March 8, 2025: What Design Can Do's WDCD Live Delhi -- The Countdown to Innovation Starts Now

Attendees can Join Designers, Innovators, and Changemakers in the Heart of South Asia's Creative Revolution

NEW DELHI, March 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The wait is almost over. On March 8, 2025, What Design Can Do (WDCD) is landing in one of South Asia's most exciting cities, New Delhi, bringing together a powerhouse of designers, innovators, and changemakers for a day packed with mind-blowing talks, hands-on workshops, and unforgettable exhibitions. In partnership with Unbox Cultural Futures, Quicksand, and The Design Village, WDCD Live Delhi 2025 will explore innovative and regenerative solutions for a fairer and more resilient future.

WDCD Live Delhi 2025 will focus on global south innovations, circular economies, climate justice, and regenerative design, with themes of community-driven collaboration, rethinking technology, and exploring circular solutions for a regenerative future. Supported by Global Methane Hub, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Netherlands Embassy, and Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, the festival will be held at India Habitat Center, Delhi.

For more details and to register, visit WDCD Live Delhi 2025 Registration.

Richard van der Laken, Co-Founder and Creative Director of What Design Can Do (WDCD), said, "At WDCD, we believe design can lead us out of the crisis we've created, by embracing circularity and frugal innovation. In Delhi, we'll engage the local creative community to explore design's role in regeneration, drawing from nature and traditional practices to rethink materials, energy, and infrastructure. WDCD Live Delhi is about sparking action and optimism, inspiring designers to start creating solutions today, not tomorrow."

"For sustainability to not seem like a trade off, a whole system approach is needed — one that brings together policy, industry, consumers, entrepreneurs and a breed of creatives that can make this change desirable, and more attainable within the everyday realities of people. It requires a mindset shift and that is what we are here to provoke and inspire," said Ayush Chauhan, Co-Founder of Unbox Cultural Futures.

Mridu Sahai Patnaik, Co-Founder of The Design Village, said, "At WDCD Live Delhi, we'll shift focus from the top of the pyramid to the 90% of India. Every challenge is a design challenge, and creators must consider the broader impact of their work. It's time to move beyond decor and have deeper conversations on systems, technology, and social justice."

Key Speakers not to be Missed:

Participants can get ready to hear from some of the world's leading game-changers in design, innovation, and social impact, including:

• Sandeep Virmani (Hunnarshala Foundation)
• Deepali Khanna (Head of The Rockefeller Foundation's Asia Regional Office)
• Shashank Mani (Jagriti Yatra)
• Emma Van Der Leest (Bio Designer)
• Thomas Rau (Architect)
• Carla Fernandez (Fashion Designer)
• Kailash Nadh (Rainmatter Foundation)
• Namita Bhatnagar (Biosoothe)
• Monish Siripurapu (Ant Studio)
• María Conejo (Pussypedia.net)
• Rianne Makkink (WaterSchool)

Some of the Workshops will Include:

• Systems Design Workshop by Sensing Local // Sobia
• Visualizing Climate Impact: Crafting Data-Driven Narratives for Action by Revisual Labs // Gurman Bhatia
• Waste Textile Lab by Femke van Gemert (NL)
• WDCD CHALLENGE DESIGN JAM by Lara Snatager + Mudita Pasari
• Calling all hackers and makers for Climate by Dr. Kit Braybrooke (Swiss)

WDCD Live Delhi Highlights

Attendees can prepare for an action-packed day filled with inspiring and interactive experiences:

• Project Showcase supported by Godrej Design Lab: Participants can check out innovative solutions and frugal innovations tackling some of the world's most pressing climate challenges. Showcases and exhibits fall under the following thematic focus:
  • Super Pollutants: SLCPs Design Responses and Research
  • The Power of Community: Design through Radical Collaboration
  • Rethinking Technology: Bridging Innovation and Tradition
  • Circular Planet: Design for a Regenerative Future
• Exhibitions by WDCD Challenge Winners: Guests can discover WDCD Challenge Winners and their ground-breaking ideas and design-driven innovations.
• Workshops & Labs: Participants can join collaborative sessions where experts and stakeholders tackle climate change, social justice, and more.
• Immersive Experiences: Attendees can engage with thought-provoking sessions led by experts who will challenge them to think differently.
• Talks & Panel Discussions: Participants can be inspired by creatives who are transforming the world with their work.
• Music & Networking: Guests can dive into vibrant networking opportunities and pitch sessions for circular startups to connect with potential investors and partners.

Learn more about the program here.

After Hours at The British Council:

The fun doesn't stop when the sun sets. From 7:00 PM onwards, attendees can experience:

• Nine Earths by D-fuse: An immersive multimedia artwork that explores humanity's demand for the Earth's resources.
• Elsewhere in India by Avinash Kumar & DJ Murthy: An exploration of cultural heritage, digital technology, and speculative futures.

Get Involved — Be Part of the Movement

WDCD Live Delhi 2025 is more than just a festival — it's an opportunity to be part of something bigger, something transformative. Those interested can join WDCD, as they explore how design can build a sustainable, equitable, and resilient future. For more details and to register, visit WDCD Live Delhi Registration.

ABOUT WHAT DESIGN CAN DO

What Design Can Do (WDCD) is an international organization that advocates for design as a tool for social change. Since 2011, we have undertaken numerous activities to promote the role of designers in addressing the world's most pressing societal and environmental issues. WDCD has hosted 15 successful conferences in Amsterdam, São Paulo, and México City. In 2016, WDCD launched an ambitious design challenge programme that engages the creative community with urgent societal issues, such as the well-being of refugees and climate change. To see previous Challenge winners, visit www.whatdesigncando.com/projects/. For more information, visit www.whatdesigncando.com

ABOUT UNBOX CULTURAL FUTURES

Unbox Cultural Futures is a cultural platform that builds community at the intersection of disciplines, to explore new narratives and reimagine India's plural futures. It began as a festival bringing together unlikely like-minds in 2011 and has since grown into a large world of labs, public engagement platforms, research projects, installations, and publications, building collaborative art, design, and tech projects to explore new narratives for cultural enquiry and expression.

ABOUT THE DESIGN VILLAGE

The Design Village is an educational ecosystem for discerning learners, built by globally acknowledged academicians and industry experts, offering a comprehensive and future-oriented design education that prepares leaders who design to transform the world. The village is a metaphor for the design village both in its physicality and philosophy, and the village educates designers the world truly needs, and those the world didn't realise it needed.

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