THE JURY

Dr. Abhay Bhadani is Joint Director at Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), New Delhi. Dr. Bhadani is actively involved in promoting Startups, Innovation and Entrepreneurship through various initiatives taken by STPI and MeitY. Dr. Bhadani earned his Ph.D. in Telecom and Decision Sciences from the Bharti School of Telecommunications and Management, IIT Delhi, and M.Tech (ICT) from Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of ICT, Gandhinagar.

In his previous assignments, he was working at a capacity of Head Sr. Director (Data Science) at Yatra.com. He carries more than a decade of experience in different Industries including healthcare, telecom, aviation, and hospitality. Dr. Bhadani has built and guided several cutting-edge products using NLP, Machine Learning, and Data Science. Some of the successful projects include E-mail Bot, Personalized Interactive Voice Response System, Chatbots, Information Retrieval Engines, Recommendation Systems, Anomaly Detection, Large Scale Dynamic Discounting, and a few other projects. Dr. Bhadani has also conducted several training programs in the area of Big Data, Analytics and Machine Learning at various institutes such as IIT Delhi, IIT Jodhpur, IIT ISM Dhanbad, IIIT Vadodara, IMI Delhi, JNU Delhi, DIAT Pune and many other places.

His research work has been presented at a few top conferences and journals around the Globe such as INFORMS, DSI, ACM Compute, SOM Conferences. In addition, he has published a few book chapters related to Big Data and NLP methods apart from a few journal papers and multiple conference papers. He is also an active reviewer for multiple journals such as Computers in Human Behaviour, Management Decision, and few others.

Dr. Gangopadhyay is known as the country’s best Professor for Organizational behaviour & Human Resource; Former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer is the Dean with Aegis School of Data Science & Cyber Security, He is also the Founding Dean of Indian Institute of Management(IIM), Indore; Former Dean of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (TISS); Prof. & Dean, School of Management & Labour studies

He was the Director, Central Labour Institute; Directorate General Factory Advice Service & Labour Institutes under the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India. He served as Professor in Behavioural sciences at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy; Hyderabad; He was Scientist at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, New Delhi.

He also worked as the national expert with International Labour Organization (ILO) and Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Tokyo; hD (Kolkata); PG Dip (IIT, Kharagpur).

Dr. Adriano Barbosa has received his PhD in Bioinformatics by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) after training at the Structural and Computational Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg (Germany). Then, he conducted a Postdoc training at the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin (Germany) at the Computational Biology and Data Mining Group.

Between 2013-2018, Dr. Adriano Barbosa worked as Research Associate at the Bioinformatics Core of the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine at the University of Luxembourg, where he participated as scientific collaborator of the EU/EFPIA IMI projects eTRIKS, AETIONOMY and BioCOG.

Currently, Dr. Adriano Barbosa is a UKRI (MRC) Rutherford Fund Innovation Fellow and Lecturer at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the Queen Mary University of London (William Harvey Research Institute). He is also PC member of the International Society for Computational Biology’s ISMB and member of the project management committee at the Informatics for Integrating Biology & the Bedside (i2b2 tranSMART) Foundation.

Dr. Ajay K. Garg is a distinguished Professor of Finance and Accounting at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow, with a professional tenure spanning nearly three decades. Currently serving as the Dean (Faculty) at IIM Lucknow, he has held several pivotal roles within the institution, including Chairperson for the MBA program, Executive Education, Student Affairs, Placements, and Alumni Affairs. Notably, Dr. Garg was instrumental in the establishment of IIM Sirmaur, overseeing its initial two years and has been a member of its Board of Governors since 2016.

In addition to his academic contributions, Dr. Garg is a founding member of the Centre for Public Policy at IIM Lucknow. He has been affiliated with significant projects such as Arth Ganga, the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship, and the creation of SOPs for UP 112 during the Covid Pandemic. His expertise was further recognized when he was appointed as a member of a Judicial Commission by the Governor of UP to probe the RiverFront scam.

Mr. Akhil Kumar Gawar is a Director with the Government of Telangana currently looking after food processing in the Department of Industries and Commerce. He is also leading the Telangana State Food processing Society. As per his current role, he is responsible for framing the state policy for promotion of food processing industries and food preservation infrastructure.

He is working with Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation to build a Mega food park and various industrial parks in the state for food processing industries. Mr. Akhil also works closely with Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) to promote upcoming startups in agri-tech and food processing space.

He brings extensive and diverse experience from the private sector having worked with large and well known companies in healthcare and FMCG domain. He has an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and did his undergraduate from IIT Delhi as an electrical engineering major.

Alex is a member of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Executive Board and has responsibility for the delivery of the external digital services MOT and Theory Test the world’s largest online computer-based test. He leads the delivery of 3 major Agile digital programs of work in DVSA, MOT Testing Transformation, Future Theory Test Service and Brexit Haulage Permits.  He is a strong advocate of user experience based developments, adopting Agile methodologies across the whole end-to-end service delivery model. He has successfully led the MOT team through a transformation journey moving to Cloud Based Computing, enabling bring your own device for the 80k users and significantly reducing the operating costs of the service.

Alex has a background as an Executive Director and organisational leader of large-scale operations across Great Britain. Proven track-record as SRO in transforming operational, and ICT business functions to drive value and service improvement.  A natural leader of projects and programs, delivering robust solutions in cross sector Government Agencies and with partners in areas such as Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Northern Ireland Operator Licensing, London Cycle Safety Initiative and Lorry Road User Levy.  A strong networker, experienced public speaker, and confident operator in cross party committees on transport topics. Alex has advised a number of overseas Government Agencies on transformation programs.

