In Mumbai I have visited the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) - a postgraduate design college which is part of the Indian Institute of Technology. In India's emerging socio-economic-cultural scene, the IDC addresses problems at the grass root level, aiming to solve them with design as a tool, emphasizing on addressing the unmet design and communication needs of the community.

The designer in a global economy requires competence to deal with a broad range of challenges thrown up by socio-economic and cultural diversities. This diversity is reflected in the structure of the educational program, the type of research activities and the projects the students and faculty undertake.

Unfortunately during my visit were no students present, since it was term break. But instead I was able to witness the dream vision of various workshop technicians finishing off students' models (in their absence!). The most exotic workshop was the Bamboo Studio, which intends to nurture the bamboo craft to create new (bamboo craft) products, but with industrial discipline and appropriate technologies and therefore retain the cultural heritage and identity of this traditional Indian technique, but still transferring it onto another level.

Another interesting studio was the Innovation Lab, where currently a research and design team (consisting of faculty members, not students) worked on a re-design of the three wheeled bombay rickshaw. These are not the one's pulled by human power, but by motor power, similar to the tuktuk's in Thailand. Only they are not as noisy and much smaller (carrying a max. of 3 passengers). However, they can get a little uncomfortable if you travel with more than two passengers, so the team of designers aims with its re-design to not only provide a new "face" for this vehicle but also to make it slightly bigger and adjustable for various transportation needs. A tricky job since these "auto-rikshaws" are an important icon on Mumbai's streets.

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