Design Leads, We Follow – Relentlessly

About the Ahmedabad Design Week

Design needs to be celebrated, for it is a gleaming testimony of the ability of human beings to translate thoughts into patterns which can be understood and forged into applications to further enhance lives of all species. Ahmedabad Design Week (ADW) is a global confluence of designers, thinkers, academicians, researchers, industry captains, and entrepreneurs who discuss, deliberate, and dissect the ‘application of design’ in various industries.

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Started as India Design Confluence and later rebranded to Ahmedabad Design Week, this annual confluence in it glorious journey of five years has impacted the landscape of design and art.
In the ever-evolving world of design, where the mind constantly explores uncharted territories, seeking fresh perspectives and innovative patterns that shape our reality, Ahmedabad Design Week shines as a distinguished & inspiring landmark.

Vision

To be a global beacon for design innovation, fostering a community where creative minds converge to shape the future by pushing the boundaries of thought, perspective, and application.

Mission

To celebrate and elevate the transformative power of design by bringing together designers, thinkers, researchers, and industry leaders to collaborate, inspire, and drive impactful dialogue that enhances lives and redefines industries worldwide.

Our
Workshops

Registration Closed

Collaborative Workshop

Exploring
Pedagogy | Sustainablity | Interaction Design

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Registration Closed

Art Installations

ADW
Installations

Wood Installation

Created by Bram Rouws and Vincent Roy

Wood Installation

Created by Bram Rouws and Vincent Roy

#ADW2020

Other
Attractions

Food Fiesta

Curated by Foodaholics in Ahmedabad

Vintage Car Exhibition

By Gujarat Vintage & Classic Car Club (GVCCC)

Ahmedabad Design Week (ADW) is honoured to collaborate with World Design Organisation (WDO) and Association of Designers of India (ADI) this edition.

The theme of Ahmedabad Design Week 6.0 :- SHARED SIGNATURES

Design has always been a reflection of shared human experiences, where individual creativity converges with a collective purpose to leave an indelible mark on the world.
Ahmedabad Design Week 6.0, themed “Shared Signatures,” celebrates this spirit of collaboration and integration, emphasizing the transformative power of coming together to create designs that transcend boundaries. In an era where interdisciplinary collaboration is redefining the future, “Shared Signatures” highlights how designers, innovators, and thinkers from diverse backgrounds can unite to create lasting imprints—an ethos of co-creation through merging cultures, technologies, ideas and beyond. It will serve as a platform where minds converge, sharing their unique “signatures” to collectively design solutions that are not just innovative but sustainable, inclusive, and timeless.
Ahmedabad Design Week 6.0 invites participants to engage, inspire, and collaborate, leaving behind a shared legacy in the ever-evolving world of design—a testament to what we can achieve when we come together with purpose and passion.
Let’s craft a future where every signature is shared, and every creation tells a story of unity in diversity.

Guest of Honour

Dr. Thomas Garvey

President, World Design Organization

Pradyumna Vyas

President-Elect, World Design Organisation

Resul Pookutty

Indian sound designer

Pradyumna Vyas

Pradyumna Vyas is the current President-Elect for the World Design Organisation, after having served as a Board Member for the last two terms. He is the Senior Advisor of Design Promotion and Innovation at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He was the former Director of National Institute of Design (NID), India’s premier design institute. Prof Vyas acquired a Masters in Industrial Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and was awarded an 'Honorary Master of Arts' degree in 2010 from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, United Kingdom. With more than 36 years of professional and teaching experience in different spheres of design, Prof Vyas had been associated with NID for 30 years, first as a faculty member and later on as the Director of the institute (2009 - 2019). Prof Vyas has been at the helm of design affairs and his illustrious career has been marked with several national and international milestones and accolades. His contribution in the formation India Design Council, 2009, was marked by Prof Vyas being nominated as its first Member Secretary by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, a post he had retained until his retirement from NID in 2019. During his tenure as Director, NID received the status of Institute of National Importance by the Act of Parliament. He assisted the Government of India during the setting up four new NIDs across the length and breadth of the country. Through India Design Council, he launched India Design Mark in association with Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP) on the line of G-Mark. He has been conferred with multiple awards in recognition for his contributions to design education and promotion, to name a few, World Education Congress, 2015, awarded him for his 'Outstanding Contribution to Education'; he was awarded a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' by Times Education Icons 2017 along with being a jury member for the special awards screening panel at Good Design Award (G- Mark) by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, Japan consequently in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. In 2019, he has been awarded the honor of 'Good Design Fellow', by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP), Tokyo. Prof Vyas was appointed as a ‘Distinguished Professor’ of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, China, at the Shanghai Global design Summit, 2019.

Why should ADW be on your “must-attend” list?

🞉 Network and learn from design visionaries, industry leaders and mentors from 21 + countries and more.
🞉 Tailored sessions, workshops, panel discussions and experiences to sharpen your design skills.
🞉 Discover fresh grounds of inspiration, creativity & innovation.
🞉 Dive into emerging trends and real-world applications forging a path toward futuristic learning.
🞉 Be part of a movement that nurtures creativity, amplifies potential and charts the future of design.It is about harnessing Collective Wisdom.

What is in store for you?

🞉 Inspiring Speaker Sessions
🞉 Hands-on Workshops
🞉 Insightful Panel Discussions
🞉 Captivating Studio Exhibitions

🞉 Immersive Art Installations
🞉 Thrilling Design Competitions
🞉 Engaging Design Tours

Mentors

Shri Pradyumna Vyas

President-Elect, World Design Organisation

Dr. Sunil R Parekh

SPoC Sustainability @ Zydus Group and Strategic Advisor @ Jubilant Bhartia Group

Shri Ritesh Hada

President - Karnavati University

Shri Pradyumna Vyas

Dr. Sunil R Parekh

Dr. Sunil R Parekh - Industry Experience: Senior Strategy Advisor with Zydus Life Sciences Group & Jubilant Bhartia Group, and Director in India’s oldest VC Firm-GVFL Ltd, iCreate and several Start-Up Incubators and Angel Funds. Co-founder: TechXchange (India-UK Partnership for Start-Ups), 2016.
48 years of work experience with corporates in India, Africa and the USA.
Delegate & speaker: UNFCCC Conference CoP-27, Egypt, 2022 | TedX | B20; S20 under G20 seminars. Also an empaneled Arbitrator and a fellow of the Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA).
Public Policy Work: Previously consultant at ADB. Current member of several national Industry Associations (CII, FICCI, GCCI, AMA, IDMA, IAN etc)
Awarded in Gujarat & Nationally:
- Outstanding Contribution to National Development OCND Award, 2014
- ‘ET ICON’ - Economic Times Award, 2018
- Power 100 Eminent Personality of Gujarat in 2011 & again in 2014
- Special Invited Member of OAU, Abidjan Meet (Organisation for African Unity, 1993)
- Founding member of Vibrant Gujarat team with then CM Modi, 2002
- D. Litt. Award 2023 by Karnavati University for Global Impact, Innovation and Leadership.
On the boards of several leading NGOs, academic institutions, Think Tanks & educational institutions.
Associated with the World Economic Forum WEF Geneva as a Founding Curator AGS.
Research & Publications: Contributed to the literature on Gujarat’s Industrial Development for Oxford Univ Press Publication OUP and ORF Foundation (a Brookings Affiliate).