Dr. Aloknath De was the corporate vice president of Samsung Electronics and former chief technology officer of Samsung R&D Institute India in Bangalore where he was responsible for Samsung’s IoT Data Platform and Advanced Service.

Dr. De is considered one of the “Most Influential CIO/CTOs of India.” He is a recipient of the Alexander Graham Bell Prize in Canada. He has also received IETE Memorial Awards for distinguished contributions in Electronics and Communications, IDC Insights Award for Innovation in Telecom, and the Zinnov Intrapreneur of the Year award. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of IE, IETE, and Indian National Academy of Engg (INAE).

Dr. De promotes science and technology linkage through IP creation, startup collaboration, and innovative solutions. In addition to more than 30 years of industrial and research experience, including BEL, Nortel (Montreal), Hughes and with ST-Ericsson where he was country director, he served as a visiting professor with IIT-Roorkee and IIT-Delhi from 2005 to 2011. Dr. De holds a B.Tech. from IIT, Kharagpur, an M.E. from IISc, Bangalore, and a Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal.

Amar Sapra is a distinguished academic in the field of Production and Operations Management, holding the prestigious IIMB Chair of Excellence. His educational journey is marked by impressive credentials, including a PhD in Supply Chain Management from Cornell University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Roorkee. Before his current role, he enriched his teaching experience at notable institutions such as the University of Florida and Cornell University in the United States.

Professor Sapra is renowned for his expertise in Supply Chain Management, Pricing, and Inventory Management. His scholarly contributions are evident in his publications in top-tier journals like Operations Research and Manufacturing and Service Operations Management. He is also a published author, co-authoring “Principles of Inventory Management: When You Are Down to Four, Order More,” a significant contribution to his field, published by Springer in 2010. Recognized for his research prowess, he has been honored as a “Young Faculty Research Chair” at IIMB. Additionally, he extends his expertise beyond academia, serving as an independent director at Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd since 2017.

Mr. Amitabh Satyam is the Chief Mentor & Chairman at Smart Transformations. He advises government agencies and corporations on deployments of Smart ideas and solutions. He has recently authored the book “The Smart City Transformations’, along with the co-author Dr Igor Calzada of the University of Oxford. Earlier, as the Managing Partner at SAP, he advised top global clients of SAP on digital transformations of their businesses.

At IBM he was the Global Consulting Leader for Telecom for four years.  He advised on business strategy, technology architecture, applications framework, and operations methodology for global customers covering all the continents. He also established IoT practice area and the center of competence and led the key global the deals.  For two years, prior to this role, Amitabh was the business leader for a large, $1bn telecom contract. His earlier roles include Managing Director at MobiApps, Vice President for Telecom Services at Siemens, National Head of Operations at Reliance Infocomm, and Financial Analyst at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

A graduate of IIT Kanpur with an MBA from Fisher College of Business, USA. Mr. Amitabh has taught in the USA for four years – at The Ohio State University where he received the Hazel S. Brown Teaching Excellence award and at Rider University.

Amit Bhatt is the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) Managing Director for India. He has more than 20 years of management, urban planning, and transportation expertise and is located in New Delhi. Amit spent 12 years as the Executive Director for Integrated Transport at WRI India before to joining ICCT. He has held positions at Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services and the Urban Mass Transit Company, two of India’s top urban transportation consultancies. Additionally, he has worked as an adjunct professor at the New Delhi School of Planning and Architecture. Amit graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi with a bachelor’s in architecture and a master’s in transportation planning.  Amit also holds a certificate in transport economics and management in addition to a master’s degree in economics.

Dr. Anandhi Ramachandran, Professor at International Institute of Health Management Research, Delhi India is a Healthcare Profession with 25+ years of experience that spans academics, research, training and healthcare software designing & development. She has cross cutting education and work experiences in the field of bioinformatics, information technology, business management and public health informatics. She is also the nodal faculty for Centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and program director of Fellowship program in management at IIHMR. Dr. Anandhi is associated with many National and International bodies of Digital Health and Telemedicine. She has published many scholarly articles, invited to present papers in International conferences and has a well-funded research track. Prof Anandhi’s focus is on health system strengthening by integrating the ever evolving technology into healthcare practices with particular focus on design, implementation and evaluation of digital health technologies for delivering effective and quality healthcare.

Mr. Anil Kumar Jain is currently the CEO of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) is a non-profit Company incorporated under Section 25 of the India Companies Act, 1956 (now section 8 under Companies Act 2013) with an objective of facilitating improved internet services in the country.

Having spent 36 years in various telecommunication roles, Mr. Jain is an expert in internet, broadband and telecom sectors. Some of the organizations he has been associated with include BSNL, MTNL and the Department of Telecommunications, India. Mr. Jain was on the board of NIXI for over 12 years before he took up the role of CEO just last year. His aim is to make the internet accessible and beneficial to every individual in our country. His aim is to make inclusive growth of Internet with easy accessibility, always available, affordable and helpful in official & home work environment.

Anil is Founder and Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures. He has been one of the pioneers of angel investments in India as head of operations and President at Mumbai Angels and Bangalore Angels, leading Angel Investment forums in India. Anil has helped close approximately 60 venture-financing deals and was directly involved in closure of over 25 deals. Anil has served on the Board of 5 companies and is involved with various incubation centers as mentor in India as well as internationally.

Prior to joining Mumbai Angels, he headed new projects and investment in start-ups with Artheon Group, a Telecom, IT & Energy group. His early career started with heading a branch office at Century Rayon, B.K. Birla Group Company, after which he moved to Business Access India Pvt. Ltd. providing consulting services to Scandinavian companies from diverse sectors establishing their presence in the Asian markets. Then he moved to Transasia Biomedical Ltd., India’s largest manufacturer and exporter of bio-medical equipment.

