# Uday Dandavate > Pioneer in driving innovation through co-creation, design educator, author, speaker. Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/udaydandavate My lifelong pursuit is to nurture and study imagination—how individuals, organizations, and cultures envision, create, and transform their futures in times of rapid technological change. As an ethnographer of social imagination, design researcher, and facilitator, I help leaders make wiser choices about innovation in an AI‑accelerated world. I cultivate participatory design and co‑creation mindsets, enabling organizations to work with people (not just data and algorithms) to shape products, services, and policies. This means turning lived experience, ethnographic insight, and AI‑generated signals into strategic decisions that protect human dignity and expand possibility. As co‑founder of SonicRim, I have led multidisciplinary work with Fortune 500 companies, social innovators, and startups across continents—helping them explore new markets, design responsible uses of emerging technology, and find balances between global vision and local relevance. Education and mentorship remain central to my practice. I have taught human experience design, participatory research, co‑creation, and mindful technology deployment at institutions including the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Delhi, 180 Academy in Denmark, California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute in Sunnyvale. My focus is guiding innovators to combine ethical awareness, cross‑cultural insight, and AI literacy in their work. Recently, I have convened and joined global dialogues on social imagination in the COVID‑19 and AI eras. My YouTube series, The Legacy of India’s Imagination, features voices in design, creativity, and activism, catalyzing intergenerational, future‑facing conversation about how societies can use powerful tools wisely. I am the author of four books on imagination, consciousness, and belonging, and I maintain a creative practice in songwriting and composition—using metaphor to bridge design, technology, and everyday life. Current focus / specialties • Social imagination and futures work for AI‑era innovation • Ethnographic and cross‑cultural research across multiple technology waves • Participatory design and co‑creation mindsets in organizations • Study of metaphor in human–technology interaction • Dialogue facilitation and community engagement • Integrating creativity, technology, and cultural insight into strategy ## Work Experience ### Co-Founder @ SonicRim Ltd Jan 1999 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States Uday Dandavate, the co-founder of SonicRim, a design research company specializing in co-creation, travels extensively worldwide, studying diverse profiles of people, cultures, and change. Through blogging, teaching, speaking, and facilitating, Uday provokes fresh perspectives that humanize technologies and democratize design. With over 30 years of experience, he has assisted leading innovative companies in conducting global research and facilitating immersive learning experiences through ethnographic research. Uday has served automotive, technology, and consumer durable companies, aiding them in studying global markets to inform strategic marketing, branding, and design decisions. For the past decade, his focus has been on serving clients in sectors such as autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, and content strategies, emphasizing the development of mindfulness in designing disruptive experiences. ### Adjunct Professor @ Carnegie Mellon University - Integrated Innovation Institute Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | Mountain View, California, United States For three years, Uday taught a graduate-level course in "User Experience Design & Human-Computer Interaction.” His specific focus is to assist software engineers aspiring to become product managers in developing a holistic understanding of designing cutting-edge products and features. He designed a unique syllabus and course content to cultivate in software engineers the skills of designing with mindfulness about the impact technological innovations will have on individuals, communities, and society. ### Adjunct Professor @ California College of the Arts Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco Developed a syllabus and taught a class in Design Research to Graduate Students in Design. ### Founding Faculty Member @ 180° Academy Jan 2007 – Jan 2008 | Middelfart, Denmark Helped co-create a syllabus for a concept making school for middle to senior level executives of European companies. Also taught the module on translation of insights into design ideas. The school has since been acquired by International School of Business in Kolding, Denmark ### Director @ FITCH Jan 1994 – Jan 1999 Worked as a part of a research team that experimented with new methods of generative research and participatory design ### Principal @ Design Inputs Jan 1984 – Jan 1993 Provided Product Design consulting services to leading Indian and international companies from a studio located in Delhi India. ### Adjunct Professor @ National Institite of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Jan 1990 – Jan 1993 | New Delhi Area, India Was one of the founding faculty of the accessories design program at the NIFT, Delhi. Taught design methodology, geometry and space and materials and processes, besides mentoring and advising three batches of students in Accessory Design. ### Industrial Designer @ Bajaj Electricals Ltd Jan 1982 – Jan 1984 Designed home appliances for one of India's largest home appliances company. ### Industrial Designer @ UPTRON Jan 1981 – Jan 1982 Designed consumer electronics products. ## Education ### M.A. in User Experience Research The Ohio State University ### Professional Education Diploma in Industrial Design in Product Design National Institute of Design ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/udaydandavate - Website: http://www.SonicRim.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/udaydandavate JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/udaydandavate/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-05