City Labs Students Meet with Village of Hastings-on-Hudson

The Westchester Innovation Network’s (WIN) City Labs initiative is partnering with the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson and Iona University’s Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation on the newest partnership between the BCW, Iona University and Westchester municipalities to develop Innovative solutions to municipal challenges using the design thinking approach.

The kickoff for the Hynes Institute design-thinking class’s City Labs project with the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, was held Monday, October 5.

Village Manager Mary Beth Murphy briefed the students on local issues that the students might focus on.

Dr. Christoph Winkler, Founding Director of the Hynes Institute, presented an overview of the BCW/Iona City Labs partnership, which is now in its fifth year. Through the program, Iona University students have worked directly with 10 municipalities to address real-world community challenges and develop innovative solutions that support local priorities and economic development. He described it as students learning “outside the lines,” with the community serving as a laboratory, and he reminded the students that they are representing the university.

Dr. Aakash Sapru, Assistant Professor of Hynes Institute, who teaches the class, explained the design-thinking approach. Students go into the community to understand a problem from several angles (government, residents, businesses) and design solutions “with the community, not just for them.” The semester will end with prototypes the village could actually use.

“The larger mission here is for our students to get hands-on experience with real projects. Oftentimes, university education can become very abstract. At the Hynes Institute, when we focus on entrepreneurship, which is a very hands-on field, our goal is always to give our students experiential learning. The idea is that instead of just somehow coming up with ideas sitting inside a classroom, you actually go into the community, talk to people, and understand problems from various angles,” said Dr. Sapru.

Village Manager Murphy said communication and public buy-in are critical in government. If residents don’t feel an idea came from them, they tend to reject it out of hand. She also made a pitch for students from any major to consider careers in government.

The class will draft a problem statement by the end of next week and share it with the village for input on scope.