Anil graduated in Engineering and Post-Graduation in Management (Marketing) and PGDBM in Strategic Finance and Control.

Dr. Anita is an alum of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi with Ph.D in Engineering and also alum of MANIT Bhopal and NIT Raipur. She possesses over 25 years+ of professional experience in Management of various initiatives of Government of India on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Startups and Incubation at premier Technology Institutes with Pan India coverage. She has played a pivotal role in horizontal and vertical growth of incubators and tech based startups in the country, Dr. Anita has been a lead catalyst in establishing over 175 technology business incubators at various Institutions. She has been instrumental in carving out and implementing National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI) program by DST. As a rapid response to tackle pandemic of Covid, she rolled out a program CAWACH (Centre for Augmenting War on Covid19 Health Crisis) to scout and support indigenous solutions led by startups, enabling faster market deployment.

She is currently heading Climate, Energy and Sustainable Technology Division in DST with focus on  nurturing research and innovation for climate change adaptation and mitigation, decarbonization pathways, water technologies etc. The landscape of clean energy projects to steer Research, Development and Demonstration encompasses Solar Energy, Energy Storage, Hydrogen, Clean coal technologies, Methanol demo plants, Alternate fuels, Smart Grids, Building Energy Efficiency, Sustainable cooling and Carbon Capture , Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies. Few Bilateral /Multilateral projects have also been initiated in Clean energy domain i.e. Solar Energy, Smart grids, Hydrogen and CCUS. She also represents India in the Global platform , Mission Innovation(MI) , where  DST is the nodal department  from GoI   in MI.

Ms. Anjali Dhingra workes a General Manager with National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI). NICSI was established in 1995 as a section-8 (erstwhile section-25) company under National Informatics Centre, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India for providing and procuring IT solutions for multiple e-governance projects undertaken by NIC, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Governments and Government Organizations.

NICSI is a leading IT company with a government facing focus and more than 23 years of experience in assisting government organizations by providing state of art and cost effective solutions for all their growing ICT needs. These solutions are delivered through purchase of products and services from high quality vendors, empanelled with NICSI/GeM. NICSI’s procurement processes are fully compliant with GFR rules of Government of India.

Ms. Anju Sharma is a member of the prestigious Indian Administrative Service and has been serving in the Government at senior leadership positions for more than 26 years. She served as Principal Secretary, Higher & Technical Education (H&TE), Government of Gujarat. She has received several awards, viz., the ‘Prime Minister’s Award for Administrative Excellence for implementing the Sickle Cell Anemia Control Program in the State (2011)’, ‘Individual Contribution Award for Health Insurance Scheme – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) (2011)’, ‘NASSCOM Social Innovation Leaders Award’, ‘National E Governance Award’, ‘E World Award for the project e-Mamta-MCTS (2012)’, and ‘India Tech Award for the project e-Mamta-MCTS (2012)’ .

She has authored two books – ‘I of the Storm – Discover your true self’ and ‘Corporate Monk – A Journey from Wealth to Wisdom’. Currently, Ms Sharma is Principal Secretary, Labour, Employment and Skill Department, Government of Gujarat

Dr. Arun Pulikkottil Jose is an eminent figure in the field of digital health and public health in India. He currently holds the position of Head at the BRIDGE Centre for Digital Health, part of the Centre for Chronic Disease Control in New Delhi. His educational background is impressive, with an MD in Community Medicine and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management of Reproductive and Child Health Programmes, gained from the IIPH and UNICEF. Moreover, Dr. Jose is expanding his expertise by pursuing a PhD in Translational Research at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

His career has been marked by significant contributions to digital health initiatives, especially through his role at the BRIDGE Centre for Digital Health. Dr. Jose has led projects like Digisahayam, an assisted telemedicine initiative implemented across various regions in India, and numerous digital education programs for health professionals. His dedication to healthcare equity, particularly in the digital realm, is evident in his leadership in various initiatives. He has also played pivotal roles in international healthcare, including being the Deputy Chair of the South & West Asia, Middle East Regional Advisory Group of the International Society of Hypertension and leading the society’s May Measurement Month initiative. Furthermore, Dr. Jose is involved in several prestigious committees and has been recognized for his contributions with awards and fellowships, such as the NIH funded Global Public Health Leader fellowship. His work has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks.

ANURAG S. RATHORE is an Institute Chair Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. He is also the Coordinator for the DBT COE for Biopharmaceutical Technology. His previous roles included management positions at Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, California, USA, and Pharmacia Corp., St. Louis, Missouri, USA. His areas of interest include process development, scale-up, technology transfer, process validation, biosimilars, continuous processing, process analytical technology and quality by design. He has authored more than 700 publications and presentations in these areas. He is presently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Preparative Biochemistry and Biotechnology and Associate Editor for Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology. He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards for Biotechnology Progress, Electrophoresis, BioPharm International, Electrophoresis, Journal of Chromatography B, Journal of Chromatography Open, Pharmaceutical Technology Europe, and Separation and Purification Reviews. Dr. Rathore has edited six books, namely Preparative Chromatography for Separation of Proteins and Peptides (2017), Process Validation in Manufacturing of Biopharmaceuticals (2012 and 2005), Quality by Design for Biopharmaceuticals: Perspectives and Case Studies (2009), Elements of Biopharmaceutical Production (2007), Electrokinetic phenomena: Principles and Applications in Analytical Chemistry and Microchip Technology (2004) and Scale-up and Optimization in Preparative Chromatography (2003). He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Yale University. Prof. Rathore is presently serving as Dean, Corporate Relations, at IIT Delhi.

