Techno India University X Nonlinear
Unlocking Innovation Through Immersive, Hands-On Learning
Design Thinking Workshop
Background & Challenge
Techno India University, one of Eastern India’s prominent academic institutions, has been steadily investing in innovation, entrepreneurship, and emerging technology education. However, the faculty identified a crucial gap: while students were increasingly aware of creative problem-solving as a concept, they lacked structured opportunities to actually practice it.
To bridge this gap, the university partnered with Nonlinear to create an immersive, application-first workshop series. The goal was to build creative confidence through experiential learning, translate abstract innovation frameworks into hands-on tools, and prepare students for careers in fields like technology, design, and entrepreneurship.
Solution
How Nonlinear Added Value
Nonlinear crafted a three-part program that prioritized doing over listening. The sessions blended real-world product insights, gamified activities, and strategic facilitation, ensuring that students walked away not just informed - but empowered to apply what they learned.
Students were introduced to Nonlinear’s “Thinking With Hands” methodology - a highly engaging, hands-on framework that fosters ideation, prototyping, and iteration. Using The Design Thinking Game, a proprietary card-based toolkit, students who had never worked with innovation frameworks before were able to confidently build, test, and present new ideas within a single session.
To reinforce the learning with real-world relevance, Nonlinear guided participants through digital product teardowns of global tech leaders like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Spotify. These sessions helped students understand how successful digital products are built and scaled, and how they could apply those principles to their own ideas.
Recognizing the university’s ambition to prepare students for the future of work, Nonlinear also included a forward-looking session on Gen AI and Web 3.0. Students explored upcoming trends, mapped out potential career paths, and discussed how emerging technologies could shape entrepreneurial opportunities in the years ahead.
Techno India University
Impact Delivered
Students showed high engagement across all sessions, actively building, presenting, and collaborating
Faculty reported a notable improvement in student confidence and creativity, with multiple idea submissions after the workshop
Participants gained hands-on exposure to key frameworks like Design Thinking, Product Thinking, and Lean Innovation
The university established a repeatable, action-based model for innovation learning that can scale across departments and future cohorts
What Techno India University Gained from Nonlinear
By transforming passive awareness into hands-on capability, Nonlinear helped Techno India University move beyond theory and embed a culture of real-world innovation on campus. The workshop series empowered students to think critically, build creatively, and act with purpose - preparing them for the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly evolving world.