With the continuous advancement in technology, machines have become the best man for all & sundry. Be it labor intensive, memory or intelligence, machines have always been known to have held the higher ground. However, there is one specific skill that even the most advanced of computers cannot master, and that is ‘empathy’. Broadly speaking, ‘creativity’ and ‘empathy’ are the two skills that are unique only to living organisms. Therefore, for a man to make his mark in this technocratic era, it is extremely important for him to develop and master these skill.

Dr. Pavan Soni, Founder and Innovation Evangelist, Inflexion Point Consulting conducted a highly enlightening workshop on ‘Design Thinking’ for the 16th Batch of the Biosciences Program. Dr. Soni, through this workshop created an awareness for the significance of empathy in human lives, and also shared his experience on techniques that students can use to further develop an empathetic nature.

Design Thinking is defined as a ‘human-centric’ and a ‘systematic’ approach to solving complex and difficult problems. Dr. Soni’s workshop further emphasizes on the need for students to develop both breadth as well as depth in their respective field, where-in depth denotes technical knowledge and expertise in the field, and breadth denotes empathy and perspective. The interactive design of the workshop provides students with the opportunity to implement and execute techniques learnt in the workshop in a real-life scenario. Over the subsequent weeks, students will be working in teams to identify a recurring problem in the society, and use the Design Thinking process to generate practical and logical solutions.

Most workshops and classes focus on the need to develop technical and subject based knowledge. Therefore, there is a need for specialized courses that allow students to develop breadth in their fields. One can better comprehend the importance of developing a complete approach (i.e. both depth and breadth) through the saying, “while depth can get you a job in the industry, your breadth would get you your promotion”.

The workshop allows students to follow a human-centric approach to create solutions for real-life issues, thereby enabling students to develop a holistic experience during their training at Biocon Academy.

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Written by: Zeshan Hamid Kazi, Biocon KGI Certificate Program in Biosciences, Batch 16