Dear Shashank
I am very glad to learn about your scheme, and I wholeheartedly wish you
full success in implementing it.
Some 20 years ago, at my own personal initiative as a former student
(1970-1971) at the Department of Design at the University of Nairobi
(Kenya), I devised and proposed a similar scheme, at a much lower scale
though. A Canadian resident and citizen (since the last 40 years), I had
succeeded to interest the Canadian government as well as a few Canadian
Design Professors to the eventual implementation, within the University of
Nairobi Design Department (the first Design teaching institution in
sub-Saharan Africa), of a Design incubator/training/consulting scheme in
Kenya. With hope to later on expand the scheme throughout East-Africa and
elsewhere on the continent.
However, after a couple of meetings and correspondence exchange, it seems
my proposal did not fall in well disposed ears at the time, both within the
Kenyan Design Department staff neither within the University of Nairobi
administration. In spite of its seemingly pertinence and the enthusiast
moral support shown by Canadians, my proposal was just dropped by my Kenyan
interlocutors, and without any explanation thus far!
I nonetheless still strongly believe this kind of scheme, originated and
steered within a University or a higher learning Design institution,
tailored and addressed to local or regional micro, small and medium size
manufacturing enterprises, is what is much needed in the so-called
"emerging" societies. Particularly as a training medium both to young
designers at University and vocational Design schools, but also to
enterprise owners and to all those gravitating around the local
manufacturing activity: support private organizations, public policy
makers, promoters, and implementers, and not forgetting local as well as
foreign users of manufactured products. As you say in your blogspot, all
this contributing "to improve products and processes to compete in today’s
markets as well as and importantly, improve the working conditions and
thereby quality of life of the people involved."
I sincerely jubilate at the idea that you'll most probably succeed where I
failed! As long as, however, you personally and the NID institution, don't
rely TOO MUCH on governmental support (National Manufacturing
Competitiveness Programme (NMCP), the office of Development Commissioner,
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India). This
kind of support is conditioned by the actual ruling politicians. But these
can overnight be out of the office or... change their policy!!! I rather
wish you, using the actually available governmental leverage as much and as
often you can, to convince and enrol as many local entrepreneurs as
possible, respectively supported by their associations and financial banks.
These are the real, permanent, and most reliable key to a long lived
success of your scheme.
And finally, please do keep me posted. We never know, the success of your
scheme in India may somehow be emulated somewhere else...
Thanks for sharing the news and best wishes !
Francois
Montreal
On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 12:58 PM, Shashank <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear members,
>
> Replicating and/or scaling up an approach is an emerging design
> opportunity and a design challenge. For the last over two and half years,
> we are implementing here in India one of the unique design intervention
> scheme, the Design Clinic Scheme for MSMEs, for the country's large micro,
> small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs). (www.designclinicsmsme.org)
>
> Design clinic approach of design intervention brings design to the door
> steps of the needy industries where a solution to the existing problem is
> diagnosed and remedial steps suggested by a multi-disciplinary team of
> design experts. The scheme aims to replicate this approach that is tested
> and found to be appropriate to the MSMEs.
>
> With the total budget outlay of about 14 million US$, this ambitious
> scheme financially supported by the Government of India aims to reach out
> to 200 MSME clusters through organising design sensitization seminars,
> design awareness workshops and design projects. Till this date we have
> completed 200 design sensitisation seminars, 85 design awareness programmes
> (workshops) and have received over 200 design project proposals (both
> professional as well as student projects). The scheme has been able to
> create the much needed platform for constant and continuous interaction
> among the MSME units and the designers at local level. Over 1000 designers/
> design firms/ student designers / design institutes and over 200 industry
> associations and 700 MSME units have empaneled with the scheme. (reports of
> the outcomes can be viewed at
> http://www.designclinicsmsme.org/empanelment-media-reports/reports )
>
> Over these years we have developed series of guidelines, formats, criteria
> for implementation of all the three components of the scheme as well as to
> achieve and maintain quality of delivery of each of the three components,
> and we are constantly refining and improving the same based on our
> experiences and feedbacks received. We have also explored variety of
> different approaches to reach out to these industries and to convince them
> of the need and benefits of design.
> Assessment of the project proposals received from such large variety of
> industry sectors and from the designers with varied experiences is one of
> the important challenge being attended at this stage.
>
> I am approaching the members of the group for their reference of similar
> experiences that can be shared to us for the benefit of further improvement
> of the scheme.
>
> (Implementing the Scheme - a Design Opportunity; September 25, 2011;
> http://designclinicsindia.blogspot.in )
>
> Thanking you.
>
> Shashank Mehta
> Project Head, Design Clinic Scheme for MSMEs
> Senior Faculty, Industrial Design
> National Institute of Design
> Ahmedabad, India
> www.shashankmehta.com
>
>
>
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