Thiruvananthapuram: Seeking to leverage path-breaking design solutions in rebuilding the flood-ravaged Kerala, the state government is organising #DESIGN KERALA SUMMIT on December 11 and 12 in Kochi.
The summit forms the key segment of India’s largest design festival, the six-day ‘Kochi Design Week’, at Bolgatty Convention Centre. The festival, which will be attended by leading design luminaries, architects and decision-makers from around the world, concludes on December 16.
# DESIGN KERALA SUMMIT will have panel discussions, interactive sessions, debates and dialogues centering round designing of a futuristic and sustainable ecosystem for Kerala. Chief Minister Shri Pinarayi Vijayan will address the Summit on December 12.
The event, happening when Kerala is getting into a crucial phase of reconstruction is helmed by the Department of Information Technology, Government of Kerala.
“The event will showcase technology options which can be used during the rebuilding phase as installations so that various stakeholders can experience them. Ideas emerging out of the event will be distributed to relevant departments for their reference,” said M Sivasankar, Electronics-IT Secretary, Government of Kerala, at a press meet here on Tuesday.
“Building on the tempo set by the digital summit # Future held earlier this year, the Kochi Design week is meant for boosting innovative design and solutions in the state and equip it with futuristic technology and architecture to deal with natural calamities more effectively,” Sivasankar added.
Rahul R, MD, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) said that it’s high time KTDC looked beyond traditional models. “We are happy to associate with such events as the design elements could attract more tourists. Future of tourism hinges on these kinds of summits,” he added. KTDC is the official host of this event.
Arun Balachandran, CM’s IT Fellow, was present at the press conference. CERA is the main sponsor of the event.
While the central theme of the meet is “design a sustainable ecosystem for the future”, various sessions will take up for deliberation topics like public infrastructure, technology infrastructure, tourism, handloom uplift and living spaces. Experts from each area will innovate and outline models that ensure a sustainable ecosystem for a better Kerala.
Presentations and deliberations at the conclave will take place in different segments—Design Kerala Summit, Design District, Design Challenge, Design Summer School, workshops and master classes. The Design District will showcase future technology, ecosystems and design concepts. The summer school is being organised in partnership with Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID). The design challenge will comprise a series of competitions.
Key speakers at the meet include John Ferreira (designer and entrepreneur), Cyrus Clarke (designer, architect and researcher), Filippo Cutica (Creative Director, BBC), Momo Miyazaki (IDEO, San Francisco), Srini R Srinivasan (President, World Design Organisation), Manas Karambelkar ( Studio 5B), SD Shibulal (Chairman, HPIC, Kerala and Co-founder Infosys), V K Mathews (Founder and Executive Chairman (IBS), Alok Nandi (Architempo), Jimmy Chion (Idea designer), Siddharth Balachandran (Airbus India Bizlab ), Darly Koshi (former director, National Institute of Design), M Sivasankar (Secretary, IT and Electronics, Kerala) and Prasanth Nair (Deputy Secretary, Government of India, and founder, Compassionate Kerala).
Dr Saji Gopinath (CEO, Kerala Startup Mission), Vinod Nair (former Fashion Editor, Hindustan Times), Rahul R (MD, KTDC), Satheesh Nair and Richard Antony (Ernst and Young), Sunil Sethi (Fashion Design Council of India), Suhas Gopinath (Globus Inc) and Abhimanyu Nohwar (Founder, KIBA) will also speak and make presentations on a wide array of related subjects.
The event will be free for the public to experience the Design District and exhibition area at Bolgatty Island.