Shri Umang Hutheesing

Artist, Designer Revivalist

Mr. Niraj Shah

Design Director and Co-Founding Partner, IDO Design Solutions

Speakers at ADW 6.0

Manish Bhatt

Founder Director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi

Subrata Chakraborty

Art Director (For movies such as Padmaavat, Raazi, Haider, Gangubai Kathiawadi and many more)

Kadambari Misra

Co-Founder - Adira Thoughtful Gifting

Manish Bhatt

Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications Ltd. - the only Indian agency featured AMONGST TOP 16 - The World's Leading Independent Agencies 2015. Scarecrow is one of India's Largest Independent Agencies & one of India's fastest-growing ad agencies which has offices in Mumbai and Delhi and has handled communications of the brands like corporates like ITC, RELIANCE ADAG, RELIANCE INDUSTRIES, EMAMI, ZEE, DANONE, NESTLE, HENKEL, FUTURE GROUP, GENERALI, BARCLAYS, DBS, HOUSING.COM, PANASONIC, VIACOM, ZEE, DHARAMPAL SATYAPAL, BACARDI, RUPA, WAGH BAKRI, RELIGARE, CAPITAL FIRST, SHRIRAM, SBI, BHARAT PETROLEUM etc. Scarecrow had been crowned Agency of the Year at Radio Mirchi Kaan Awards 2014. Scarecrow was voted India's 2nd Happiest Agency Workplace, through a nationwide survey conducted by MONSTER.COM & AFAQS! Manish started his career as a Civil Engineer and has 20 years of experience in advertising. He has had a Creative Partnership with Raghu Bhat for 19 years. He worked at Ogilvy, McCann Erickson, Contract, Ambience Publicis & Bates. He has won over 150 National & 50 International Awards / Finalists. He was ranked No. 2 (in 2006) & No.3 (in 2005) in the “Hottest Creative People from India” list compiled by Campaign Brief Asia Magazine, Australia. He is often invited to be part of the jury team at prestigious award shows like Cannes Lions, Adfest (Pattaya), Goafest (Abby) etc. He was featured amongst 63 prominent Gujaratis in a special list complied by Chitralekha Magazine, along with significant names like Narendra Modi, Ahmed Patel, Ashit Desai, Sanjay Lalbhai, Amit Trivedi etc.

Atul Khola

Lead Product Designer - CRED

Kriti Tula

Creative Director and Founder - DOODLAGE

Devina Kothari

Director, Zuan Labs LLP

Dhisti Desai

Founder and Design Director Pineapple - UX/UI Design Studio

Guest Workshop Masters at ADW 6.0

Gajesh Mitkari

Founder at Modak

Get in touch with us

The
Venue

1) Karnavati University Campus

Adalaj-Uvarsad Road, At.&Po.: Uvarsad,Dist.: Gandhinagar,
PIN: 382422 Gujarat

2) Amdavad ni Gufa

3) Hutheesing Visual Arts Centre

Contact Us

mail@ahmedabaddesignweek.com

Partners

Event
Partners

Industry Partners

Hosted by

Education Partner

Glimpses of Previous editions

Ahmedabad Design Week Previous edition Media Coverage

17 February,2024/The Blunt Times

Ahmedabad Design Week 5.0 :Day-II Concluded On A High Note At Karnavati University With Engaging Discussions And Deliberations

27 January, 2023/The Hindu

New QR code to have colours, will hold more data, says Japanese inventor Hara

26 February, 2022/अमर उजाला

सेना प्रमुख: जहां तक सेना का सवाल, हम जो कुछ भी खरीदते हैं, उसका 85% हिस्सा भारतीय कंपनियों से

Past Speakers

ADW 1.0 ADW 2.0 ADW 3.0 ADW 4.0 IDC ADW 5.0

Peter Knapp

Chairman & Global Creative Director, Landor

Surya Vanka

Founder & Chief Designer, Authentic Design

Rasmus Holscher

CEO & Partner, Holscher Design

Cristhian Salamanca

India-LATAM Business Consultant, Designer and Speaker

Chris Messina

Inventor of #hashtag, Product Designer & Technologist Google I/O & TEDx Speaker

Peter Knapp

Peter Knapp is the Chairman and Global Creative Officer of Landor, a global leader in brand consulting and design. Starting in the London office he subsequently moved to the Hong Kong office for a few years where he had overall responsibility for steering and directing all branding programs in Southeast Asia. Now back in London, he works closely with the global executive team to establish Landor's creative vision. Specializing in integrated branding, he works to merge graphic, 3-D, digital, and engagement platforms to create total customer environments. Through his experience of over 20 years with Landor, he has accumulated a wide spectrum of industry experience in sectors including automotive, petroleum, spirits, financial services, telecommunications, retail and leisure and is widely known for his unparalleled expertise in airline branding. Peter drives successful strategy and design to produce inspired ideas for some of the world's largest global brands. His knowledge of integrated branding and design programs has helped him launch, reposition, and reintroduce hundreds of brands around the world including Adecco Group, BP, British Airways, Etihad Airways, Johnnie Walker, Land Rover, and M&S. He says his trick is to stay open minded and receptive as inspiration can come from any place at any time. He believes that creating conditions that allow creativity to flourish is essential for design and designers. Open discussions, inspiration and a good atmosphere are all vital. Peter would like to follow his passion and rebrand a football club or rebrand NASA. He believes it is important to maintain creative vision while keeping the client involved in the process to deliver original and relevant solutions. He is passionate about football, archery, astronomy and music that helps him create a buffer space from his job.

