Integrating Minds: Intellectual Property, Design Thinking, and Education for Sustainable Solutions; Read this fascinating story!

Dear Faculty Friends and Students,

Today, on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day, I had the opportunity to speak at a 2-Day National Workshop on the crucial topic of how Intellectual Property and Future Research are tied up with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 UN-listed Goals and 169 Targets should not be violated by a single IP. If so, we risk opening the door to disaster! Hence, this story gains even more significance.

Let me explain in detail. You are all aware of the fascinating story of the Four Pests Campaign, an initiative launched by China in the late 1950s.

Here's a breakdown of what happened:

The Goal: Sparrows were targeted because they ate grain, including paddy rice. Estimates suggested they consumed around 6.5 kilograms of paddy per year. This can feed more than 60 thousand people happily.

The Unintended Consequences: While sparrows do eat grain, they also prey on insects that damage crops. Eradicating the sparrows (which killed more than 30 lakhs sparrows) led to a surge in these insect populations, causing even greater grain loss (which led to 4.5 crore people dying of hunger).

The Ecological Disaster: The Four Pests Campaign (Rats, Flies, Mosquitoes, Sparrows) resulted in a significant decline in sparrow populations and a rise in insect pests. This had a negative impact on agriculture and the ecosystem.

So, while the initial goal of the campaign was to improve food security, it backfired and led to ecological damage.

Food Security is only the tip of the iceberg! If we don’t properly inspire our students using Design Thinking in conjunction with the Sustainable Development Goals Philosophy, if students choose the wrong set of career/research goals and ideology, all 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets will be affected.

The unwanted competition for Ranks, the declining ethics in human beings, lack of trust and commitment, ambitious targets and package goals, and fancy Lifestyle goals would affect this deep thinking.

Can we rise above like an Eagle flying beyond the cloud when the storm comes?

 Design Thinking with SDGs would give that strength to the individual to fly beyond the AI storm. Do you agree?

So, what is my appeal to you today? A Special Campaign/Education is needed in the education system, especially for 8th to UG, focusing on Design Thinking (Human-Centered Approach to a particular problem) for SDGs. This combo should drive research goals for faculty and industry, projects for students, ethical teachings for school children, and so on.

Stay Tuned. I will be talking more on this topic in the future. Wishing all responsible education leaders respond to this world cause.

Dr. Ravi Saripalle