Cdr Anurag Vibhuti, is the Deputy Director at Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE) India, established in 2007-08 as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to promote collaboration between Academic Institutions, Telecom Industry and Government with the objective of creating an eco-system for sustainable growth of Telecom Sector in the country.  TCOE India is a not-for-profit Society, under DoT, to promote Innovation & Entrepreneurship, generation of IPRs and position India as a global leader in ICT innovation for Make in India and Digital India Initiatives.

The 5G Hackathon and Digital Communications Innovation Square (DCIS), Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) & bharatdigicom.in portal of DoT are also steered through TCOE India for benefit of the telecom ecosystem. He is also in the execution team of DoT for “Making India 5G ready” and does policy advocacy for Start-up/SMEs in Digital communications space in India. He also steered VC funded program called Innovation in Mobile Application Development Ecosystem (I-MADE) across more than 750 Universities and colleges in India and passionate about mentoring start-ups.

An Ex-NDA, he holds a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. He has over three and half decades of experience in technology innovations & management in Digital communications technology.

Cdr Anurag Vibhuti, is the Deputy Director at Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE) India, established in 2007-08 as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to promote collaboration between Academic Institutions, Telecom Industry and Government with the objective of creating an eco-system for sustainable growth of Telecom Sector in the country.  TCOE India is a not-for-profit Society, under DoT, to promote Innovation & Entrepreneurship, generation of IPRs and position India as a global leader in ICT innovation for Make in India and Digital India Initiatives.

The 5G Hackathon and Digital Communications Innovation Square (DCIS), Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) & bharatdigicom.in portal of DoT are also steered through TCOE India for benefit of the telecom ecosystem. He is also in the execution team of DoT for “Making India 5G ready” and does policy advocacy for Start-up/SMEs in Digital communications space in India. He also steered VC funded program called Innovation in Mobile Application Development Ecosystem (I-MADE) across more than 750 Universities and colleges in India and passionate about mentoring start-ups.

An Ex-NDA, he holds a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. He has over three and half decades of experience in technology innovations & management in Digital communications technology.

Mr Arvind Bali CEO of Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), TSSC is committed to developing world class skilled manpower for the Indian Telecom industry. Established in 2013, TSSC is a not for profit organization set up with funding support of NSDC through Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Industry Associations.

Mr. Bali headed Videocon Telecom and is actively involved in Business Development, Project Management & Telecom Infrastructure Development. An accomplished business leader, Mr. Bali has 30+ year’s expertise in management of various business streams ranging from telecom, plant & operations, manufacturing & utilities with globally respected outcomes. He possesses capabilities of transforming under-performing organizations with powerful analytical skills, potent communication capability & strategic vision.

Prof. Aggarwal has been working on issues related to sustainable management and public policy for more than fifteen years. During this period, he has worked with academic and policy research organisations like University of Manchester; IIED, London and The Energy and Resources Institute. He has successfully completed several research projects sponsored by World Bank, UNFF, JICA, DFID, GIZ, Government of India, various state governments and multinational and public sector companies.

He has advised central and state governments and corporates on sustainable development, climate change and corporate social responsibility issues in India. He is a reviewer of sixth assessment report and contributing author to fifth assessment report of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Prof Aggarwal has a PhD from University of Manchester and an MPhil from University of Cambridge, UK

Mr. Ashutosh Sharma is a seasoned banker with over 18 years of expertise, having served in various global financial hubs. His extensive experience spans international banking, strategy, institutional banking, capital markets, and transaction banking. Currently at IFSCA, Ashutosh plays a pivotal role in shaping GIFT-IFSC as a prominent financial center, both regionally and globally. He has been instrumental in formulating key regulations and spearheading strategic initiatives like Global In-house Centers and Aircraft leasing. Prior to IFSCA, he held a significant position at ICICI Bank in Hong Kong, overseeing institutional relationships for the APAC & Americas regions and leading the bank’s foreign currency borrowing endeavors. An alumnus of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Ashutosh specialized in Finance and Strategy. He also possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.

Dr. Ashok Alur has a PhD in Agriculture and also holds a MBA & a Post Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension Management. He has undergone over 10 national & international executive development & management development programs in India and abroad. He has over two decades of experience in different areas such as Higher Education, NRM, Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural Development, International Cooperation, Food Security, policy Advocacy, Institutional Development, Entrepreneurship Development and promotion aevelopment of FPOs etc.

He is currently serving as Founder Director Centre of Excellence for Farmer Producer Organizations catering to over 1200 FPOs in Karnataka, carving the state policy for FPO, Developing a common brand for FPOs. He is also the Head of NRM Division at University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot. He has also served as Vice Chancellor at Anantapur(Andhra Pradesh); Special Officer & Professor at UHS Bagalkot; Project Coordinator at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT); Program Coordinator & Head, Sustainable Agriculture in Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation & Team Member in Agriculture-Man-Ecology, a bilateral program of Govt. of Netherlands & India. He is instrumental in setting up of 2 new universities at Bagalkot and Anantapur,setting up of advance various advance research centres under horticultural University.He also facilitated over 25 institutional collaborations with national and international organizations. He has led the team of experts for Land Resource Inventorization of 300 micro watersheds, development of resources atlas & Decision Support Systems for land & water management. He spear-headed an international joint initiative of ICRISAT-FAO-CFC (Common Fund for Commodities) for promoting value chain across cereals & millets in Asia & contributed for the development of innovative institutional model for the collaborative development of agriculture sector. He was instrumental in implementing Indo-Swiss Participative Watershed Development -Karnataka & Natural Resources Management Programs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by promoting participative & collaborative approaches in Natural Resources Management & Watershed Development.