Surya Vanka

Surya Vanka is a designer, corporate leader, educator and author who has worked at the leading edge of designing physical and digital experiences for over 25 years. He has a broad industry experience including most recently as director of user experience at Microsoft. Surya is a leader in global design, best known for his path breaking work in user experience - creating industry-leading best practices in design. Surya has been an Associate Professor in Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a fellow at the prestigious Centre for Advanced Study. He is the author of two books on design, several publications, and has taught design in more than 20 countries. He is the winner of two Microsoft Engineering Best Practice Awards, a Microsoft Achievement Award, Accessibility Achievement Award, World Brand Congress Leadership Award and several industry recognitions. He has lead businesses to execute fast in ambiguous spaces, while experimenting with methods to harness unused creative capital within teams. At Authentic Design, he developed 'Design Swarms', a collaborative design thinking method that employs simple but powerful visual game boards. Design Swarms became so popular as a method, that workshops have been used in business projects by multiple of the world's leading companies to create innovative solutions for social challenges such as aging with independence, homelessness, the opioid crisis, refugee shelters, waterborne diseases, ocean pollution, and disaster relief. He initiated and was part of the core team that created the DMI Design Value Scorecard. Surya's mission is to unleash the creative thinker in every human to become a value creator. His work has appeared in numerous publications and news programs, including Form, I.D., Design Council, WIRED, Interactions, the BBC and National Public Radio. Surya chaired the hugely successful 50th Anniversary Conference of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in August 2015 in Seattle. Surya lives in Seattle and leads Authentic Design, a consulting practice that provides interaction design, user experience, strategic innovation and design capability development for clients around the world.

Rasmus Holscher

Rasmus Holscher is a Danish architect and designer who is developing solutions that improve, change and shape the future world for people in the public and private space. Rasmus is a Managing Partner at Holscher Design, a Scandinavian design studio that for the past 50 years has been collaborating with a long list of international companies like Phillips, JCDecaux, Geberit, Flos, d line, Coloplast, Royal Copenhagen and CISCO to create spellbinding design solutions. Their multi-disciplinary design team provides consultancy within the whole scope of design- from industrial products, graphics, packaging and interior to branding, digital and service design, to transform the client's vision into solutions that generate a measurable market impact. The solution should fit into the client's portfolio and match the brand. Their projects are often complex, the solutions simple, balancing form and function in equal aesthetic measure. Rasmus specializes in urban design, transportation and the integration of technology in modern cities and is dedicated to working at the intersection of architecture and product design. His designs are future forward, minimalistic with roots in the Scandinavian design tradition. He aspires to create innovative, pleasurable and meaningful products. He believes that solutions based on genuine user insights can empower, enrich and energize both people and brands. By relentlessly pursuing their philosophy since 1960, they have helped clients enhance the quality of life for millions of people globally. Their experience and competence makes them capable of creating value by design- for companies and customers in a large range of fields, such as Smart City, Smart Home, Health/ Well-being, Lighting and many more.

James ‘Jim’ Jeffers

Sr. Director & Sr. Principal Eng., Adv. Rendering & Visualisation Arch., Intel Corp.

Daniela Paredes Fuentes

Co-Founder & Managing Director, Gravity Sketch

Paul Sandip

Industrial Designer, Founder - Paul Studio

Anil Reddy

Founder & Design Director Lollypop Design

Yehuda & Maya Devi

Illustration ArtistCreator of the web comics "One of those days"

James ‘Jim’ Jeffers

Intel Achievement Award winner, Jim Jeffers leads Intel's Advanced Rendering and Visualization Team, developing open source rendering libraries like Embree, OSPRay, Open Image Denoise, and Open SWR used for generating animated movies, special effects, automobile design and scientific visualization working in tandem with companies like Disney and DreamWorks as wells as scientists like Stephen Hawking. Jim joined Intel in 2008 participating in the development of manycore parallel computing and the Intel® Xeon Phi™ product family, including co-authoring 4 Books on manycore parallel programming. He holds multiple patents in the field of video and image insertion and synchronization. His experience includes software design and technical leadership in high performance computing, graphics, digital television, and data communications. He is also a founding board member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Software Foundation. His notable work prior to Intel includes development for the Tech Emmy winning virtual 'First Down Line' technology seen on live American football TV broadcasts. Jim and his team are working closely with the U.S. Department of Energy to build the world's first exascale supercomputer, Aurora for the Argonne National Laboratory. Once completed, Aurora will be capable of an exaflop- that's a quintillion (or a billion billion) floating point calculations per second! Jim is a passionate, results-oriented technology and engineering leader with a unique combination of strategic vision and strong tactical delivery expertise. He has authored and presented on parallel computing hardware and software. Jim's expertise lies in high performance computing (HPC), scientific visualization, parallel computing, graphics and video device drivers, agile product development life cycle, and VoIP telecommunications.

Daniela Paredes Fuentes

Daniela Paredes Fuentes is the co-founder Gravity Sketch- a tool for sketching in 3D using augmented and virtual reality. She leads the development of the user experience in the digital and physical environments. Through user research and embedded analytics, she develops the interactions for the new 3D digital world. Daniela is an experienced innovation designer bridging science, engineering, and design as well as an entrepreneur pushing to turn promising ideas into successful realities. With a focus on finding new growth opportunities and strategic priorities, Daniela is shaping the future of Gravity Sketch. Prior to founding Gravity Sketch, Daniela graduated from The Royal College of Art and Imperial College London with a Masters in Innovation Design Engineering. Gravity Sketch is her university project that has bloomed into a successful business. Upon graduation, she started working as an Innovation Designer at Jaguar Land Rover where she was responsible for developing interiors technology that would combine smart materials and Artificial Intelligence to create alternative experiences for autonomous vehicles. This allowed her to take her graduation project to the next level and realize the true potential of the technology she had developed. Now, her innovation is used by some of the top automotive companies around the world, blockbuster film studios and many enterprising designers looking to expand their creative vision. Apart from being a finalist in the Furroshiki Textile Design Contest, Mexico-Japan, Mexico City (2009), she has been awarded the UK Women in Innovation Award (2019), MUJI Award (2014) and the First Prize at Hiperentrega, Mexico City (2007). Daniela believes her job is to create experiences that will seamlessly and interestingly marry the paradigms of a physical world and its digital counterpart. She is interested in the human aspect of technology and the incredible possibilities our digital identities can bring to future products and services.

Paul Sandip

Paul Sandip is an electrical engineer, cartoonist and a multiple award winning product designer. An alumnus of NID, Ahmedabad, Paul has designed over 300+ iconic everyday objects in 121 product categories for clients across 14 countries. His designs are led by consumer focussed incremental innovation and a refined sense of style. Known for his simplicity and original design thinking, he has been the winner of the prestigious Red Dot Award twice, besides 30 other international and domestic design awards. His work has been extensively featured across the globe in numerous exhibits like the Triennale Museum in Milan, Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt, Red Dot Award Show in Singapore, Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong, Alliance Francaise in New Delhi and in the permanent collection of the Danish Design Museum, Copenhagen since 2009, as an example of Design to improve life. He has been invited by corporations like Apollo Munich, Hewlett-Packard and Dell to deliver his 'Design Thinking Simplified' workshops/ lectures. In 2004, he created the 'Spherical bulb holder' and 'Angular multi-plug' for GM Modular which are iconic best seller designs. Paul is involved in product development at LG Electronics, Whirlpool, Havells, Orient, Syska, Polycab, Bluebird and many others. He has developed medical/ diagnostic devices in association with Public Health Foundation of India. He is a jury member for the India Design Mark. He has spoken at TEDx events in India, been interviewed by NDTV Prime and showcased his works at Rashtrapati Bhawan. He is a mentor and judge for Designathon at Dell. He has been honoured by the Prime Minister of India as a Designpreneur in 2005 and the President of Taiwan in 2010. He is a registered industrial designer with the Government of India under the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme. In 2018, Paul was selected to represent Industrial Design at the India?Italy Tech Leadership Roundtable in the august presence of His Excellency Mr. Giuseppe Conte, the Prime Minister of Italy and Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.

