For centuries, universities have been synonymous with knowledge and learning. However, in today’s rapidly evolving world, they must go beyond traditional academia and become hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship. This transformation is not just an option—it is an imperative. Global markets are transforming at an unprecedented pace, and organisations that fail to innovate can quickly become outdated. A compelling statistic from a UK-based AI competitive intelligence platform highlights that more than half of Fortune 500 companies from 2003 no longer exist. The reasons include failure to innovate, weak strategy, slow adaptability, misaligned marketing, dysfunctional corporate culture, and compromised product or service quality. At the core of these challenges lies the absence of design thinking—a human-centred, problem-solving approach that emphasises empathy, experimentation, and iteration.

The role of universities in innovation

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Innovation takes two primary forms – evolutionary and revolutionary. Evolutionary innovation focuses on incremental improvements to existing processes and products, while revolutionary innovation redefines entire industries with ground-breaking ideas. Universities play a pivotal role in fostering both. They can drive evolutionary innovation through applied research, industry partnerships, and curriculum enhancements. At the same time, they can encourage revolutionary innovation by investing in basic research, cultivating a culture of experimentation, and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration.

Design thinking is at the heart of this transformation. Institutions must foster this mindset by creating educational environments that nurture young innovators, enabling them to develop a solution-oriented mindset and design solutions that impact society.

Breaking barriers through inclusive education

The first step in nurturing innovation is making quality education accessible to a broader audience. In India—a nation of immense linguistic and cultural diversity—educational access remains a challenge. With only about 10 per cent of the population proficient in English, traditional admission processes of checking creativity and innovation in English inadvertently exclude a large segment of talented students. However, with the right guidance, aspiring designers from diverse backgrounds can access quality education and contribute meaningfully to India’s innovation landscape.

The growing importance of design thinking in India

As India’s economy matures, design thinking will play an increasingly critical role across industries. Unlike traditional career paths in medicine or engineering, design takes an interdisciplinary approach to solving complex problems, integrating technology, business, sustainability, and social impact. Higher education institutes must recognise and cultivate talent, identifying students with natural aptitude and exposing them to structured education at an early stage. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also advocates design-oriented learning at the school level. Universities must build on this foundation by collaborating with schools to introduce young minds to creative problem-solving methodologies early on.

Universities as incubators of change

Beyond academics, creating environments that actively encourage entrepreneurship can go a long way. This can be achieved by developing interdisciplinary programmes that integrate technology and design to foster ground-breaking solutions, establishing spaces that provide mentorship, funding, and practical exposure to help students transform ideas into viable ventures, strengthening ties with businesses to facilitate real-world learning, and encouraging hands-on projects, community immersion and development of problem-solving skills.

Shaping the future

Higher educational institutes must build learning environments that encourage students to think beyond the traditional. From industry-ready skill development to offering support systems that foster entrepreneurship, universities can prepare a generation of problem-solvers equipped to address global issues through innovation and critical thinking.

The writer is provost, Anant National University