Asim Tewari is G.K. Devarajulu Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He formerly worked as a staff researcher at GM’s Global R&D unit in Bangalore. IIT Kanpur awarded him a B. Tech degree, followed by MS and Ph.D. degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked at the National Aerospace Laboratories in Bangalore for a short time after finishing his doctorate. After that, he worked as an assistant professor at IIT Kanpur before joining the General Motors Global R&D centre in Bangalore.

At IIT Bombay he has been instrumental in setting up the National Center for Aerospace Innovation and Research and Center for Technical Textiles. He has also worked as a co-investigator at the Center for Excellence in Steel Technology and the Biomedical Engineering and Technology (Incubation) Centre. He has built several advanced state-of-the-art facilities, including an advanced machining excellence cell, a fibre composite research lab, a 4D x-ray microscopy lab with in-situ thermo-mechanical deformation capabilities, a thermo-mechanical simulation experimental lab, and a Nano-characterization texture lab. He’s also started a research group focused on smart manufacturing, machine learning, data-analytics and IoT for various sectors including manufacturing, transportation, and defense.

His personal area of research is in mathematical models for microstructural-mechanics. He has over 100 international journal & conference publications and 10 international patents. His pioneering work in 3D microscopy has been widely cited, including reproduction in ASM handbooks. He is on the editorial board of several international Journals including Metallurgical and Materials Transactions and Image Analysis & Stereology. He is an advisory committee member for various national & international research boards and has won several awards and recognition for his research and teaching.

Dr. Archana G Gulati was the Joint Secretary, Digital Communications, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. While designing strategic and long term policies and programmes for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States. Hon’ble Prime Minister of India is the chairman of NITI Aayog.

She is Indian Civil Services officer of the 1989 batch. Dr Gulati is known as Information Communication Technology (ICT) policy and regulation expert. She is the Financial Adviser to the Government of India for more than 25 years. She served as Head of Merger Control, Competition Commission of India. She has implemented successful and recognized e-Government initiatives and Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) schemes.

Dr Gulati has served as an expert on Universal Service policy with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Mr. Ashish Narayan is Programme Coordinator in the ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. His work primarily involves implementing human capacity building initiatives undertaken by ITU in the region and is presently the coordinator for the ITU Asia Pacific Centres of Excellence Network. He has been actively involved with policy, regulatory and training assignments under ITU’s programs in Asia-Pacific countries.

Prior to the ITU, Mr. Narayan worked as Deputy Advisor in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. During his tenure in the TRAI, he worked on key telecom sector reform issues. He began his career with the Tata Telecom, an equipment manufacturer, before moving to the Indian Government Service. He has also worked with the Indian public service broadcaster in the area of broadcast engineering.

Mr. Narayan holds an MBA Degree in International Business and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.

Dr Modi is the Assistant Professor at Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department, IIT Kanpur (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur). His  research are areas of Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Previously, he worked at Disney Research (DR), Los Angeles. At DR, he conducted research in multi-modal Affective computing, Conversational Systems and Natural Language Understanding (NLU).

He did his Ph.D. at Saarland University, Germany under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Manfred Pinkal and Dr. Ivan Titov. He was associated with Department of Computational Lingusitics, MultiModal Cluster Initiative (MMCI) and Department of Computer Science.

Dr. Avik Sarkar is Faculty at the Indian School of Business working in the areas of Data, Emerging Technology and Public Policy. At ISB, Dr Sarkar is heading the development of the India Data Portal, one stop portal for analysis and visualization of government data and working on the societal & policy aspects related to use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence trustworthiness, ethics, data privacy, e-commerce policy, etc. Dr. Sarkar was the former Head of Data Analytics Cell and Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog) premier policy think-tank of the Government of India.  At NITI Aayog, Dr. Sarkar helped in developing India’s first AI Strategy and roadmap for use of data, analytics and artificial intelligence for Governance, Policymaking across various sectors for India’s inclusive growth and led efforts towards setting up the first High-Performance Computing based Data Analytics Lab and Energy Modeling Unit at NITI Aayog.

Dr Ravindran is a Microbiologist from JIPMER Pondicherry and Delhi University and later in Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and University of Connecticut Health Centre, USA. He worked as a scientist with Indian Council of Medical Research for more than two decades and currently heading the Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, an autonomous research institution under Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt of India. His Scientific interests include Immunology of infectious diseases such as Malaria, Filariasis and Sepsis, regulation of inflammation and macrophage biology in infectious diseases, evolution of immune system in mammals. His laboratory uses experimental animals as well as pathogen exposed humans as model systems. He has been an active member of a large global consortium of investigators from Universities and Research institutions in UK, USA, Germany, France, Netherlands, Malaysia and Indonesia for nearly a decade working on Immuno-biology of Metazoan pathogens. He has been a visiting Professor/Visiting Scientist at University Edinburgh, University of Bonn, Pasteur Institute at Lille during the last 10 years. His group has published about 90 scientific papers in International journals. Over the last three decades 18 PhD and 16 MD students worked with him and successfully completed their degrees. Current the strength of my laboratory is 3 PhD students, 2 post doctoral fellow and one woman scientist. In recent years he has spend much of time serving as a member of Board of Governors and in Scientific Advisory Committees of several Research institutions and functioning as a peer-reviewer for several scientific journals and funding agencies in India and abroad

Balaji Parthasarathy is Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB)  and a co-founder of the Institute’s Center for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP). His interests focus on the relationships between technological change and innovation, economic globalization, and social transformation. Within this broad focus, his work follows two threads. One thread examines the impacts of public policies and firm strategies on the social and spatial organization of production in the ICT (information and communications technology) industry. Another thread deals with ICTs for Development or ICTD. Here, his interests lie in understanding how ICTs are deployed in various domains of activity to transform social relationships, especially in underprivileged contexts.

