Foundation Year students of Anant National University’s Class of 2028 have achieved an early academic milestone by securing design registration (Intellectual Property Rights) for their project Woodwork Zoo. The project emerged from a classroom module and reflects Anant’s emphasis on hands-on, inquiry-led design education from the very first year.
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Anant National University Students Earn IPR for Project Developed in Foundation Year
Developed under the mentorship of adjunct faculty Prof Krishna Mashruwala and visiting faculty Prof Apurva Pandey, Woodwork Zoo encouraged students to explore traditional wooden joinery techniques while translating natural forms into functional design outcomes. Each artefact was crafted without the use of nails or screws, relying solely on precision joinery and an in-depth understanding of material behaviour.
Aarambh Incubation Centre supported the project outcomes by funding the IPR registration for sixteen selected student projects and facilitating the complete filing process. This ensured that each idea was formally protected and professionally recognised.
Dr Sanjeev Vidyarthi, Provost, Anant National University , said, “At Anant, we believe that innovation should begin from the very first year of a student’s academic journey. We actively encourage students to conceive, develop and own their ideas, and we support them through every stage, from making and prototyping to intellectual property registration. By introducing IPR awareness and formal protection early on, we empower students to view their projects not just as academic exercises, but as valuable, real-world innovations with the potential to create impact.”
Aarambh Incubation Centre plays a key role in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation at Anant by supporting young innovators through mentorship, prototyping assistance and access to government and non-government agencies.
This initiative exemplifies Anant’s commitment to experiential learning, innovation and early professional exposure. By integrating strong foundation pedagogy with incubation and IPR support, Anant enables students to translate classroom learning into meaningful, design-led innovations, laying the groundwork for a future-ready, industry-aware design education.
For more details click on anu.edu.in
About Anant National University
Anant National University, India’s premier design university, is dedicated to training students to devise solutions for global problems. Anant follows the DesignX pedagogy, where ‘X’ is the symbol drawn from mathematics, representing enhancement. This new learning approach multiplies traditional design pedagogy with liberal arts disciplines, emerging technologies and knowledge drawn from hands-on community experiences to help understand our world better and to devise impactful solutions.
Our multidisciplinary undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in design, architecture, climate action and visual arts harness knowledge from various disciplines and traditional practices to integrate it with cutting-edge technology to address diverse challenges. We train our designers to become solutionaries — revolutionary thinkers with a solution-oriented mindset.
Anant National University has been recognised as the Centre of Excellence by the Government of Gujarat, highlighting our efforts to provide our students with world-class education, innovative pedagogy, high employability and enhanced entrepreneurial and research opportunities. Anant has also received the prestigious ‘5-Star Rating’ in the category of Architecture and a ‘4-Star Rating’ in the University category in the Gujarat State Institutional Rating Framework (GSIRF) 2023-24. These recognitions reinforce our commitment to creating a world-class institution of great eminence and excellence.
