Winners of Autodesk India Design Challenge 2017 to intern with Maruti Suzuki

3D design technology major Autodesk, in partnership with the National Institute of Design (NID) and Maruti Suzuki India, has shortlisted 25 students who now vie for the top three prizes in ‘Indian Design Challenge 2017’, a competition aimed at design-led innovation and to get students to visualise vehicle designs of the future.

The competition, which began in June 2017, is a platform for fulltime students enrolled in Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses at design schools in the country to showcase their ability to create aesthetically pleasing design solutions. The contest has been a good opportunity for students to attain hands-on training from distinguished faculty members and understand the intricacies of modern-day designing. The key criteria to decide the winning teams is based on design objective, technology usage (Fusion 360), creativity and novelty of design, design process and overall presentation.

The challenge has seen students experiment with Autodesk Fusion 360 software to create out-of-the-box design concepts. The grand finale is to be held on December 14 where the top three students get to intern with India’s largest car maker – Maruti Suzuki India – for a six-month period and also win cash prizes (1st prize: Rs 100,000; 2nd prize: Rs 60,000; 3rd prize: Rs 40,000). 

The jury comprises Saurabh Singh, DGM, Design Studio, Maruti Suzuki India, and Rajesh Gogu, exterior design lead, Maruti Suzuki Design Studio.

The design brief had two topics: ‘Personal Mobility Solution for Urban Youth in 2025’ encompassing a compact, multi-use vehicle and ‘Green Vehicle for Year 2025’ for 25- to 30-year-old motorists. The students had to come up with an industrial design solution using, at the very minimum, Autodesk’s Fusion 360 software; they can also use any other Autodesk software for conceptualisation, modelling, detailing and digital prototyping. The entries have to show not only the end product from various views, but also explain the USP of the proposed design and clearly communicate the iconic design elements.

With an aim to foster design skills and drive sustainable innovation, the three partner companies have been working closely with the students, as mentors and jury. The mentoring has been online, 8-12 hours in total over a period of four weeks, and included interactive sessions with experts from NID and Maruti Suzuki.

Facilitating industry-academia connect
Pradeep Nair, managing director, Autodesk India & SAARC, said, “At Autodesk, we believe today’s challenges will be solved by tomorrow’s designers. Aligned with initiatives like Make in India and Startup India, the India Design Challenge encourages the design and creation of innovative solutions leveraging the power of the cloud. We’re delighted to partner with Maruti Suzuki and the National Institute of Design who share our vision of design-led innovation.”

CV Raman, executive director, Engineering at Maruti Suzuki, said, “Industry academia partnership is an integral part of our R&D efforts. It gives us a platform to engage the next- generation youth and capture their aspirations in our products. Today, the automobile industry is aggressively striving towards unleashing the full potential of Industry 4.0 in India. The right skills and right approach towards innovation are an integral part of it. We are glad to partner with Autodesk for the India Design Challenge and provide an experience to the students of how they can redefine the paradigms of innovation by leveraging their creativity and the right technology.”

Pradyumna Vyas, Director, National Institute of Design, said, “Collaboration amongst industry and educational institute is pivotal to bring innovation and out-of-the-box concepts, Autodesk’s cloud-based technology enables and opens up new avenues to quickly realize and build innovative concepts to reality. The competition brief is contextually relevant for near future challenges the next generation will have to address in creative manner. It is quite encouraging to see global technology leaders like Autodesk, putting in so much effort to upskill and reskill the future workforce, the students and make them potential drivers of innovation.”

Here is the list of the top 25 shortlisted designs who vie for the top three winning designs. 

The grand finale is to be held on December 14, 2017 when all 25 shortlisted teams will be called in at NID and the top three winners announced.