Sh. Bhupendra Singh Awasya is a Scientist for more than 14 years at Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. He has a rich experience in the domain of cyber security across various areas spanning incident handling & response, reverse engineering, VAPT, forensics, product evaluations, working with law enforcement agencies across countries and designed & implemented datacentre security architecture for CSK at CERT-In.

He has published a research paper in Springer International Conference on Information Systems Security on “Honeypot Deployment in Broadband Networks” and a comparative study paper on “Security posture of Banking financial institutes in India” at the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) conference.

He has also pursued industry certifications from SANS Institute in the domain of cyber security like GCIH (GIAC Certified Incident Handler), GREM (GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware), GCFA (GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst) and CERT/CC Insider Threat Program Manager. Currently, he holds the position of Director, Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK), a citizen centric cyber security project under the aegis of CERT-In, operated as a part of the Govt. of India’s Digital India initiative under MeitY. CSK extends the vision of “Swachh Bharat” to the Cyber Space, enhancing cyber hygiene awareness among citizens, detecting botnet/malware infections, notifying/enabling cleaning and securing end users systems by providing Free security tools. He is also advising more than 500 organizations from various critical infrastructure sectors to enhance and maintain their cyber security posture. He is a member of various Project review and steering committees for the projects funded by the Govt. of India and member of various Special Interest Groups operated by Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST).

Mr Bhupesh Daheria is known in education reform leader with 20 years experience in the field. His career is focused on eradicating the birth penalty through offering quality education to the masses at affordable cost. He founded Aegis School of Business, Data Science, Cyber Security & Telecommunication in 2002 with the support of Bharti Airtel; India’s top telecom firm for developing the next generation leaders.

Under his guidance in 2011 launched India’s first mMBA on tablet on Mobile University platform which was unveiled by Mr Sachin Pilot, former Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications & IT, Government of India.

Aegis joined hands with IBM which now known as the best program in Data Science and 2017 launched India’s first PGP program in CyberSecurity. Mr. Daheria is founder and Chief Organizer of Aegis Graham Bell Awards In 2013, He launched mUniversity (known as mUni Campus)– An open market place and delivery platform for the masses. His mission to launch mUni Campus is to make education accessible to all by eliminating geographical and financial constraints.

Mr. Bishow Parajuli took office as United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director to India on 1st September 2019. Mr. Parajuli brings 35 years of distinguished experiences in development, humanitarian affairs, diplomacy, fund raising, and management in over 10 countries in Asia, Middle East and Africa, including WFP headquarters in Rome.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr Parajuli served for the past five years in Zimbabwe as the UN Resident Coordinator and Designated Official of the UN Secretary General and also as the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Prior to joining the UN in Zimbabwe, Mr. Parajuli served as the UN World Food Programme Representative and Country Director in Yemen from 2013 to 2014 and in WFP HQ in Rome, as the Chief of Staff, Director of the Executive Directors Office, as well as the Director of Government Donor Relations. From 2008 to 2011, Mr Parajuli worked as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Myanmar. Prior to Myanmar, Mr. Parajuli was the WFP Representative and Country Director in Egypt. He has also served in various positions in WFP offices in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Botswana and its HQ in Italy. Bishow holds two Masters degrees in Agricultural Development and in Business Administration and an Honors degree in Agricultural Science.

Mr. Sonowal is an innovator and most influential business development leader with more than 20 years of experience. Introduced and established SMART Technologies in India as its Managing Director, worked as different leadership role with business giants Like Microsoft, IBM, Tata Steel.

He is known for his experience in managing independent business entities for a wide portfolio of enterprise, commercial and consumer products in the ICT Industry. An Engineer and an MBA from IIM, Bangalore.

He leads an EdTech startup – Coretouch, which was founded in 2015. Coretouch help educators and learners explore the world of limitless imagination and creativity with our tools and technologies. Their interactive and digital classroom solutions, powered by patented touch technologies make learning immersive and fun.

Dr. C. Krishna Mohan is currently a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Dean of Public and Corporate Relations at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad), India.

Prof Krishna Mohan heads Visual Learning and Intelligence Lab (VIGIL) at IIT Hyderabad working in the research areas of video content analysis, computer vision, machine learning, deep learning. He is a recipient of Excellence in Teaching Award, in recognition of distinguished teaching in the year 2018 at IIT Hyderabad. He has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences proceedings. He has guided several Ph.D., Masters, and Undergraduate students

Mr. Chanchal has worked in engineering and IT firms for more than 30 years. He is a detail-oriented professional. He has worked with significant, well-known, and top MNCs and has been instrumental in both consulting and programmes for digital transformation. Currently cofounder of MKBS Solutions, a Mumbai-based business process consulting and programme management firm. He is a proactive leader with knowledge in strategy planning, project execution, and account management. Mr. Chancal has done his education at reputed institutions like the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, and the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology.

Chetna Gala Sinha is a passionate listener who respects risk-takers — which makes her a powerful force in the banking world. A longtime activist and farmer, in 1997 she set up the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, Indias first bank for and by rural women. Today, the Mann Deshi Bank has 100,000 account holders, has loaned over $70 million and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs. In 2006, Sinha founded the first business school for rural women in India, and in 2013, she launched a toll-free helpline and the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country. In 2012, she set up a community empowerment program for farmers that supports water conservation; it has built ten check dams and impacted 50,000 people. In January 2018, Sinha served as a co-chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and later that year, she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar – the highest civilian award for women in India – by the President of India.  Mann Deshi has supported over half a million women and aims to reach one million women by 2024.

