Our journey began with the first invitation received from Prof. R. N. Sharan, Department of Biochemistry, NEHU to attend an exploratory meeting on design innovation related courses and grants to be held on 8 July 2015. This meeting was attended by Rev. Br. Dr. Albert L. Dkhar, Prof. Herbert G. Lyngdoh and Mr. Jacob L. Shylla. It was at this meeting that we were first introduced to the subject by Prof. Sharan who then encouraged us to work on a proposal which was to be submitted to him. It is worthy of note that three colleges where handpicked to attend this meeting - St. Edmund's College, Lady Keane College and St. Anthony's College. We responded to the invitation by holding a meeting of senior professors of the college on 21 July 2015 to discuss the matter threadbare so that we were able to decide on the best course structure and area of study and exploration that would be be most suited to the state and the region. This meeting was attended by Prof. M. D. Gupta, Head, Department of Chemistry, Prof. M. A. Laskar, Head, Department of Biotechnology, Prof. Herbert G. Lyngdoh, Head, Department of Biotechnology, Prof. Simanta Chutia, faculty, Department of Physics, Rev. Fr. Dr. Joby Joseph, Head, Department of Computer Science and Vice Principal, Rev. Fr. Saji Stephen, Rector, Prof. Anjan Das, Director, MCA Programme, Prof. Aibankit L. Warjri, Head, Department of Business Administration, Prof. Syntiew Manik Syiemlieh, faculty, Department of Botany, Prof. Rajani Chhetri, faculty, Department of Mass Media and Prof. Jacob L. Shylla. This meeting helped in bringing clarity and a sense of direction to the discussion and helped in formulating the first proposal that we submitted to Prof. Sharan between 25-31 July 2015. Between these dates Prof. Sharan and I communicated several time via email to polish our proposal. The first proposal we sent then was on a general course on design innovation. After a gap of six months, we received the second invitation to attend another meeting on 8 January 2016. At the meeting held on 11 January 2016 which I had attended, we were given more information on the design innovation grant under the MHRD, Government of India, the definition, structure and objective of the courses to be offered as part of the grant. We were asked to re-submit our proposal according to these new directions. As it was during the winters and the college was on a winter break, I was compelled to work on the proposal alone in consultation with Brother Principal. We re-submitted the proposal on 18 January 2016 with much anxiety and apprehensions. We were asked to attend another meeting on 29 June 2016 with regards to the submission of our proposals to the MHRD and then to the PAB, New Delhi. This meeting was attended by Brother Principal and I. We received final confirmation that our proposal, which was sent as part of NEHU's proposal, had been approved and that we would be able to start our courses soon. Prof. Sharan convened the first NEHU DIC meeting on 7 February 2017 to discuss the implementation of the courses at the three spokes. By this time, there were new institutions invovled - St. Edmund's College and Lady Keane College had been replaced by then by St. Mary's College and IIT Guwahati. We receive the first installment of Rs.44.5 lakhs on 17 March 2017.

The first advisory committee meeting was held on 27 March 2017. This meeting was attended by Prof. Aicydalyne Snaitang, Head, Department of Chemistry, Prof. M. A. Laskar, Head, Department of Biotechnology, Prof. Herbert G. Lyngdoh, Head, Department of Biotechnology, Prof. Simanta Chutia, faculty, Department of Physics, Rev. Fr. Dr. Joby Joseph, Head, Department of Computer Science and Vice Principal, Rev. Fr. Saji Stephen, Rector, Prof. Anjan Das, Director, MCA Programme, Prof. Aibankit L. Warjri, Head, Department of Business Administration, Prof. Syntiew Manik Syiemlieh, faculty, Department of Botany, Prof. Santu Saikia, faculty, Department of Physics, Prof. T. A. Challam, faculty, Department of Biotechnology and Prof. Jacob L. Shylla. We discussed at length the nature and scope of the work that we had to undertake as a spoke offering papers in design innovation. By now we had decided to offer two papers in design innovation - Product Design and Service Protocols (Business Plans or Models). We put up advertisements in the newspapers on 17-18 of June 2017 inviting tenders for the supply of IT goods. Members of the Advisory Committee were informed of the flow of the word via written communications in the meantime. (dated 22 June 2017) The Advisory Committee was convened on 1 July and on 11 August 2017 to discuss matters pertaining to the setup of the labs and the courses. These two meetings played a very vital role in the formation and progress of the Design Innovation Centre. Base on the recommendation of senior members present at the meeting, a team comprising Prof. M. A. Laskar, Mr. Omprakash Yadav, Bawanrishisha Marngar and myself visited the Department of Design, IIT Guwhati and the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology. Our interaction and discussions with Dr. Utpal Barua, Head, Department of Design at the IIT and Dr. Harekrishna Deka, Technical Officer, CIPET and their staffs helped us to finally grasp the concept of design and of design centre. We realised that we could serve as an incubation centre for ideas, experimentation and initial phase prototyping with the amount of money we were given and with the available space and infrastructure that we have. And it is along this line what the DIC team has been working till date.

We had held several classes on Product Design and Business Model Design. Several presentations and talks were held on design innovation. We are grateful to Fr. Joby for granting us permission to make use of his RED HAT Lab as our makeshift Product Design Lab from September 2017 to July 2018. Other classes were held in the classrooms in the college after college hours. To create awareness about the course, an Impromptu Quiz was held which was actively participated by students of the college. We held a special invited lecture on Design Thinking which was held on 23 September 2017. This lecture was delivered by Dr. Utpal Barua and was attended by students of both the classes. We had 41 students in the Product Design Class while there were 25 students in the Business Model Class. Unfortunately 16 students from the Product Design and 6 from the Business Model class have graduated from the college. We currently have 40 students in each of the classes as per the requirement of the MHRD. We are looking forward to several products and models being made ready for testing or prototyping very soon.

