Programme

PGPX

Term

V

Academic Year

2021-22

Course title

CINE: Connecting Communities and Corporations for Frugal Innovations

Area

Centre for Management in Agriculture

Credits

0.75

Instructor(s)

Prof. Anil Gupta (VF)

Pedagogy

The course will encourage participants to look at the knowledge systems from a multi-cultural perspective so that the dynamics of dissent and diversity can be understood properly. The purpose of an innovative organisation or a society is not only to expand the choices but also elongate the time frame of decision-making. Sustainability is not possible if the time frame is short and the decisionmaking horizon is narrow.  The pedagogy of the course will involve encounters with innovators/entrepreneurs at grassroots as well as in high tech sectors, service spaces, cultural economy, and generating businesses through entrepreneurial workshops. But all this will rest completely on the initiatives of students. Shallower you dig, lesser surprises you get. Do we really live the day when we have not been surprised? Profile: Each participant will interview and write the story of a social, economic, institutional or policy linked enterprise in India or abroad which involves significant creative element and innovative approach. Such profiles will require pooling of the background information interview with the entrepreneur and the team members and in case some clients have already been served, then interaction with them. We should also look at other models in the same domain and try to identify the distinctive features of each. There are three sets of audiences for which recommendations must follow: One the entrepreneur, second the policy makers and third the support organisations which provide early stage finance and/or design, mentoring, networking and logistical support. The students are encouraged to set up real innovative companies / ventures for which some seed money will be provided by the faculty/ and or third party students or social investors to trigger real outcomes if needed. Technological innovation based enterprises will be preferred though other social, cultural and economic enterprises based on innovative structures or processes are also welcome. The course will undergo final layout in the hands of participants in the true tradition of user defined and user based innovation models. All projects and reviews will be put up on the CINE blog http://cineiima.blogspot.com/ or a new site can be created by the course participants. Projects: Those students who do not want to set up entrepreneurial ventures can take up a project highlighting unusual aspects of creativity, innovations or public policies or private initiatives for supporting start-ups in different parts of the world.  Specific chapters or sections of different books will be suggested in class.Some of the readings will make more sense after the class.