“Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”
– Dr Albert, Szent-Györgyi

An idea sparked, possibilities was explored, failures were surpassed, and innovation was conceived. This process—a layman’s wild assumption—is what would’ve taken place in the brilliant heads of Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, or Steve Jobs.

Every creator, inventor, or innovator invests the entirety of their efforts into the journey of going from an idea to an innovation. This aspect is what makes them great. The grit, the sweat, the passion, and the commitment they have imbibed is what makes them stand out.

The following story is of one such innovator who’s striven through the toughest storms and risen victorious. This story is of a truly inspiring individual who dons the hat of a true thought leader – Utssav Gupta is an architect by origin, an innovator by passion, a researcher by habit, and an entrepreneur by practice.

Speaking in terms of professional designations, Utssav is the CEO and Partner at Creators Architects, Founder at Black Swan Labs, and Director of Supertech Fabrics.

The Prologue of Utssav’s Success Story

Being born and nurtured in a family of architects, Utssav was naturally introduced to the profession and was fascinated by architecture from an early age. He aspired to be an architect—a quality attributable to his parents Rajiv Gupta and Mukta Gupta’s architectural thought process. The frequent architectural discussions between his parents piqued his interest, and the family dynamics naturally influenced him to follow this profession.

During his adolescence, he acquired prolific architectural skills from his parents, yet he developed his own perspective. He used to marvel at great architecture and—to quench his curiosity—he did an extensive research and analysis of world structures like the Eiffel tower, Petronas towers, the Sears Tower, etc.

Utssav pursued his passion by studying architecture at New Delhi and later obtaining a post-graduate degree from the Elite AA School of Architecture at London. While grooming himself to be a world-class architect, he began his professional career as an Assistant Architect with a London-based firm.

Through this role, Utssav experienced the footing of architecture on his own, gained a different perspective towards architecture, discovered the intricacies that different projects might have, and realized how an unconventional approach towards the discipline of architecture can supply us the modern innovative solutions.

Later, he returned and rejoined his parents’ firm to serve his country and its people and to boldly reveal the other side of inventive design that was much required in the evolving world.

As of today, Utssav has garnered multiple awards and plaudits for his innovative frameworks and models, and he has established himself in the architecture profession by standing out from the crowd through his innovation and disruption.

He was recently named as – Best Innovative Architect of the Year by the Times2leap MSME award and Best Architect Under the category – 40 Under 40 by the National Architecture Excellence Awards & Conference 2021, Bangalore, along with several other accolades adorned to his works.

Going Beyond the Definitions of Innovation

As introduced previously, Utssav was exposed to the industry innovations and their impact on the world very early in age, which inspired him to follow his parents’ legacy and pursue his passion. His interest is to integrate design and technology in a unique way so as to achieve results such as efficiency and material sustainability. He developed and propagated various interdisciplinary abilities for fusing neurology, biomimicry, sacred geometry, and parametric design to create mindful architecture.

However, in the pursuit of creating better impact, Utssav realized that innovation needs to deliver a certain level of transformation consistently. He felt the need to figure out the way towards ideation that would provide a realizable framework for designs every single time.

Utssav studied and experimented with various methodologies from other lateral domains: product design, business design, financial modeling, and other fields. His quest took him beyond the boundaries of architecture, as he analyzed the entire business ecosystem, including hardcore business design concepts, understanding companies, and their innovations, startups, and how each company acted to advance their product, handled innovations, the challenges they faced, and their alternatives courses.

All of this brought a deep understanding of what companies go through while deciding on the innovation and fallacies attached. These discoveries led him further down the rabbit hole, and he began to consider business strategy in conjunction with design. This resulted in enormous architectural success, with the end-result serving as a source of renewal and rejuvenation for many clients.

In contrast to the positive effects of adopting innovative approaches, Utssav saw that the natural understanding of people about innovation is highly influenced by technology and product world. He also states that companies which chased innovation and were unable to achieve the right results; also ended up having a negative outlook towards it.

Simultaneously, Utssav built innovation frameworks that would eventually serve as models for his work. He developed the ‘Diagnostic Innovation’ framework, which begins with thorough understanding of the problem with a certain lens before proposing a solution, thereafter, designing the innovation strategy.

Furthermore, based on the strategy and establishment is key performance factors, it is finally converted into a measured problem model to review the impact of the entire paradigm – a three-step model that brings exceptionally sharp and result-oriented innovation.

From simple aesthetic-functional architectural designs, Utssav has evolved into a Turnaround Architect for Organizations. He is continually honing his intellectual side through studies and research, as well as a real-time practical application that yields results in all fields. He has mentored entrepreneurs in the science of invention, employing ‘Diagnostic Innovation’ models, and has contributed to the development of several organizations.

A Scholarly Author

Utssav has authored ‘REBOUND: How to bounce back with Strategic Innovations’, which was featured on worldauthors.org and was included in the Good Read list. ‘Rebound’ is a book that captures what every organization has gone through or is going through right now.

When an organization feels ousted, it is common for it to pursue growth. Utssav says – “for an unconventional theory and a distinctive way of looking at the same problem, the only tool is innovation. Given the status of the digital world in which we live, this term generates a torrent of emotions.”

“People have established the myth that innovation can only occur if the product is noticeably different from the competition, but that’s not the case in reality. This book presents a radically different perspective on what innovation is and what it means for businesses, and it begins to aid in the growth of new neurons in a person’s head when he pays attention to an issue that previously exhausted him,” he adds.

