AOD has taken the lead as the engine driving design thinking parallel to technology and business at the recently launched Colombo Innovation Tower. Here, global brands, multinational companies and local businesses work in a symbiosis facilitating interesting new partnerships. For AOD students, this becomes a powerful platform to connect to work networks of future employers, industry collaborators and potential investors. True innovation often becomes a challenge to pull off without compromising sustainability; but not if it is viewed through the lens of design thinking.

“Design thinking is the prerequisite to innovation, where the creative process essentially answers to consumer needs and the drive to create better experiences for people and the planet,” said Linda Speldewinde, chairperson of the Design Corp Group of Companies which the Colombo Innovation Tower and AOD belong to. She went on to say that this is the very reason why AOD was moved to the centre of the CIT ecosystem of businesses. With CIT essentially being a network geared towards cocreation and innovation, AOD students now have the opportunity to lead their study experience with future employers and investors through graduate-industry collaborations that explore how new thinking can work with expertise.

For the Colombo Innovation Tower too, AOD’s design thinking core becomes a major asset because it means that the kind of innovative thinking that businesses will access at the CIT will be groundbreaking. Where the world will want to meet South Asian design talent An AOD faculty member shared his thoughts on what CIT brings to the AOD study experience. He noted that CIT’s roots lie in design, tech, financial services, wellness, fashion, culture and other channels that make up the modern human experience.

“What Colombo Innovation Tower has successfully created, is a hub where the world can access the latest South Asian thinking, ideas, materials, technologies, services and processes that cater to a new kind of thinking. And, what’s very special for AOD students and graduates is that when the world reaches out for South Asia’s most progressive design thinkers for collaborations, they are able to access these markets and partnerships. Even for the design talent who want to work directly with the business world in Sri Lanka, the CIT is the ultimate hub. It’s the place to be for some fantastic connections in design, tech and business,” he said.

A place where incredible careers can begin Students, graduates and alumni of AOD will be among the most valued assets of the CIT community, as the lifeblood that connects fresh ideas in design and possibilities in technology with new business opportunities in the future markets. In turn, the AOD students will be able to tap into knowledge, learning and career opportunities presented by a cross-disciplinary mix of businesses, brands and innovators, with direct access to work opportunities right throughout their education. “We know that a lot of our partners of the Colombo Innovation Tower community are very excited about having constant access to this incredible talent pool.

Their ability to envision the previously unimagined; their competence in using technology to enable unprecedented levels of speed, reach and accessibility; and their ability to create ethical, profitable and sustainable models of business using these ideas, is what will make this group so valuable to our network. It’s opening up very promising opportunities for collaboration between business and academia. For AOD students and alumni, this means a very powerful platform for incredible career opportunities,” said Lin Gong- Deutschmann, managing director of the Design Corp Group of Companies.

For both CIT and AOD, creating impact through design led innovation is the driving philosophy. AOD’s central role as a design thinker, doer and instigator will undoubtedly drive impact across the CIT network, and link up students and alumni with the opportunity to carve out the career path of their dreams. AOD trains young talented minds to take on tomorrow, and evolve into the kind of young professionals who can truly make a difference in the social and economic dimensions of Sri Lanka. AOD’s groundbreaking education offer comes through four disciplines from the School of Design, School of Fashion, School of Business and the School of Technology.

To find out more about how to join AOD’s Degrees in Motion Graphics and Animation, Fashion Marketing, Fashion and textiles, Interior Design, and Visual Communication reach AOD Colombo on 0775727772, email: [email protected] or walk in between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday – Colombo Innovation Tower, No 58, Lauries Road, Colombo 04. Visit www.aod.lk Follow the official hashtag #extraordinaryminds #AOD on social media. January 2020 enrollments for all degree courses are now in progress.