Impact Discovery India – Mangaluru 2026
Building Coaches, Building an Innovation Culture at MITE
Mangalore Institute of Technology & Engineering (MITE), in association with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) and Impact Week, Germany, hosted Impact Discovery India – Mangaluru 2026, a global Design Thinking initiative aimed at strengthening human-centred innovation and building sustainable innovation capabilities within the institution.
Conducted in two phases from September 16–24, 2026, the initiative brought together accomplished international Design Thinking practitioners, innovation consultants, industry professionals, faculty members and student innovators. The larger purpose was to transform the approach towards innovation—encouraging participants to move beyond immediately developing solutions and instead begin by deeply understanding people, identifying meaningful problems, questioning assumptions and creating solutions that generate real value.
The international character of the initiative brought a unique cross-cultural dimension to MITE’s growing innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The program was led by Carolin Taenzer, Managing Director, Impact Week, Germany, along with Mustafa Yigit Aksu and Sude Atilmis, Industrial Designers from Yasar University, Turkey.
Muktha Hiremath, Executive Director, Sri Aurobindo Kala Sangham, served as the Lead Coach, bringing extensive experience in design and human-centred innovation to guide the overall learning journey.
The distinguished Senior Coach team comprised Ulrike Stroh, Lead Sustainability Solutions, Lufthansa Industry Solutions, Germany; Michael Koegel, Design Thinking Lead Coach from Germany; Dr. Mana Taheri, Designer, Innovation Consultant, Facilitator & Coach, Germany; John Muthini Ngila, Administrator and Design Thinking Coach, Africa Nazarene University, Kenya; Craig Tallentire, User Researcher, Ministry of Justice, United Kingdom; and Raja Singh Bhurji, CEO, The Stepup Ventures, Venture Adventurer and Mentor of Change.
Creating Coaches Within MITE
The first phase of the initiative, the intensive Train-the-Coach Program, was conducted from September 16–18, 2026. Twenty MITE faculty members participated in an immersive three-day learning experience under the guidance of the Global Senior Coaches.
Rather than following a conventional classroom-based training model, faculty participants experienced Design Thinking by practising it. They were introduced to methodologies centred on empathy, user understanding, problem discovery, ideation, experimentation, prototyping, validation and facilitation.
The program encouraged faculty members to question assumptions and examine challenges through the eyes 
of users before attempting to develop solutions. Working collaboratively, participants learned how to facilitate creative conversations, guide innovation teams and progressively convert observations and insights into possible solutions.
The most significant outcome of the three-day program was the creation of a trained pool of MITE Faculty Design Thinking Coaches. The participants transitioned from being learners themselves to becoming facilitators capable of mentoring young innovators.
Importantly, their learning was immediately put into practice. Following the Train-the-Coach program, these faculty members joined the Global Coaches during the Student Impact Week Challenge from September 21–24 to mentor MITE’s student innovation teams.
Impact Discovery India therefore established a powerful multiplier model: Global Coaches trained Faculty Coaches, and Faculty Coaches subsequently joined them in empowering Student Innovators.
Beyond the completion of a three-day faculty development initiative, the program created an institutional capability that can continue influencing student projects, hackathons, innovation programs and entrepreneurial initiatives at MITE.
Through Impact Discovery India, MITE has taken another significant step towards embedding Design Thinking as a mindset within its innovation ecosystem—building not merely better solutions, but better problem-solvers, mentors and innovators.
