3 min.

Hrridaysh Deshpande, Vice Chancellor

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​​​​​​​Hrridaysh is founder of Design Thinking for Schools website. He is the Vice Chancellor of Ajeenkya D Y Patil University. He is an experienced, enthusiastic, and energetic educator and innovation facilitator. He is passionately committed to innovation, design and education. Hrridaysh has worked extensively for the promotion of design and has served on several committees for design and innovation. A speaker at many prestigious forums, through his work, he has assisted leading companies across a range of industries.​​​​​​

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Alex J Velasco, Associate Professor​​​​​​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Alex is author of the Design Thinking for Schools website and head of the Design Thinking for Schools Centre at Ajeenkya D Y Patil University. Alex is a product design instructor who has been teaching new product development and design processes to undergraduate and graduate students, and professionals for over 25 years. Currently, he is developing a comprehensive programme for teaching design in schools that you can see on the evolving Design Thinking for Schools website. Alex has taught at higher education institutions in the UK, Türkiye, India and Georgia. Alex was an early adopter of the design thinking process, and he experiments with applying creativity techniques, design methods, and innovation processes to developing new products, services and systems.​​​​​​

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Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, the innovation university

Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, Pune has been established under Maharashtra Govt. Act III of 2015 of Government of Maharashtra and is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The University aims to contribute to the creation of an innovation-oriented Indian society by focusing on academic excellence in teaching, research and quality of service. Our purpose is to help transform individuals into the thinkers, dreamers and innovators of tomorrow and we are proud to call ourselves an innovation university. Our programmes are highly experiential and hands-on, coupled with a unique learning experience to explore new ways of generating cutting-edge solutions. The emphasis at ADYPU is always on creating an exciting and charged environment, where a mix of youthful vibrancy with experience & maturity, global viewpoint with local reality, emerging technology with traditional wisdom, and existing knowledge with rebellion and constant questioning will lead students of an exciting and rewarding journey. The School of Design, School of Engineering, School of Law, School of Management, School of Hotel Management, School of Liberal Arts, School of Film & Media, School of IT combined have 79 undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. programmes. Visit www.adypu.edu.in for more information.​​​​​​​