ACIIE X Nonlinear
Bringing Design Thinking to the Heart of Campus-Led Innovation
Strategic Collaboration for Innovation Workshops and Startup Enablement
Background & Objective
ACIIE, the incubation and innovation center at Ambedkar University Delhi, plays a vital role in nurturing community-rooted entrepreneurship and social innovation. Designed to serve founders from diverse academic backgrounds, ACIIE actively integrates design thinking, systems thinking, and business fundamentals into its programs. As it looked to strengthen its support for early-stage founders, ACIIE sought partners who could deliver practical, hands-on innovation tools that would make complex startup concepts easy to grasp and apply.
To meet this need, Nonlinear was brought in to design and facilitate a learning experience that would bridge the gap between theory and execution.
Solution
How Nonlinear Added Value
Nonlinear proposed a hybrid engagement that combined interactive workshops and founder-focused mentorship, drawing on its experience working with leading institutions like IITs, DU, and top incubators.
At the center of the session was The Design Thinking Game - Nonlinear’s proprietary card-based toolkit developed after 200+ hours of research. This gamified format allowed participants to identify and reframe user problems, collaborate on idea generation, and navigate ambiguity with a clear structure. The accessible, low-barrier format enabled students and incubatees - regardless of their academic background - to confidently apply design thinking through active participation rather than passive theory.
Beyond the hands-on design thinking session, Nonlinear provided targeted mentorship to ACIIE’s founders. These coaching interactions focused on refining lean business models, understanding product - market fit, and preparing for early-stage go-to-market challenges. The emphasis was on turning classroom learning into tangible startup action - guiding founders toward decisions they could implement immediately.
ACIIE
Impact Delivered
Participants left with a practical, easy-to-use toolkit to apply design thinking in real startup contexts
Founders refined their business models and gained clarity on customer validation and value articulation
ACIIE enhanced its curriculum with repeatable, modular workshop formats tailored for innovation and entrepreneurship
The collaboration brought external strategic perspective into the incubator, strengthening both capacity building and founder outcomes
What ACIIE Gained from Nonlinear
Through this partnership, Nonlinear helped ACIIE take its innovation programming to the next level - blending structure with creativity, and theory with action. By offering gamified learning and strategic mentorship, Nonlinear empowered ACIIE’s students and founders to move from ideas to impact, strengthening the university’s mission of inclusive and practice-led entrepreneurship.