Prof. D. Janakiram is presently the Director of Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), an Institute established by the Reserve Bank of India. A Ph.D. from IIT Delhi, he was awarded the Boyscast Fellowship in 1997, the IBM
Faculty Award in 2007 and Yahoo Faculty Grant in 2009. He is a Board Member of IIIT Kurnool and Senate Member of IIIT Trichy. He has
served as Board of Studies member in several Universities including VIT University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Anna University, Gujarat Technical University, Andhra University, SV University, JNTU, Hyderabad, JNTU, Kakinada and Academic Council member of Hindustan University. Having authored over 150 research papers, Prof. Janakiram is the editor of six books. His books on Grid Computing (2005); Building Large Scale Software Systems (2013), and Grid and Cloud Computing (2016) are very well received. He was an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, editor of CSI Journal of Computing, Executive Council member of Cloud Innovation Council, and a fellow of Computer Society of India. He was involved in starting several conferences including the IEEE Cloud Computing for Emerging Markets (CCEM) and Urban Data Science (UDS). He has guided 14 Ph.D., over 36 M.S (Research), and 70 M.Tech. students. He has steered many nationally-important research projects with success. He was the principal investigator for a number of projects including MobiTel: Mobile Telemedicine for rural India (Indo-German Project), Peer-to-peer Concept Search (Indo-Italian collaborative project), Service Oriented Architecture for Linux Kernel (DIT) and Cloud Bursting Architecture for Document Workflow (Xerox) and has incubated two companies in the cloud computing space.

The mix between having an entrepreneurial spirit, inspirational drive and his expert knowledge within the combined fields of robotics and healthcare application of robotics solution, makes him the main resource for pushing forward on obstacles the ROGAMO project inevitably will encounter.

His Industrial PhD in robotics and Artificial Intelligence was in collaboration with Centre for Robot Technology at the Danish Technological Institute (a Danish National Technology Institute) and Department of Control and Automation at Aalborg University, Denmark (view PhD and related scientific papers). It included six months as a guest researcher at the Centre for Cognitive Computing at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, USA. Besides his industrial PhD, Søren Tranberg holds a Master’s in Computer Science (Cand.IT) from the IT University of Denmark. His thesis won several awards and an “Outstanding execution of an IT related thesis” by The Danish Society of Engineers.

During his early career, Søren Tranberg developed skills in various programming software, primarily Java and .NET. Later on, he worked as a consultant at the Danish Technological Institute with responsibilities including research, product development and fundraising for the areas of robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Søren Tranberg has been involved in several software related start-ups as a co-founder, but also worked for large internationally oriented enterprises and public entities, including Invest in Denmark, the national Danish investment promotion agency, where he started developing an understanding for the commercial aspects of how to convey technical ideas into successful business ventures.

David has worked in mobile network engineering for 35 years, his experience includes standards, rollout and optimization, networking and security, analytics, and machine learning. He began his career at the Mobile Systems Division, British Telecom Research Laboratories in Martlesham Heath, UK, and worked in the UK, Europe, the US and Hong Kong and around Asia. At GSMA he is responsible for coordinating various mobile industry technology initiatives, including 5G, AI and IoT in the APAC region. David is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a Chartered Engineer.

Dr. Debapriya Dutta completed his Ph.D from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and joined the National Agricultural Research Service of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He served as Scientist in the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun. He was appointed as the Counselor (Science and Technology) in the Embassy of India, Washington D.C.during 2008-2012. Currently, he is serving as Head and Adviser/Scientist ‘G’ in the Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED) division of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Dr. Deepankar Roy is an Associate Professor in National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune, India. He holds M.Tech in Computer Application from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Dhanbad) and Ph.D in Payment Systems from Department of Management, Savitribai Phule Pune University,India. His research interests are in the domain of Digital Transformation, Digital Financial Services, FinTech and ICT Management. He has published papers in peer reviewed journals. He provides consultancy services to banks and conducts training programs for senior management of banks and financial institutions in the areas of Digital Banking, Blockchain Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security and Financial Inclusion. He also handles courses for Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Banking and Financial Services) students at NIBM in above mentioned areas. He has the following two  honours to his credit : 1)Was invited to a panel discussion on ‘To CBDC or not to CBDC…?’ by Federal Reserve Bank of New York(FRBNY) in New York city during June 2023. This panel was part of a Compliance conference organized by FRBNY where there were participation by Central Bankers from different countries, 2)Provided guidance to Ministry of Finance, Government of India for creating a concept paper/cabinet note for facilitating cashless payments in India during May-June 2015

Chatur Ideas is the inception of first ever dynamic, multifarious online platform, which will engage, counsel, and interconnect the entrepreneurial breed of India to investors, financiers, and mentors in a controlled investment friendly ecosystem. Devesh has been a seasoned wealth manager managing ultra HNI clients including some of the most reputed CXO’s and wealthy family business owners in India and overseas. He is also on the Mentor Panel of Eureka which is Asia’s largest Business Model Competition held at IIT. His excellence has been rewarded with various awards and he stands successfully as the Best Advisor and Most Efficient Leader. He is committed to add value to the start-up segment and revolutionize entrepreneurship picture in India.

Mr. Dilip was the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has leads the permanent secretariat of the industry chamber, which is the largest and oldest apex business organization in India, and a potent voice for policy change. FICCI represents over 2,50,000 members through Member Bodies covering all the States of India.

Before joining FICCI, He served as Managing Director & CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). NSDC fosters private sector investment and initiatives in training and skill development.

He has also worked in several key industry organizations, including SIAM as its Director General. He was a member of the Harvard Business School project under Professor Michael Porter that worked on the competitiveness of Indian industry. With varied experiences of working in the private sector, he advices start-ups including organizations in the digital, education, skills and livelihood space. He has also served as Chairman of an Engineering Institute.

A fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science (WAPS), he was awarded the Indian Achievers Award in 2018, The Game Changer Award in 2015 and the Rashtriya Media Ratan Award in 2013.

