Guess who loves Bangalore?

Guess who loves Bangalore?
New INdian Express

BANGALORE: The roads are pot-holed, traffic jams are an inescapable reality and infrastructure requires an overhaul. Yet Bangalore is the city of choice for the National Institute of Design (NID) think-tank.

NID, the country’s foremost design school, has chosen Bangalore for its Research and Development (R&D) facility. Research Group head Dr S Ghosal said, “It’s the first of its kind for design research in India.”

Although NID has been carrying out R&D related work from its office in Rajajinagar since February 2002, the need for an integrated, state-of-the-art facility led to the setting up of the new campus, he said.

“Industries are beginning to realise the need for innovative product design solutions, especially when it involves customer contact. Multipurpose credit cards and voice interaction systems in banks are a few recent examples of design-driven customer solutions,” he said.

Bangalore being the hub of Information Technology (IT) activity, the new centre is likely to focus on research-driven design development for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), IT-enabled systems and e-solutions. However, Dr Ghosal clarified that community-focused initiatives like handloom and textile design research, primary education, healthcare and defense design research will receive equal attention.

The centre has also tied up with institutions like MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, National Institute of Engineering (Mysore), and School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi) to conduct industrial training sessions for students.

Dr Ghosal added that the research centre will support NID alumni who are involved in ongoing research-driven projects. “One of our students has been involved with the development of Hansa 3, a two-seater light training aircraft, at National Aerospace Laboratories in Bangalore. He will eventually join the project as a full-time designer,” he said. Design interventions, he felt, can help solve macro issues like city planning, traffic control and even crime prevention.