Dr. Reet Aus, Ph.D.

Fashion, Theatre and Film DesignerFounding Partner, Aus Design OÜ

Gaurav Jai Gupta

Textile & Fashion DesignerFounder, Akaaro

Suhasini Paul

Toy Designer and TEDx Speaker

Suhasini Paul

Paul is an Electrical Engineer and a post graduate alumnus of NID, Ahmedabad who has also done Management Program for Women Entrepreneurs (MPWE 2016) from IIM, Bangalore. She designs the surprise toys found inside Kinder Joy for Indian/global market, sport toys for Disney, India and break-time play things for ITC Foods. Suhasini is also credited with creating the strategies for promotional toys and merchandise for one of the most popular Indian animated characters, Chhota Bheem. She is the brains behind many board games for kids produced by FRANK. She is the first toy designer in the country to have her name imprinted on the games designed by her for Indian and global clients. She is the Toy Expert for Indian e-commerce giant Snapdeal since 2015. She has worked extensively on rubber wood toys and school furniture, both in rubber wood and blow moulded plastic. Her core strength lies in taking concepts to reality by connecting the right resources with the right people in her network. Her services as a toy designer are sought after by toy companies in India, China, Thailand, Italy, UK, USA and Germany. She has been honoured by the Prime Minister of India as a Designpreneur in 2005 and President of Taiwan in 2010. She has been featured on the cover of INDULGE Magazine by Indian Express in 2011 and in the Best of FEMINA in 2012. Ms Paul has also been a speaker at TEDx HP Bangalore in 2014 and appears on NDTV chat show, 'Bringing up Baby'. Her toy design process has been documented by Dell in their video series 'Design Circle - The Creative Journey'. In March 2018 her work was showcased at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, for the 14th President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind. As an educator, she is a visiting faculty member and juror at NID and NIFT.

Prof. (Dr.) P. V. Madhusudhan Rao

Head, Department of Design, IIT Delhi

Prof. Sudarshan Khanna and Surabhi Khanna

Designer, Educator, Pioneer-toy research & design (KEYNOTE SPEAKER)

Dadi Pudumjee

Padma Shri recipient; Puppeteer; President, UNIMA (KEYNOTE SPEAKER)

Adrian Light

Director, ONE20 Group Architects

Paul Budnitz

Founder & CEO, Superplastic

Prof. Sudarshan Khanna and Surabhi Khanna

Prof. Sudarshan Khanna is Design Educator. He was the Principal Designer and Chairman of Education & Research at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and Head of Toy Innovation Centre. An internationally acclaimed designer and educator, he has helped establish several new courses and programs, including the Post Graduate Program in Toy & Game Design at NID. He has been Education Development Consultant with Learn Today, the education wing of India Today group. He has authored three books and many articles on toy design, culture and creative education. Over 15 educational TV programs have been made on his work related to toys, design development, culture and education. He has been invited as an expert by institutions in India, South America, Europe and Scandinavia and has conducted numerous workshops for teachers.

He was conferred 1996 National Award for his life time work for design-science among children by Department of Science and Technology. He is recipient of international BRIO Award 2013 for his lifelong contribution for research and innovation for toy design and development in India. Prof. Sudarshan Khanna is the past president of ITRA (International Toy Research Association) and founder Chairperson of “Toys for Tomorrow???- vision-action international forum. Prof. Sudarshan Khanna was the Ravi J Matthai Chair for design and education innovations at National Institute of Design, India. Professor Sudarshan Khanna has been conducting workshops for teachers, trainers & students, relating value of design methods and creativity as part of the innovative learning process.

Surabhi Khanna is a designer, educator. She has a Masters in industrial design from NID, India after graduation in architecture. She is a Faculty at National Institute of Design Haryana (NIDH), Kurukshetra.

Since 2010, she has been working on projects and workshops related to heritage, innovations, culture-based design. Surabhi has developed courses and electives related to playful design concepts for students of design and architecture. She has conducted design & education workshops for teachers, trainers and children at several organizations and schools in India and other countries.

Katerina Kamprani

Architect / Designer

Miguel Wilson

Toy & Product Designer

Johnathon Strebly

President, International Council of Design

Mahendra Chauhan

Head of Design - Watches, Wearables and Accessories, Titan Company Ltd

Anita Savicka

Director, Anita Sondore Inc.

Anita Savicka

Anita Savica is a Latvian jewellery designer and owner and Creative Director of Anita Sondore Ltd.

She is the recipient of many international awards and has showcased her designs globally.

Riga based jewellery designer ANITA SONDORE creates trendy Fine Contemporary Jewellery. All pieces are designed in Latvia, produced in Italy. At the heart of the brand is the distinguished Roman school of jewellery, where the creator of the brand developed her mastery with the Ermini family, as well as with the Parisian brand, Van Cleef & Arpels, Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School, Firenze, Italy. In the Year 2017 Anita advanced her skills by obtaining Master’s Degree in Jewellery Design at Arts Academy of Latvia.

Fine Jewellery created by ANITA SONDORE is bold and beautiful, inspired by the opulence of Northern Europe’s imperial cultural heritage but interpreted with a modern sensibility. Luxury, unique rings, earrings, pendants and necklaces, all handcrafted in 18k gold, enriched with sparkling diamonds, make a powerful statement about the women who wear them.

“My jewellery, in a fairly direct way, tells my own story – it’s a mirror of the time. They are personalities, individuals, living, breathing, ringing, with an idea, with a message from the heart,??? explains Anita.

The key message of the ANITA SONDORE’s brand is – the court painter. Since the past days, court painters have been those that have recorded important historical events, faces and moods. Today, ANITA SONDORE continues to do this- to present today’s people, events, faces and hearts.

Currently ANITA SONDORE jewellery is available at Harvey Nichol’s Luxury Department Store in London, Mozafarian Jewellers’ Boutiques - Dubai, Simonelli studio in Rome, Italy, Grand Hotel Kempinski and Grenardi in Riga as well as private collections all around the world.

