding the Indian Science Congress would be like throwing the baby
with the bathwater. Instead, they should refocus on the core purpose and stick
to it.”
When
Harvard has not yet given up on Intelligent Design, it is strange to see controversies
still brewing around science and religion. (Read: Nobel
laureate V Ramakrishnan calls Indian Science Congress a circus. Do you agree?). Here
I assume that “Intelligent Design” is not necessarily limited to promoting the
views of one particular religion. By adhering to the tenets of a pluralistic
society, why can’t we look up and, as DT proponents advocate, consider taking
the “Leaps of Faith”? Related link: Intelligent
cause for academic freedom [Wed, Feb 13, 2008].