We are looking forward also to visiting NEHU, CIPET and IIT Guwahati in the near future and also to holding more talks and workshops as part of the course.

The DIC team currently comprises the following staff - Coordinator, Office Assistant, Intern, Lab Assistant, a faculty teaching AutoCAD and another teacher Business Plans and Models.

As I close, I must put this on record that it would have been impossible for me and my team to achieve any of these goals or targets had not it been for the full confidence and trust that the Management has placed on me to do what we were supposed to do. Brother Principal, Rev. Fr. Joby and Rev. Fr. Saji in particular have been very supportive and encouraging in this regard. I have, personally, felt very inspired and driven by their positive attitude and constructive approach to our work at the centre. I would like to thank each one of them profusely for their sensitivity, their trust, their guidance and support every single step of the way. I would also like to thank the members of the advisory committee for some very good insights, ideas and suggestions and sometimes wake up calls that they have provided to us. These have been very productive and have contributed much to the progress of our work. We continue to aspire to be led by Prof. Sharan and to be guided by him as we have been in the past. You are our Pole Star in this regard and we continue to look to you for guidance and support. We will continue to covet the prayers of all our fathers here as we move forward from now on in fulfilling the purpose that our centre has been set up to accomplish.

The following are the staffs appointed under the DIC Spoke, St. anthony's College:

In the month of June, 2017 the College conducted publicity programmes to create awareness amongst the faculty and students of the college about the Design Innovation Courses. An Impromptu Quiz Competition on the theme Discoveries, Inventions and Innovations was conducted in the college on 1 July 2017 as part of the awareness campaign conducted by the DIC Spoke. Simultaneously, tenders were floated for the supply, installation and testing of lab equipment and tools that will be required for running the courses. The tenders were floated online through the website of the college, published on newspapers and also put up on the notice boards of the college for a period of twenty days as per the guidelines of GFR 2005 (Chapter 5) pertaining to Procurement of Goods. However, due to the anticipation of the implementation of GST in the country, there were no responses from suppliers in the region to the advertisements. In this regard, the Advisory Committee that met on10 July 2017 to discuss this turn of event unanimously directed the Coordinator of the DIC Spoke to meet with at least three suppliers directly in this regard to invite them to participate in the bidding for the supply of goods. With regards to goods below Rs. 1 Lakhs, the committee has empowered the Coordinator to begin purchasing them accordingly. These decisions were taken in accordance with the guidelines of GRF 2005. (Chapter 5) The Coordinator has completed the task of interacting with suppliers and is happy to report that the bidding process will begin soon for relevant products.

A team from the college comprising the DIC Spoke Coordinator, Mr. Jacob L. Shylla, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Advisory Committee Member, Prof. M. A. Laskar, Associate Professor, Head, Department of Biotechnology, Ms, Bawanrishisha Marngar, Assistant to Mr. Jacob L. Shylla, and Mr. Omprakash Yadav, System Administrator, visited the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and the Central Institute of Plastics Technology and Engineering Guwahati on 6 July 2017. This visit was conducted as part of the efforts of the college to gain a deeper understanding of what is involved in running design innovation courses and more importantly to establish contacts with the faculty in the two institutes to invite them to come and deliver lectures, talks and to animate workshops at the college. The visit proved to be very productive. The faculty of the two institutes showed much interest and willingness to collaborate with the college in running the design innovation courses. Lecture halls and labs were subsequently allotted by the college for this purpose.

The Design Innovation Centre held a grand function to inaugurate the Office, the Computer and Visual Laboratory and Classrooms of the Centre on 4 September 2018 at the Atrium of the Wollaston Annexe at the Campus. The programme presided by Rev. Fr. Dr. George Maliekal, Former Provincial of the Roman Catholic Church Shillong Province and the Former President of the Governing Body of the College. The Chief Guest at the event was Prof. R. N. Sharan, the Director, DIC HUB, NEHU. As part of the programme, Rev. Fr. Dr. George Maliekal blessed every single facility of the DIC after they were inaugurated by Prof. Sharan.

The DIC in St. Anthony's College has two lecture halls, one for Business Model and the other for Product Design with a capacity of 40 students in each. The lab has ten Macintosh machines, two Digital Drawing Tablets, two 3D Ultimate Printers, ten Writing Pads with Stylus, a window server, a system for internet connection and a UPS online with 5hrs backup. Additionally, Short Throw LCD Projectors are installed in the lab and the two lecture halls. These systems were procured through properly invited tenders and biddings.

The Design Innovation Lab has been set up and is now fully functional. AutoCAD software has been installed in all the ten computers so that students can utilise the equipment for designing.

With the completion of the theory classes during the winter months of 2017-2018 (November-February), as per the 25% theory -75% practical work guidelines, students were asked to work on their own in finding problems, issues or flaws in models and products on which they could work over a period of three months. At the end of the three months, students were asked to submit their reports to the Coordinator. These reports were studied accordingly by the Centre and approved for further explorations by the students. The Centre ensured that the students submitted their reports periodically to their respective teachers and to also inform the Coordinator about their progress.