Bengaluru, 29 October 2025: As India’s premier design and innovation conference, DesignUp25 returns to Bengaluru from November 3–5, 2025, one of its biggest highlights will be the Futures Challenge 2025, where young designers from across India envision what “currency” might look like in 2050.
Under this year’s bold theme, “The Design Currency,” participants explored new definitions of value — from trust and attention to care, energy, and memory. An international jury of design leaders, creative directors, and innovation experts, headed by Thomas Küber and Andreas Wegner of Futur2 Studio, Berlin, evaluated the entries.
The Five Shortlisted Finalists for Futures Challenge 2025 Are:
Petcoin: The Future of Currency is Alive by Kuldeep Singh (NID Bengaluru) – A provocative concept that positions care as a new driver of wealth and community well-being.
Attention as Currency for 2050 by Mrinmoy Deka (NID Bengaluru) – An innovative idea transforming human focus and presence into measurable value.
NOVACOIN – A Multi-Centered Currency by Nandini Arora (IIT BHU) – A thoughtful exploration of how trust, behaviour, and analytics might merge into future token economies.
The Dream Era by Ritwik Kar (IIT Jodhpur) – A poetic concept where dreams themselves become a new form of exchange and connection.
Wealth Measured in Life, Not Digits by Preksha Baid (Rishihood University) – A reflective take on turning memories into currency, redefining wealth through human experience.
The three winners will be announced during DesignUp25, which will bring together over 1000 attendees and global design leaders from Adobe, Canva, JPMorgan Chase, Netflix, and more.
“The Futures Challenge celebrates bold imagination — asking how we might design value itself in a rapidly changing world,” said Jay Dutta, Founder and Curator, DesignUp, and Global Head of UX, Deutsche Bank.
For more details on DesignUp25 and the Futures Challenge 2025, visit https://25.designup.io/
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