India’s leading design and innovation festival, DesignUp, is back with its 9th edition — DesignUp25, taking place from November 3–5, 2025 in Bengaluru. This year’s conference comes with a bold new theme — “The Design Currency” — spotlighting how design itself drives value in business, technology, and society.
DesignUp25 aims to illuminate how design creates economic, social, and environmental value. Bridge the seemingly divergent worlds of tech, business and human systems, to explore design’s role as a relational and infrastructural medium.
“DesignUp25 is where India’s design, tech, and innovation communities converge — not just to exchange ideas, but to redefine the very value of design,” said Jay Dutta, Founder and Curator, DesignUp & Global Head of Design, Deutsche Bank.
The three-day event will bring together global and Indian design leaders through workshops, long talks, lightning sessions, and panels that explore how design acts as a powerful medium of exchange — influencing trust, innovation, and human experience in an AI-driven world.
DesignUp25 – Speaker / panel lineup highlights:
- Archana Thiagarajan, VP Experience Design, Adobe — How Designers Can Build & Keep Trust in the Age of AI
- Alex Skougarevskaya (Skougs), Head of Design, Content & Discovery, Canva — exploring AI-powered creativity in large, global systems
- Janaki Kumar, Chief Design Officer, Global Banking, JPMorgan Chase — on orchestration and design in enterprise systems
- Catalina Estrada, Illustrator & Pattern Designer — exploring design’s power to restore dignity and voice
- Fonz Morris (Netflix, Coursera, FNZMS) + Mahima Chandak (Hard Problems) — The Design Business: A Design Entrepreneur’s Playbook (panel)
- Allen Shaw (Illustrator & Storyteller) — Drawing on Life
- David Dylan Thomas — bridging design, ethics, bias, and systems
- Noopur Datye, Co-founder, Ek Type — on designing regional scripts and typographic value
A major highlight this year will be the unveiling of the Futures Challenge 2025 winners, where young designers reimagine what “currency” could mean in 2050 — from trust and attention to energy and reputation. The challenge was judged by an international jury of design leaders, creative directors, and innovation experts, headed by Thomas Küber and Andreas Wegner of Futur2 Studio, Berlin.
The 9th edition – DesignUp25 marks a milestone: the first time the event adopts a fresh thematic frame that positions design not as a cost center, but as a generative force in the economy and society. In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, machine decisions, and rapid automation, design is no longer just an aesthetic embellishment — it is currency. Just as currency powers economies, design powers innovation, trust, behaviour, and systemic change.
For further information – https://25.designup.io/
