NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) has inked a partnership agreement with social networking site Facebook to build a 'product design initiative’ in the country.
This nation-wide initiative by NASSCOM is aimed at offering focused programmes to build awareness around product design, training on design tools, design lab, awards, design sprints and mentorship.
This will be a flagship programme of the NASSCOM Product Council.
This will aim at supporting over 500 product start-ups on product design.
It will also focus on training over 5,000 product designers in the next two years.
Though the country is at an "inflection point with focus on building technology products and solutions that enable innovation and access," NASSCOM feels there is considerable gap in design focus. "This initiative stems from the need to build design skills that will propel innovative thinking and approaches to build solutions in key sectors where technology can play a transformational role," said a release.
"With this initiative, NASSCOM plans to scale up the focus on product design, and engage young entrepreneurs into becoming problem solvers and solution builders," the released quoted R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, as saying. "The design initiative will aim to build and diffuse a design culture across our ecosystem, link up with academia, recognize outstanding designs, and overall ensure India's software products delivery delightful customer experiences,” the released added.
By joining hands with NASSCOM, Facebook, according to Julie Zhuo, its Vice-President (Product Design), will support and mentor the "design community" in India.