Manish Kukreja

President, TAITMA

Dr. Antal Kelle

Artist

Rahul Minda

Head of Product Design and Development – Skillmatics

Devanshi Kejriwal

Creative Director, Skillmatics

Dr. Kristóf Fenyvesi

STEAM Education Researcher, Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä; Experience Workshop Founder, Finland

Manish Kukreja

Manish Kukreja is an Engineer by profession & graduated from BIT Bangalore in 1995 with Honours. He played an important role in the company’s development, when in his first year, he developed 2 products that became an instant success. His product design acumen & production planning carefully helped the company double it’s no of sku’s in 2 years. In 1998, after 3 years of R&D, he successfully introduced the ‘Door Open’ feature in ‘Plastic Toy Cars’ for the first time in the world. Till then, the feature was available only in Metal Toy Cars. When the production base completely shifted from Bombay to Silvassa in 2003, he helped design the layout of the factory & its production process. From using links to nuts, simple solutions were adopted to help innovate new variety & features like moving hands & legs of a cyclist, animals, etc. Min Toy Private Limited was established in 2003 as the main manufacturing unit. MIN standing for: Made in INdia. One of the first to use 3D Printing technology to develop new products, brand Shinsei has led the way in innovation & development. Winning numerous awards for quality & innovation from 1990 till 2019. Constant feedback is taken and improvements are made on a regular basis. One main being the insert wheel production for 90% products, which not only made it safer for kids, but helped increase productivity by over 15%. In early 2020, the company featured in the Top 10 Most Promising Toy Manufacturing Companies in India in the Silicon India Magazine. In 2013, Manish Kukreja was elected as the Hon Secretary of TAITMA, The All India Toy Manufacturer’s Association. TAITMA is the first, oldest and the only Toy Manufacturers Association in India. Since then TAITMA has made tremendous progress. Understanding the importance of communication with the various government departments, Mr. Kukreja made numerous visits to various ministries to establish connections. In 2016, Manish Kukreja was elected as the President of TAITMA, thanks to the tremendous work done as the secretary. His continuous interactions with the government department helped the entire industry tremendously when, through logical reasoning & presentation, GST of games was reduced from 28% to 12%, a huge success for the industry. Similarly, the BIS implementation was handled efficiently. During the pandemic, many industries were on the verge of shutting down as the government stuck to the original BIS implementation dates. Mr. Kukreja gave an extensive presentation with logical argument to the government. An extension for four months based on the arguments given by the government which helped many industries avoid closure. By 2020, the company has over 200 different sku’s, perhaps the largest collection in pull back toys in India. On 5 th November 2020, Min Toy Private Limited received its BOS License for all its products. Mr. Kukreja has been a mentor & guide to many start up companies in toys like Play Panda, etc. He is also a regular consultant to many government bodies & foreign consultancy firms.

Aishwarya Tipnis

Principal Architect, Aishwarya Tipnis Architects and Conservation Planner

Dr. Sanjeeb Kakoty

Associate Professor, IIM Shillong

Fabio Guaricci

Founder, TOY Design

Dr. Mariana Amatullo

President - CUMULUS Association, Vice Provost - The New School, New York

Prof. Lolita Dutta

Associate Director, School of Communication Design, U I D

Dr. Mariana Amatullo

Mariana Amatullo was elected President of Cumulus in June 2019 after serving two consecutive terms of service as a Cumulus board member starting in 2013. Mariana is Vice Provost for Global Strategic Initiatives and Associate Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York. Prior to joining The New School, she co-founded and led the award-winning social innovation department, Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. Mariana brings almost two decades of expertise managing a portfolio of international and national educational projects, research initiatives and publications at the intersection of design, design management and social innovation; her research focuses on the value of design in organizational transformation. Mariana lectures internationally about design and social innovation and serves on a variety of executive and advisory boards in design and the arts. She is the recipient of the inaugural 2012 DELL Social Innovation Award for Outstanding Social Innovation Education; a Salzburg Global Fellow, a Fellow with the Royal Society of the Arts and a Scholar-in-Residence at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Amatullo is the lead editor of LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation (DAP, 2016) she is currently working on a global survey of design for social innovation case studies slated for 2021 publication. Amatullo holds a Ph.D. in Management (Designing Sustainable Systems) from Case Western Reserve University; an M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Southern California, and a Licence en Lettres Degree from the Sorbonne University, Paris, where she also studied Art History at L’Ecole du Louvre. A native of Argentina and the child of a diplomat, Amatullo grew up around the world.

Sanjoy K Roy

Entrepreneur of Arts and MD, Teamwork Arts

Krishan Jagota

Lead, Product Design, Sideways

Colin Giles

Head of Animation & VFX Vancouver Film School

Jared Wade

Senior Vice President, Design Innovation of Hasbro, Inc.

Sonam Gyaltsen

Founder, Echostream

Sanjoy K Roy

Sanjoy K. Roy, an entrepreneur of the arts, is the Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 33 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across 40 cities in countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, including the world’s largest free literary gathering — the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. Roy has received the National Award for Excellence and Best Director for the film Shahjahanabad: The Twilight Years.

He is a founder trustee of Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) working to provide support services for street and working children in the inner city of Delhi where over 55,000 children have benefited from education, training and residential services. In 2011, the White House presented SBT the US President's Committee of Arts and Humanities Award for an International Organisation.

Roy works closely with various industry bodies and Government on policy issues within the Creative Industries and Cultural Sector in India and is a senior office bearer on several committees working on policy infrastructure for the creative industries - he is Co-chair of the Art and Culture Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and former President of Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) and an advisor to the Arts Council of England Diversity board for theatre. He is on the advisory council of various International Agencies, Federations and Universities.

Roy has lectured and works in collaboration with Universities including those of Western Australia, DUT, Brisbane, Monash, University of Chicago, Harvard, MIT Media lab, Admas, Symbiosis, University of Houston, Columbia College, London School of Economics, University of York, Swansea, etc.

In conversation with Prof. Lolita Dutta and Mr. Sanjoy Roy

Prof. (Dr.) Thomas Garvey

Associate Professor, Carleton University, Ottawa and Executive Board Member & Treasurer, WDO

Prof. Sangita Shroff

HoD, Dept. of Design, Nirma University

Siegfried Zoels

Co-Founder & MD, Fördern durch Spielmittel e.V. (Toys for Children’s Rehabilitation)

Philip Royappan

Deputy General Manager (Marketing), FUNSKOOL

Prof. Samir Shukla

Professor, Gujarat University Design Academy

Prof. Sangita Shroff

Prof. Sangita Shroff heads the Department of Design at the Nirma University, Ahmedabad. She is an alumna of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (1976 batch), and has also studied design in London as an UNDP Fellow. Her primary specialisation is Visual Communication with further specialisation in Exhibition and Space Design. She has more than 35 years of experience in design education, research, training and professional design praxis.

