Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Jun 8: Shubham Ramesh Warnekar, a resident of Bejai and a Master of Design student at IIT Guwahati, along with his teammate Kavya Shree Venkatesh, has secured second prize in the international design competition ‘Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge 2024–25’, organised by Stanford University, USA.

In a press conference held on June 7, Shubham shared that over 500 teams from 31 countries had registered for the competition held in April, out of which only eight teams made it to the final round. The theme of the competition was “Redesigning Education and Learning for Longer Lives.” The team presented a card-based game titled “Flow”, which introduces players to concepts like lifelong learning, decision-making, and simple living for a meaningful life.

Eight types of cards to guide life secisions

Shubham explained that Flow features eight types of cards designed to help users discover life’s purpose and make informed decisions. The game involves matching these cards with the main Flow card. The concept was originally developed during college days and was tested by presenting it to students and experts for feedback. A professor later informed them about the Stanford challenge, leading to their participation. The team now plans to patent the idea and develop it further as a mobile application.

John Chandran, art teacher at St Aloysius High School, said Shubham is a proud alumnus of the school. After completing his engineering degree at NITK Surathkal, Shubham pursued a Master’s in Design at IIT Guwahati. Chandran remarked that his achievement is one the entire country can take pride in.

Shubham’s parents, Ramesh Warnekar and Shobha Warnekar, were also present at the press conference.