Vijay Kumar

  • Professor, Charles Owen Endowed Chair in Design

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Vijay Kumar is a professor at the IIT Institute of Design and leads the Strategic Design Planning and the Design Methods programs. For more than 12 years he was the chief methodologist at Doblin Inc. (now a member of Monitor Group) a global innovation firm. He has also led his design consulting practice in India for more than 7 years.

With over 30 years of global work experience, Kumar has taught, published, lectured, and consulted throughout the world about how to use structured methods, tools, and frameworks for conceiving reliable human-centered innovations and turning them into strategic plans for organizations. His research is focused on framing up emerging innovation opportunities in education, health care, communication, retail, social reform, and emerging markets among others.

After completing a bachelor of science from the University of Kerala and program in product design at National Institute of Design in India, Vijay received a master of design from IIT Institute of Design. He is the inventor of many methods, tools, and frameworks designed to uncover unexplored innovation opportunities. Students, researchers, consultants, and business executives around the world have been successfully using some of his tools, such as Analysis and Transformations (A&T), Insight Matrix, and Innovation Landscape, for many years.

He consults with companies and organizations around the world for planning innovations using systemic, structured, and user-centered methods. He has consulted with Alamo, Amoco, Autodesk, Bose, Ceasefire, Daishinsha, Hallmark, Kraft Foods, Lenscrafters, Liberty Mutual, McDonald’s, Motorola, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Shell, SAS Airlines, Steelcase, Target, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile, Wells Fargo, and Zurich Financials among others.

Kumar is a frequent speaker and is widely published on the topic of innovation. He regularly conducts executive workshops on innovation for organizations around the world. He is the author of the book, “101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization.”