Prof. Shroff has diverse professional design work ranging across communications, branding, exhibitions, museums, furniture, interiors, architecture, fashion, accessories, textiles and the Indian craft sector. She has actively worked with industry, central and state governments, UN bodies, NGOs, and craft clusters at the grass-root level. She has been actively involved with design education in India and has been a visiting faculty member at her alma mater and other design and architecture schools. Significant contribution has been in the research and development of curricula for various disciplines. She has been actively teaching several courses and providing leadership and direction to design programs and institutions. Her portfolio has also included faculty development programme.

For over 16 years, Prof. Shroff had held several academic and administrative responsibilities at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Delhi and Gandhinagar. She was the Director of the Indian Institute of Crafts & Design (IICD) Jaipur. Her broad spectrum of experiences and widespread network with the industry, the social sector, practising professionals and academicians across the board is highly valuable for the students and institutions that she has been associated with. Her primary interest is to add value to higher education through an inclusive, culturally centred and contextual mandate.

Philip Royappan

Philip Royappan is an avid marketer with over 21 years of experience primarily in the toy business. During his formative years, he explored rural sales in territories as varied as Rajasthan, Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh. The diverse brands that he handled included Kiwi Shoe Polish, Durex and Confectionary products such as Coffee Bite, Lacto King and Coconut Punch.

Philip’s journey into brand management began way back in 2003, when he joined Funskool, India’s leading toy company, as a Product Manager. Initially, he was in charge of the very popular “Board Games??? portfolio of Funskool and managed iconic products like Monopoly, Game of Life and Jenga. Philip has played a vital role in building the range of toys that Funskool has now – be it striking association with international brands for either license or distribution rights or be it designing and developing Funskool’s own brands. He has been instrumental in building Funskool’s own brands like Giggles and FunDough.

With an unerring focus on new product development, Philip works with a cross functional team to churn over fifty new products every year, across a range of categories from Infants & Pre-school, Games, FunDough , Puzzles etc. He is one of the experts in the Toy industry in India today. He has been pivotal in building Funskool’s distribution with international companies such as Disney, Viacom and Warner Bros.

Philip believes that the most important part of a toy marketer’s job is to keep his/her ears to the ground and understand the latest trends that children follow in a KGOY (Kids Growing Older Younger) environment. He feels this is the most important factor to stay relevant today. After all, the toy business may be fun, but it is surely a very demanding, serious business. Philip’s other interests are Medieval History, Travelling and Books of Fiction.

Dr. Bhawana Vasudeva

Head, Dept. of Architecture, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

Dr. Manish Arora

Assistant Professor, Banaras Hindu University

Shahrukh Mushtaq

Incubation Manager IIEDC (Innovation Incubation Entrepreneurship Development Center), NIT Srinagar

Suhasini Paul

Toy Designer and TEDx Speaker

Dr. Bhawana Vasudeva

Currently serving as Head, Department of Architecture and Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning, Associate Director of Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara (Gujarat, India). she have been teaching and practicing as a freelance architect for the last two decades, completed Ph.D. from CEPT University, Ahmadabad, India, studied Masters of Urban & Rural Planning (M.U.R.P.) at IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India, and Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) at MANIT Bhopal, M.P., India

Dr. Bhawana Vasudeva has over 23 years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level in architecture, and seven years at the postgraduate level (Masters in Urban and Regional Planning, MURP). The teaching experience primarily consists of teaching and evaluation of various architecture and planning courses. I have contributed several research papers in conferences, seminars, symposiums, book chapters, and Journals. I have been regularly involved in various academic administration activities.

She has been engaged in various architectural design and planning consultancy projects which were carried out to achieve energy efficiency, heritage conservation, efficient use of built, semi built and open spaces, well-organized and comfortable interiors, overall face-lifting, redesign of large campuses, and improvement in acoustics and interiors of various built spaces. I have also served in HUDCO (Housing & Urban Development Corporation) where my responsibilities were included the appraisal of different architectural and planning projects, monitoring the progress of building centers that were established to promote cost-effective building construction and technologies. I am a member of the Council of Architecture (COA), Institute of Town Planners, India (ITPI), Indian Institute of Architects Vadodara Chapter(IIA), Acoustical Society of India(ASI), Indian Association for Air Pollution Control(IAAPC).

Manish Bhatt

Founder Director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi

General M M Naravane, PVSM , AVSM , SM, VSM, ADC

Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army

Shri Hari Babu Srivastava

Outstanding Scientist & Director General (TM) and (SAM), DRDO

Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy

Secretary, Dept. of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO

Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, PVSM, UYSM, YSM, VSM (Retd.)

Former Director General Defence Intelligence Agency

Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, PVSM, UYSM, YSM, VSM (Retd.)

Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Yudh Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, was commissioned into 4 RAJPUTANA RIFLES (OUTRAMS) in December 1983. He commanded 15 RAJPUTANA RIFLES. 2. A graduate of Defence Service Staff College, Wellington, he has attended Senior Command Course, Higher Command Course and prestigious National Defence College Course - 53. He has also attended Senior Offrs Course at Centre for Superior Studies of National Defence (CESEDEN) Madrid, Spain and Senior Executives Course on Transnational Security Cooperation at Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. 3. The General Officer has served a total of eight tenures in Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorism Operational areas of which six in Kashmir valley and a tenure each in Jammu region and Manipur in North East. The General Officer has been an Instructor at Infantry School Mhow and abroad. The General Officer has four tenuers in Perspective Planning Directorate and a tenure in Weapon and Equipment Directorate. He has been a Colonel General Staff of an Infantry Division on Western front and Brigadier General Staff of operational active 15 Corps. 4. In addition to normal command and staff assigngment the Generl Officer commnded Rashtriya Rifles in Kashmir Valley, a RAPID Division and distinction of commanding elite 15 Corps during most challenging environment of Pulwama IED blast and Abrogation of Article 370 & 35A. 5. The General officer was Director General Defence Intelligence Agency & Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Intelligence) under the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) till he superannuated from service after more than 38 years on 31 Jan 2022.

Major General M. Indrabalan

Additional Director General, National Cadet Corps, Bihar & Jharkhand

Rear Admiral Rahul Kumar Shrawat, AVSM (Retd.)

