“Back in the 1930s, as the Institute was struggling to strengthen its financial situation,” one of the cost-cutting measures proposed was the setting up of a central workshop “to avoid unnecessary duplication of staff and equipment.” (IISc Connect magazine, 2021). It is understood that Professor Sir CV Raman personally spent time at the workshop and wanted it to support indigenisation of design and construction of instruments for studying physics. Over time, this facility became a major resource for supporting research in multiple areas of science and engineering. In 1997, a two-year master’s programme in Product Design and Engineering was started at the department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology (now called Department of Electronic Systems Engineering) and others. This led to the transformation of the central workshop into the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing (CPDM), with Prof TS Mruthyunjaya as its first Chair.
“…Mruthyunjaya…recounts how he became deeply interested in creative engineering design through the lectures of Bernard Roth, a visiting professor from Stanford University, in 1984. A couple of years later, during his sabbatical as Visiting Professor at Ohio State University, he utilized the opportunity to study design methodology in depth and eventually took over the ME Department’s engineering design course in 1988. A final push towards the creation of CPDM came during the ME Department’s golden jubilee year in 1995 when it was hosting the International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME). In a panel discussion, Mruthyunjaya realised the potential of a programme exclusively tailored for studying product design. With inputs from colleagues at the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT, now known as the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering), a master’s programme in product design was launched in 1997.” (IISc Connect magazine, 2021).
A year later (1988), this led to the formation of CPDM, which is one of IISc’s most sought-after departments today. “I envisioned CPDM as a unit where we can train students from diverse backgrounds …because uniformity is not good for creative efforts,” says Mruthyunjaya. He led CPDM from 1998 till his retirement in 2003, with a vision to combine engineering and industrial design and make products that balance functionality, usability, and aesthetics – a need not being met at any premier institute in India. CPDM continues to be true to its mission, with faculty members’ and students’ backgrounds ranging from architecture to all areas of engineering.
During its 25-year journey, CPDM has undergone three, overlapping phases. The first phase involved formation of the MDes programme that championed training of designers as ‘Industrial Design Engineers’, and stabilisation, at CPDM, of the first PhD programme in design in India. Its master’s in design (MDes) programme trains students in a holistic vision of design that embraces all aspects of the product including technology, aesthetics, and usability, and encourages hands-on prototyping to demonstrate the functioning of the complete product. At the time of its introduction, no such programmes existed in India, and very few did in the world.
While design teaching in India, although primarily in aesthetics and human factors, had been around for over three decades before CPDM came into being, formal research into design had been missing all along. IISc at its Centre for Electronic Design and Technology had initiated the first PhD in design in India, in 1995. The baton was passed on to CPDM as the worthy successor, which continues to nurture and grow India’s first design research programme, having already graduated over 65 students. In 2006, to support dissemination of design research, CPDM initiated ICoRD, India’s first international conference series on research into design. This biennial series has firmly established itself as India’s premier design research conference, completing 9th edition in 2023, having published over 1500 papers (in 15 Springer book volumes) since its inception.
The second phase of CPDM’s evolution involved introducing innovation and entrepreneurship into design education at CPDM, and, transforming and expanding the MDes programme to also train students as ‘Innovator-Entrepreneurs’. The addition of the National Design Innovation Network and the Design Innovation Centre Hub (DeSIC) at CPDM, both funded by India’s Ministry of Education (MoE) and led by CPDM, created opportunities for supporting translational research beyond creation of proofs of concept (PoC) developed within the MDes programme. Further, expansion of entrepreneurial support at the Foundation for Science and Innovation Development (FSID – the Innovation Centre of IISc) and formation of a dedicated Technology Business Incubator (CPDMeD TBI) created opportunities for taking the journey further beyond translation, to creation of businesses and startups.
The third phase of evolution of CPDM involved the integration of Industry 4.0 into the MDes curriculum, the introduction of a teaching programme in smart manufacturing, and the expansion of its manufacturing research programme.
Manufacturing had always been an important area of research at CPDM. For instance, some of the major, early R&D work in 3D printing in India were carried out at CPDM, and as early as in 2006, with funding from the Boeing Company, USA, CPDM had initiated research into using virtual reality and haptics to support manufacturing. During 2012-14, CPDM also led an Indo-US Centre of Excellence in Sustainable manufacturing, to research into training future engineers in sustainable design and manufacturing. In 2015, with seed funding from the Boeing Company, USA, CPDM had initiated India’s first Smart Factory. With further funding from the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, CPDM expanded this into a Common Engineering Facility Centre (CEFC) for research into factories of the future. In 2019, in collaboration with IISc’s Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics and Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, CPDM established a Centre of Excellence in additive manufacturing; the programme led to the design, fabrication and testing of one of the first state-of-the-art metal additive manufacturing machines in India. In 2023, in collaboration with Mechanical and Materials Engineering Departments, and with funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, CPDM initiated a Centre of Excellence in hybrid additive manufacturing.
CPDM expanded its footprint substantially in manufacturing in 2019, when in collaboration with eleven departments at IISc, it initiated an MTech programme in smart manufacturing and a research (MTech Research and PhD) programme in advanced manufacturing. The MDes programme also evolved further to incorporate elements of Industry 4.0 in the products and solutions designed as part of its curriculum. Since 2019, CPDM, in collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Studies, India, and Cranfield University, UK, initiated a joint training programme in “Leadership in Defence Manufacturing Technology” for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Government of India. In 2021, to support training of practitioners, CPDM initiated an advanced PG certification programme in “Digital Manufacturing and Industry 4.0”. In the two years since its inception, the programme has already trained over 240 professionals with an average experience of 15 years.
As it celebrates its 25th anniversary, CPDM has firmly established itself as the design and manufacturing face of IISc and continues to serve the country and the world in research, training and practice of design and manufacturing and their education. It has established itself not only as one of the top design schools in the country, but also among the top research-intensive design schools in the world. It has also established itself as a major centre for teaching of and research into innovation. Over 415 students have graduated from its MDes programme, who continue to lead design at major organisations, win prizes in major competitions, and teach design in major schools in India and abroad, while patents, technologies, and startups from CPDM continue to impact the society (see detailed write-up further below).
Summary of Achievements in 25 years
- CPDM has expanded to house 11 Core faculty, 6 Associate faculty, 13 Participating faculty, 5 Adjunct faculty, 1 Guest faculty and 6 Mentors from Practice.
- 25 batches of MDes product design (~415), 3 batches of MTech (~33) and (~65) of PhD graduated.
- 11 faculty research labs created.
- A number of state-of-the-art facilities: workshop, smart factory, VDS Lab, etc.
- First PhD programme in India continues to run at CPDM.
- 50+ Awards and recognitions for faculty and students, 32 best paper awards.
- 65+ Editorships in major journals.
- The total funding received by CPDM faculty over the last ten years is 13046.25 Lakhs, of which 11621.73 Lakhs is from Government, and 1424.52 Lakhs is from Industry (with 10.84% as international funding).
- In the last ten years, faculty of CPDM has produced 1285 publications (790 journal papers, 414 conference papers, 25 books, 56 book chapters).
- 85+ Professional memberships
- In the last 10 years, faculty from CPDM has applied/granted 93 patents (59 from core and 34 from associate faculty members).
- In the last 8 years, CPDM has translated 12 startups.