In response, this book reveals an alternative reality, and it will thus become one of the key collectibles for any entrepreneur wanting to perceive business differently. It catalyzes the thought process that reveals the other side.

In the book, Utssav has also penned the details about Creators Architects’ experience, describing how they turned things around by employing innovation as a foundation for completing the project. They demonstrated how the principle of innovation could result in miracles that are also functional.

Creators Architects – 2.0: A Quest for True Excellence

Creators Architects has reigned supreme in the architectural industry for the past 35 years. Under the leadership of his parents Mr. Rajiv Gupta and Mrs Mukta Gupta, with their progressive thinking, fondness for innovation, and customer success, they’ve raised their colors and established standards for their designs in the diverse sector. The firm revitalized and refurbished its business model to its vision, mission, and commitment to providing the best output in a changing landscape.

Utssav’s ideas, efforts, and methods for reinventing Creators Architects—to be at par with the changing industry landscape and the values of the profession—were profoundly rooted in innovative science, technology, and design, which supported them in sustaining their apex position in the market.

For Creators Architect, Utssav’s robust framework ‘Diagnostic Innovation’ was a masterstroke to the prevailing culture of excellence. The architecture approach is infused with ‘Diagnostic Innovation’, which is then integrated with other technical characteristics to build an ‘Outcome-driven Model.’ This is basically where they looked at architecture as a key strategic piece for client business and developed new disruptive typologies that deliver desired ROI for the client.

Utssav’s various approaches such as strategic masterminding, analyzing outside business plans before beginning projects, among others, resulted in success, client engagement, and market disruption. He was the driving force behind the relaunch, and his team oversaw putting Utssav’s vision into action. And now, Creator Architects have carved out a market niche for themselves, and the disruption they brought to their projects have been massive and unprecedented.

Creators Architects’ recent projects have included educational, cultural, commercial, institutional, healthcare, spiritual, mixed-use, and public realm architecture. The firm has been awarded several accolades for its innovation, few of them being “Most Innovative Architecture Studio” by Built Architectural Awards UK 2021, “Best Innovative Architects” by MSME India, and “Most Innovative Architecture and Design Firm of the Year 2021” by National Architectural and Interior Design Excellence Awards 2021 for Healthcare Projects, Institutional Projects, and Commercial Projects.

Black Swan Lab – Innovation Research

Utssav’s inclination towards constant research, experimentation and deployment for innovations was the genesis of innovation into practical application science through development of models that would serve entrepreneurs and businesses by making innovations easy and outcome driven for them.

The Black Swan Lab name is inspired from the Black Swan effect signifying that when innovation is at its best, it creates a positive singularity for the organizations leading to a catapulted growth or disruption. Looking beyond the conventional—the invisible side—is the key to BSL’s work.

At Black Swan Lab (BSL) Utssav carries out a series of activities like research, expropriations, prototyping, teaching, mastermind, keynote speaking, and discussion panels. The framework helps to understand latent areas of users and businesses, to develop models, products, and designs that cater to these invisible sides, and create successful outcomes.

With the ‘Diagnostic Innovation’ model, BSL has worked with broad industry bases like services (B2B design, B2B products, B2C services, high-risk services) and product industries like manufacturing in B2B space and high-stake products. BSL’s research is the backbone of Utssav’s own group of companies and other endeavors in its problem-solving innovations leading to turnaround and sustainable growth.

Supertech Fabrics – A New Gush of Innovation

Utssav is passionate about pushing the boundaries of innovation and expanding his framework outside the architecture industry. His innate inclination towards the need of continuously sharpening his skills, exploring his capabilities, and protecting the environment encouraged him to diversify and expand in other markets and industries.

Utssav’s inherent concerns for the environment, energy, and human life pushed him towards the path of becoming the Director of Supertech Fabrics Pvt. Ltd.

Supertech Fabric is a leading manufacturer and exporter of special high temperature filtration products, mainly PTFE Coated Fiber Glass Fabric, One Side Adhesive Tapes, Belts, Silicon Coated Fiber Glass Fabric, Filter Fabric (Woven& Non-Woven), Filter Bags etc.

After Utssav took over the company, he remodeled its operations and business strategies. Eventually, the innovation models were tweaked to outperform the competition by recognizing and addressing the industry’s unique demands and markets through expertise.

A Guide, A Thought Leader, and A Mentor

Utssav is a staunch believer of the notion that leadership entails inclusivity rather than dominance and attitude. He feels that having a more inclusive and democratic work culture will provide higher-quality solutions that will help the company succeed.

As made evident in the above details, Utssav’s innovation style is mostly centered on surfacing the unknown/latent aspects to the known and determining the facts of the situation, which he accomplishes through the usage of the ‘Diagnostic Innovation’ framework.

This style also brings his aspect of thought leadership into the spotlight when he asserts, “The torch of innovation can only be lit if the challenges can be quantified and measured so that the true impact can be understood.”

When it comes to imparting valuable knowledge and expertise he has gained and empowering others in that process, Utssav has also sculpted his identity as a master mentor. Through his mentorship programs titled ‘Mastermind’, ‘Big Think’, and ‘Special Ops’, Utssav enables a 360-degree turn in his mentees’ thinking and approach. As a result, they can visualize enhanced potential within their current ambitions through this revised perspective.

We at CIOLook believe that this story is just a short glimpse of Utssav’s voyage towards greatness, and that in the future, we’ll exhibiting more of his great contributions to architecture, innovation, and the world of business.

You can learn more about the impact that Utssav has achieved on his website and several mentee testimonials.