Chairman & Executive Director Naval Group India Pvt Ltd, Formerly , Chairman & MD , Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd ( MDL ) and Director General WESEE , Navy

Dr. Sudhir Mishra

Former CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace

Wg Cdr Saurabh Singh Chauhan

Indian Air force

Prahlad Kakar

Founder, Genesis Film Production

Dr. Sudhir Mishra

Dr. Sudhir Mishra is former Distinguished Scientist & Director General (BrahMos), DRDO, Ministry of Defence and CEO&MD, BrahMos Aerospace. He has led highly motivated and technically competent team of Engineers, Scientists and Technicians located at various work centres, successfully developing and delivering the World’s Best Supersonic Cruise Missile to meet the requirement of Indian Armed Forces. Dr. Mishra is a Graduate of Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, M.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Ph.D. from National Institute of Technology, Warangal. He has more than 37 years of R&D experience in the area of missiles technology, production technology, technology management and defence diplomacy. His technical expertise and contribution has resulted in the realisation of several DRDO Missile Programmes. His “Mind to Market” approach has led to design, development, production and product support encompassing complete Product Life Cycle of BrahMos Weapon System. Under his leadership, "Team BrahMos" achieved newer capabilities and versions for Land to Land, Sea to Land and Air to Sea & Land applications. He spearheaded the BrahMos-Air Version programme leading to successful flight test of BrahMos from Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft against Sea and land target. Realisation of BrahMos-A is an historic achievement for India becoming first country in the world to have such unique capability. He has achieved unique distinction of achieving India’s first major weapon export order to Phillippines. He interacted and coordinated with several ministries and PMO to setup procedures, mechanisms and processes for defence exports. He is academician of Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. He is a fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society (UK), Aeronautical Society of India, Institution of Engineers(India), the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), Indian Institution of Production Engineers and Centre for Excellence in Project Management, New Delhi. He is a member of many national and international professional societies. He is awarded with Degree of ‘Doctor of Science’ by Shobhit University, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, People’s University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and Honorary Degree of ‘Doctor of Literature’ from SAGE University, Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He has been awarded with the “DRDO Scientist of the Year Award” by the Prime Minister of India, “Distinguished Alumnus Award-2018” by IIT Madras, Eminent Engineer Award by Institution of Engineers (India), IIM-TATA Gold Medal Award by Indian Institute of Metals, Kolkata, “Madhya Pradesh Gaurav Samman” by Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, “Distinguished Alumni Award” by Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, “Super CEO Award” by The Machinist, Times of India Group, “Vigyan Pratibha Samman” by Council of Science & Technology, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh“, “Life Time Achievement Award” by Sriram College of Engineering & Technology, Jabalpur. He is member of Board of Management of Govind Guru Tribal University, Banswara Rajasthan nominated by Hon’ble Governor of Rajasthan & Chancellor and Member in the Advisory Board of many Academic Institutions, Universities and Societies. He has published several scientific papers and has delivered numerous lectures in National and International Seminars & Conferences.

Harsha Kikkeri

CEO, HoloSuit Pte Ltd

Richard McCallum

Vice Chairman, UK India Business Council

Kshitiz Anand

Associate Vice President, Design, Paytm

Siddhartha Jayakar

Founder & CEO, Labyrinth Cinematic Solutions

Kedar Nimkar

Founder, Audiogyan and Vice President, Design, Jupiter

Bandana Jain

Founder, Sylvn Studio

Dr. R. Shivaraman

Co-founder, Big Bang Boom Solutions

Maxima Basu

Fashion Designer

Prakash Khanzode

Co-Founder & Head of Product Design & Engineering, Onio Design Pvt. Ltd.

Nitin Zihani Choudhary

Production Designer, Art Director and Illustrator.

Dr. R. Shivaraman

Dr. R. Shivaraman, PhD (Nanotechnology – Magnetic Data Storage Devices) is one of the youngest PhD’s in Nanotech in the country. Having completed his Masters in Nanotechnology following his Bachelors (Computer Science), Shiva derives his expertise in a broad range of topics from the time spent in top research facilities such as University of Western Australia, Carnegie Mellon University, SRM University and Bhabha Atomic Research Center. Shiva co-founded Big Bang Boom Solutions, an indigenous defence solution provider and tech integrator. Big Bang Boom’s flagship product is its work on developing robotization and unmanned operations capabilities for the T-series Tanks (T-72 & T-90), India’s Main Battle Tank. Big Bang Boom also works on a BN based Hybrid Chobham Armor for individual use, use of drones for Riot Control, Blockchain for Defense Supply Chain Management, etc. Big Bang Boom in association with LOADs Korea won the DAPA Korea Defence Startup Challenge 2018 with a ground breaking solution to deploy Korean government’s proprietary defence tech to create an unmanned AI based autonomous pollution monitoring platform. After his academic career in which he published over 50 research papers and 2 patents, Shiva started his entrepreneurial journey with Accendere, a Research Incubation startup and spearheaded the Management Consultancy, Research Incubation and New Product Development verticals of Accendere. Accendere successfully established itself as the world’s first research capability augmentation company and counts amongst its client’s prestigious names such as the IITs and IIMs in addition to several other marquee private institutions across the world. Accendere went on the pioneer the WAIN platform to connect the academic research with its users / adapters from the industry creating a platform for funding, co-development and primary research acquisition. The WAIN platform has over 72k researchers and the students from RI’s around the country have managed to publish over 5000 high impact Research Papers and file several patents for indigenous developed technology. The “edtech” startup was incorporated with a capital of $2,000 (broke even in 2 months and 3 days - 63 days from date of incorporation) and the founders successful exited at a valuation of $4million after taking the merged conglomerate CL Educate Limited through a successful IPO (BSE & NSE) in March 2017. Shiva now serves as an investor and advisor for several startups such as • Empower Labs – Launched their flagship Augmented Reality Game ‘Delta T’ with over 70000 players in 150 countries. • Flique Sports – Semi-professional and casual football integrator with a proprietary platform to reengineer football scouting and recruiting mechanisms. • Hoo Food Innovations – A new age foodtech company reinventing ways to deliver and package food which a focus on bringing new cuisines from around the world into Indian consumption routine in a “hip” way. • Portmanteau Food Solutions – A homegrown food startup looking to reinvent traditional south Indian cuisine to international styles. As a researcher and a passionate educationist, Shiva is adept at solution engineering, and nurturing research potential across the country.

