Challenge

Helping entrepreneurs leverage Design Thinking and Agile Innovation to grow in times of a crisis. 

The German Indian Startup Exchange Program (GINSEP) initiated by the German Startups Association and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), aims to strengthen and foster exchange between India and Germany in the startup space and support Indian and German startups in their efforts to gain access to each others markets.

dVan collaborated with GINSEP to offer an introductory workshop on Design thinking and Agile Innovation. Set in the context of COVID-19, the workshop introduced start ups to a simple 4-P framework to assess problems and find low-cost solutions that could boost the companies growth despite the constraints imposed by COVID. 

Challenge

Developing Agile thinking and Strategic planning modules for CII to help business Post Covid-19

Together with Design for Change India, we developed a series of public webinars as well as masterclasses for the Confederation of Indian Industry.

This series of workshops enables MSMEs and start-ups, to develop strategies and tools to deal with challenges brought about by economic, social and technological uncertainty, especially in the aftermath of Covid-19 and innovate to flourish in the new normal

Challenge

How do we help the learning experience of young Opera singers?

The “Neue Stimmen” competition, organised by Bertelsmann Foundation is one of the most prestigious among upcoming opera singers. The Foundation wanted to enhance the learning experience of students.

Having interacted with a large number of opera students, teachers and directors, we realized the uncertainty that the career brings with it, and the dependency on personal network and contacts to be successful.

We created a self-empowerment, community-building tool for opera students - an online application for skill development and personal exchange within the community.

Challenge

Can we make sitting in cars easy for people with limited mobility?

Veigel is a German automobile accessory company that has been creating car accessories to help mobility for disabled people. They wanted to increase their target audience and make the process of sitting into and existing a car easy for anyone with mobility issues. User-research showed us that the motion of entering and exiting a car is rather uncomfortable for a lot of people.

We created a physical device that can help people of various ages, and mobility issues, sit into cars with more comfort without feeling dependent or in need for help. The solution is currently being patented and will be launched in the German market by the end of 2019.

Challenge

What is the future of recipes?

Nestle is the world’s largest food and beverage company. They have more than 2000 brands ranging from global icons to local favorites, and are present in 187 countries worldwide. As an organization, Nestle prioritizes innovation and is a huge believer of Design Thinking.

Given their understanding of the changing food consumption trends, they wanted to redesign the future of recipes. How will people in the years to come think of food? Will it be more functional? Or is food related to deeper experiences in life? The project was a part of the central office headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland.

Members of our team, through a 4-month Design process, created a solution for Nestle.

Challenge

How can the NINEISMINE Campaign continue to support India’s most vulnerable children during the lockdown?

The NINEISMINE campaign grew out of Nelson Mandela’s call to ordinary citizens to keep governments accountable to fulfilling the MDGs. Children in India took upon themselves the task to ensure the fulfillment of Goals 2 and 3 and 4 – all of which refer to children. Pratyek, a non-profit, coordinates a larger network of child rights organisations across India and runs the campaign. The pandemic left their programs which have a high degree of physical outreach and on-ground work in a difficult position. With the lockdown, they needed to think of innovative ways to reach out to the most vulnerable child in their constituencies and support them.

We worked with the team to help them evolve a strategy by leveraging Design thinking and innovative problem solving frameworks.

Challenge

How do we get young entrepreneurs to create first prototypes of their business ideas at a 2-day Paytm Build-for-India Bootcamp?

Paytm through its Build-for-India unit is encouraging young student entrepreneurs to work on promising business ideas. As a part of this effort, they organised a start-up bootcamp to help young leaders create and pitch their business ideas to a group of mentors and investors. As a part of this initiative we worked with a  group of 40 students to help them create a first-level prototype of their business ideas.

Our workshop empowered the entrepreneurs to work with their teams to create testable prototype of their business ideas. Of the 40 participants, nearly half were able to create their first-level prototypes and pitch them further.

Challenge

How might we help our school teachers to integrate creative thinking strategies in their coursework?

Art1st is an organisation committed to developing learning environments that nurture and strengthen imagination, visual literacy, creative skills and cultural awareness of children and educators. Art1st conducted a 2-day Education Summit for CBSE educators to help them leverage art and creative thinking as a powerful medium through which their students can understand themselves and transform the world around us.

We conducted workshops in an Interactive Lab format where through Design Sprints educators were given access to new frameworks that could be used to create course work that integrates art and creative thinking strategies with coursework.