Innovating for Sustainable Communities
solving for cities, communities and complexities in our world
Sep 13 - 14, 2025
A 2-day in-person workshop + 1 day virtual session on applying creativity, critical thinking and human-centered design.
Program Date: Sep 13 and 14, 2025 - 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Venue: Edge Studio Voice Over, 115 W 45th St Floor 8, New York, NY 10036
Program Structure
The entire workshop is delivered using Experiential Learning Pedagogy, which means as participants you will be engaging in hands-on activities rather than learning only theories. Get a chance to specifically work on your respective project ideas (if any) or pick a problem statement under the context of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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9 - 9.30 am Breakfast and Registration
9.30 - 10 am Introductions to the Human centered design concept and setting the culture
10 - noon Problem identification using human centered design approach
12- 1 pm Lunch
1 - 2 pm Primary market research using Empathy
2 - 3 pm Secondary market research
3 - 4 pm Defining the Entrepreneurial Opportunity in response to your chosen “World Problem”
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9 - 9.30 am Breakfast and Recap from Day 1
9.30 - 10 am Creativity and Innovation
10 - noon Analogous Thinking Design Sprints
12- 1 pm Lunch
1 - 2 pm Idea Selection
2 - 3.30 pm Preparing Final Presentation and Learn the Art of Pitching your idea
3.30 - 4.30 pm Final Pitches
4.30 - 5.30 pm Awards, Feedback and Post Program Keeping in touch planning
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This is an add-on session on VIBE coding and learning how to use AI based tools for prototyping.
But, wait - What are the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals i.e. UN SDGS?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Who Is This For
Open to everyone in NYC. From professionals to students, from entrepreneurs to executives , Preference will be given to Students from CUNY’s Queen College colleges.
Top skills you acquire
Complex Problem Understanding and Breakdown
Cause and Effect Analysis
Idea to Prototyping
Stakeholder Mapping and Market Research
Human Centered Design
Creative Problem Solving
Check out this cool video on Design Thinking
Role of Young People in making a Global impact
Flaunt your skills with a Digital Certificate on LinkedIn
Upon completing our program, Ycenter will provide participants with a verified certificate that can be showcased as a LinkedIn badge, highlighting your achievement and new skills. This badge not only enhances your professional profile but also signals to potential employers that you've gained valuable, hands-on experience in innovation, sustainability, design thinking and entrepreneurship.
Meet the Facilitation Partners
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Dhairya Pujara
Founder, CEO at Ycenter
Started his first company at the age of 19, Dhairya has always been about using technology for humanitarian impact. He is Biomedical Engineer and has experience of living in 3 different countries across 3 different continents.
He has been a global public speaker with invitations from the United Nations, World Bank, World Economic Forum, Social Enterprise World Forum, SXSW, TEDx and top universities and organizations in 15+ countries across 4 continents. His work has been featured in magazines like Entrepreneur, INC, nominated for Forbes 30 under 30 and several other media publications like BBC radio, Huffington post, Philadelphia Business journal to name a few. He has received a visa reserved for individuals of extraordinary abilities from the US immigration services.
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David Goldberg
CEO at Edge Studio
Speaking & presence coach with a unique approach who’s helped over 10,000 CEOs, politicians, authors, podcasters,… come across better—whether on stage, on camera, on mic, on Zoom, and in person!
David has an uncanny ability to very quickly help people tackle their quirky speaking habits, refine the words they use, shape their tone, timing, variety, and inflection using hyper-specific speaking adjustments, mask nerves, boost their confidence, body language, and visual presence, and enhance their A/V lighting, camera, and sound setup for videoconferencing. Ultimately I help you develop a ‘speaking & presence’ blueprint, so you’re perceived as being at the top of your game when on company podcasts, interviews, keynotes, investor pitches, customer presentations, seminars, networking speeches, and more!
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Ying Zhou
Executive Director TIQC
Driving AI adoption and digital transformation for small businesses and startups. Ying advises and mentors founders, entrepreneurs, and students on leveraging emerging technologies to fuel innovation, growth, and operational excellence. Passionate about building adaptive, future-ready ecosystems through cross-sector collaboration, human-centered design, and creativity-powered community engagement.
Partners for the Program
Tech Incubator at Queens College, New York City
TIQC aims to help startup companies and entrepreneurs to build successful technology-enabled companies, which in turn creates more job opportunities and drives innovation and technology development in New York. With the advanced computational infrastructure and the CUNY community advantages, TIQC provides an outstanding environment for companies to turn innovative ideas into businesses and success. We share entrepreneurial tech resources that TIQC has created and/or curated. From workshops to paid internships, we try to generate valuable, actionable content for the hyper-local Queens community and beyond.
Edge Studio in New York City (Venue Partners)
We live and breathe virtually every conceivable aspect of the voice over industry, and we have a world-renowned team of voice over experts who oversee each part of your training. This makes it easy for our team to pool resources and create the most wide-ranging education center, with the most successful students. At Edge, we’re always glad to share our knowledge, answer any questions, or take time with you.
About Ycenter
Ycenter is a Global Experiential learning and Innovation consulting firm. We build programs for university, innovation and incubation centers. We work with Fortune 500 companies and governmental agencies on using human-centered design thinking to solve complex social and business challenges. Ycenter programs have offerings have been benefited by participants and organizations in 30+ countries across last 12 years.