Ketan Mehta

Film Director and Founder, Cosmos Maya

Masahiro Hara

Inventor of QR Code and Awarded European Inventor Award

Dr. Greg Autry

Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Policy and Business, Arizonia State University, USA and Former White House Liaison at NASA

David Kusuma

President, World Design Organization

Suraja Kishore

Chief Executive Officer – BBDO India

Dr. Greg Autry

Dr. Greg Autry is a Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Policy and Business in the Thunderbird School of Global Management and an Affiliate Professor with the Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State University. He previously taught technology entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California, strategy, macroeconomics at the University of California at Irvine, and space entrepreneurship in an International Space University program at the Florida Institute of Technology. Dr. Autry served on the 2016 NASA Agency Review Team and as the White House Liaison at NASA. He was nominated to serve as Chief Financial Officer pf NASA in 2020. Dr. Autry currently serves as Chair of the Safety Working Group on the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) at the FAA and as Vice President for Space Development at the National Space Society. Dr. Autry served for many years as Advisor and Senior Economist for the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a non-profit dedicated to reassessing U.S. Trade Policy. He is the coauthor, with Peter Navarro, of the groundbreaking bestseller, Death by China: Confronting the Dragon, a Global Call to Action and producer of the film version, narrated by Martin Sheen. Dr. Autry started his career as a software and network engineer and has founded and managed several businesses in the technology sector. His writings have been published in major news outlets including Foreign Policy, the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal and Space News. Dr. Autry has appeared frequently in major media outlets including the BBC, CNN and NPR. He has published several business case studies set in the commercial space sector through Harvard Business School Publishing. He serves on the editorial review boards of: The New Space Journal and The Journal Space Safety Engineering. Dr. Autry holds a BA from California Polytechnic University at Pomona and an MBA and PhD from the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine.

Suraja Kishore

Suraja believes creativity is the life force that expands our universe. He is passionate about nurturing creative energy to scale brands and business. He loves to work with like-hearted people who value doing good for people and planet as good business. Suraja loves juggling logic & magic, it is evident in his journey first as a copywriter, then as a strategic brand planner followed by leading business and clients. Prior to BBDO, Suraja has worked with McCann Erikson, Publicis and Lowe Lintas, India. He has worked on some iconic campaigns like Ariel #ShareTheLoad for P&G, #WhatAnIdea for Idea telecom, #JaagoRe for TATA Tea and #It’s between you for WhatsApp. Having worked with Unilever, VISA, Marico, P&G, Nestle, Godrej, Tata, Idea Cellular, Citibank, Ford and WhatsApp to name a few he has, over the years, built an enviable reputation in Indian advertising & marketing industry. He has been part of the jury for prestigious advertising & marketing awards such as the MRSI Golden Key Awards 2021, the Women Disruptors Awards, the Lisbon Ad Awards, the Drum's Digital Industries Awards and the Effies’ Awards. Suraja Kishore is the Founder of CCC – Post Graduate Programme in Crafting Creative Communication (CCC) at MICA, India’s most reputed creative programme in copywriting & art direction. He keeps his interest in academics alive as a visiting faculty to a few reputed management schools. ‘Nurture talents to grow business’ is his secret of success. A long-distance runner Suraja finds running meditational and he finds clarity while running that he shares it with the world on Instagram @skrunningthougths. He believes food is edible philosophy and that we are gifted a brand-new life every day.

Honey Bajaj

Co-Founder & Chief Design Officer, Stealth Health-tech). She was awarded Inventor of the Year 2016

Vinita Michael

Founder & Creative Director, Vinita Michael LLC

Yakup Bayrak

System Designer, Entrepreneur

S Sivakumar

Head – Industrial Design , Royal Enﬁeld

Sanjiv Waeerkar

Director, Ice Candy

S Sivakumar

Sivakumar’s work with Royal Enfield has made him famous among the design fraternity. Native of Sikkal, near Tanjore, Sivakumar or CVA, as he is known in the industry, is from a renowned family of temple architects (sthapathis) and also a sculptor by himself. Apart from being an Industrial Design Specialist, he is a proficient Clay-Modeler too. His passion for Engineering and Art has made him to enter the field of Industrial Design. The Designer has worked only with two wheeler companies and has a special love for motorcycles. He believes that ‘Design is all about humanization of relevant technologies’ and at the same time he thinks every designer is responsible to create unique creations, which is possible only by having a great understanding of Rational and Emotional quotients of the society. He played a significant role in converting the business to a hugely successful one at Royal Enfield by establishing and leading an in-house Industrial Design department along with the contribution of some path breaking motorcycle designs in the industry. In the current role he is responsible for complete Industrial Design activities at Royal Enfield Design Studio - Chennai, right from the conversion of business idea to a product concept including Visualization & Digitization phases. Also he supports the realization phases of design and development in which he gets his team coordinated with the Engineering, Sourcing, MSE, Production and all Marketing functions. His department sub functions include Design Styling, CAS, CTG, Art & Modeling teams. He was also the First In-house motorcycle designer at Hero Honda where he established an Industrial design dept. and created a state-of-art design studio then there at Dharuhera. Some of his familiar Design projects that is highly recognized in the market are… Royal Enfield Classic 500 & 350 Royal Enfield Himalayan 410 Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 & 350

Sanjiv Waeerkar

Sanjiv is the Director of Ice candy, a company he started to cater to the increasing demand of creating original Indian content for the media and entertainment space. Sanjiv Waeerkar has been in the Animation Industry for the past 30 years and has a wealth of experience in this business. Sanjiv was a partner with Ronnie Screwvala in UTV Toons, and a pioneer in starting the outsourcing animation Business in India. After a decade of delivering animation TV series projects with the best of producers (Disney, Dreamworks, TV 12 Singapore etc) he moved on to work on the three 3D animation feature films “Arjun the warrior prince”,” Dream blanket “and “Alibaba and 41 thieves.” All produced by UTV toons. Sanjiv has also directed and produced, two TV Animation features titled “Cric X” and “The World champs”. “Cric X” got released on Disney XD in summer 2014. Sanjiv is the creator of “Bunty aur Billy” animation TV series aired on Disney’s channel. This series was co-produced by Ice candy and Toonz entertainment. The same show was titled “Cat vs Keet” on chootoonz channel where it is immensely popular and continues its popularity internationally.Sanjiv is the creator of "Simple Samosa" a show on local food items as chars. its Season 1 got released on Disney in summer 2018. This show is completely produced at Ice candy. Sanjiv is also a founding member of TASI, the most prominent animation body in India. He has been one of the spearheads and front-runner for the animation society of India. He is generally always invited to be a part of the jury for almost all International and National events catering to animation in India.

Kadambari Sahu

Senior Vice President - Design, ValueLabs

Anand Jha

Chief Design Officer, Miko

Sanyukta Shrestha

Designer

Shruti Kamath

Co-Founder & Creative Director, Athlos Activewear

Samir Chabukswar

Founder & CEO at YUJ Designs

Shruti Kamath

Shruti is a co-founder and creative director at Athlos activewear. Her interests are art, design, active lifestyle and everything in its intersectionality. Through her work on brand building and designing functional apparel, she has established foundations for an aspirational activewear brand in India.

With Athlos, Shruti has built a brand from scratch while also heading the apparel design team. Balancing the cross-function between branding and product, the role has enabled creating products with strong personalities while keeping the customer at core of all design thinking.

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ADW Edition 4.0 – 2023

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