The Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will inaugurate a nationwide two-and-half-year design clinic scheme on February 17 with the National Institute of Design (NID) as the nodal agency. Administrative centres are likely to come up in New Delhi,Ahmedabad,Kolkata,Bengaluru and Pune,with a secretariat in New Delhi,and a steering committee to implement the scheme. Among others,the ministrys additional secretary,development commissioner and NID Director Professor Pradyumna Vyas will be part of the steering committee. The Design clinic,as a concept,evolved in the NID through its various consultancy projects. Firms will show their products and designers will examine in what aspects they can be bettered. It is more or less like a medical clinic,but with designers instead of doctors, said Shashank Mehta,Product Designer at the NIDs Faculty of Industrial Design. Mehta will also be the chief coordinator once the scheme is implemented. Previous design clinics focused on improving products by making technology more humane. Mehta said: This is the first time in the country that the design community will be able to interact with the SMEs. Bigger firms could always hire designers: something the smaller units could not afford. In 2007,Parliament had approved the scheme as a component of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme with a budget outlay of Rs 50 crore. Under the scheme,interactions will be held nationwide to promote design awareness. After that,need-based assessments will be held,which will culminate in design clinics. The ministry will fund the total cost of the awareness programmes and 60 per cent of the costs incurred for assessment and clinics. Industry associations and cluster bodies will fund the rest. The scheme will target hundreds of clusters identified by the MSME. During its tenure,about 200 such units are expected to be covered with another 5,000 units included in design sensitisation programmes. Awareness about the scheme,after inauguration,will be spread through websites,advertisements and the ministrys district-level offices,Mehta said. He added that registration will be made open for individuals irrespective of whether or not they are staff of design institutes,firms or are self-employed.