Disha is currently involved with The Council’s research on India’s power sector legislation and institutional framework, evaluation of renewable energy policies/schemes, scaling up bioenergy applications, and economic recovery strategies post COVID-19. She has more than eight years of experience in policy and regulations to accelerate India’s renewable energy transition, providing technical assistance to stakeholders, facilitating policy dialogues and collaborations, grant-making, and raising philanthropic funds.

Prior to joining The Council, she was the Associate Director at Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation leading national and state-level initiatives aimed at accelerating climate change mitigation and improving urban air quality. She has contributed to several initiatives and committees of the Government of India, including the State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index (SARAL) and wind potential re-assessment (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy), and India’s Renewable Electricity Roadmap 2030 and Financing 175 GW RE by 2022 (NITI Aayog). She has been an active contributor to strategically important efforts such as the India Energy Security Scenarios 2047 and the draft National Renewable Energy Bill.

Disha holds a Master of Technology degree in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management from TERI University in New Delhi, and Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Sciences from Apeejay College of Engineering, Gurgaon.

Dr Sahoo is the Associate Professor for Humanities, Social Sciences & Management with IIT Bhubaneswar. Dr Sahoo key research interest includes Open Macroeconomics, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Social Sector, Public Policies, Applied Econometrics, and Development Economics. He has done his PhD. from Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore and his Masters from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. He is been honoured for several academic accolades including World Bank sponsored course for the Teachers of South East Asian countries. He has written several book with the title includes An Economic Analysis of the impact of FDI on the Indian Economy: A Macro level and Sectoral Level Analysis; India’s Experience with Different Currency Regime: An Explorative Study since 1970-71 and Environmental impact of Coal Mines on the Local Inhabitants: A Case Study of North Eastern Coalfields, Margherita, Assam.

Dr Ebin Deni Raj is the Assistant Professor at Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department, IIIT Kottayam (Indian Institute of Information Technology Kottayam). His research areas are Data Science, Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He is an ACM Distinguished Speaker in the area of Data Science. He is a recipient of Microsoft AI for Earth grant in the year 2019. He also received the best thesis award by the Computer Society of India. Previously he worked at Alcatel Lucent. He worked on developing Cloud APIs for different use cases.

Dr Gyaniis currently working as Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers (India) representing vast majority of private hospitals in India. Prior to this Dr Gyani held the assignment as Secretary General, Quality Council of India during 2003-12. He was assigned with the responsibility for establishing & operating national accreditation structure for conformity assessment and promoting quality in all walks of life. Dr Gyani raised QCI to a level, where it is playing a key role in facilitating quality as national framework for vast canvass ranging from manufacturing, education, skill development, environment, healthcare and governance (public services), benefiting Indian Trade & Industry on global platform.

One of his towering contributions has been in establishing and operating national accreditation structure (NABH) for healthcare for the first time in the country in the year 2005 and where he worked as its CEO till, he superannuated in May 2012. The standards have helped leading hospitals in the country to get global recognition and in turn providing boost to medical tourism as well as impacting patient safety.
Looking at his numerous contributions in the field of QUALTY, one of the prominent industry magazines; SME WORLD in its cover story of June 2012 issue described Dr Gyani as Quality Man of India.Prior to joining QCI, Dr Gyani served in Defence R&D Organization for 15-years and with Standardization, Testing & Quality Control (Ministry of IT) for 13-years, wherein he served as founder director at Indian Institute of Quality Management for 10-years.

Dr. Singh is a Scientist and heads Division of Biomedical Informatics at the Indian Council of Medical Research. The Indian Council of Medical Research, the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world; He has been the Co-Ordinator for ICMR’s task force which established 20 Biomedical Informatics Centers of ICMR in leading medical research institutes and medical colleges with a mandate to nucleate and support informatics in medical research through training programs and services established .

He is a technical professional with 17 years of experience in data management and analysis. He is leading a team providing data analysis services to ICMR programs like ICMR Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network, implementation research in mental health and further.

Dr. Singh has extensive experience in handling and analyzing next generation sequence data, genotyping by sequencing and epitope prediction.

Dr. Harsha Jariwala serves as an Assistant Professor in the Finance & Accounting Area at IIM-Jammu, holding the role of Chairperson for the MBA (Hospital Administration & Healthcare Management) program, a collaborative effort of IIM Jammu, AIIMS Jammu, and IIT Jammu. Additionally, she has been appointed as the President of the Financial Literacy Management Council for WICCI (Women Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) in Jammu and Kashmir.

Renowned for her contributions to financial literacy in India, Dr. Jariwala has empowered over 12,000 women with money management skills. Her efforts earned her a spot in the “Top 100 Women in Finance 2020” under the progressing category by AIWMI. She also received the “Ek naari, 100 pe bhari” Award for Social Contribution and the “Jury Choice Distinguished Alumni Award for Women Achiever” from GEMS Alumni Association, Faculty of Management Studies, Ganpat University, Gujarat.

Her Ph.D. research on “Financial Literacy and Investment Decision” was a pioneering study in India, winning the “Best PhD Thesis Award” and the “Best Research Paper” in the Advanced Research State Category. Dr. Jariwala has published extensively, including a book titled “Financial Literacy and Investment Decision: A Case of Indian Investors,” and over 20 papers in top journals.

She is a Certified Trainer for Financial Education by NISM, a Resource Person for Financial Education by NCFE, and a Resource Person for Financial Literacy by SEBI in Western India. Dr. Jariwala holds a B.B.A. in Finance and an M.B.A. in Finance, is UGC-NET qualified, and has eighteen years of teaching experience in management education across several Indian universities.

Mr. Hemanth Madegowda heads the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vertical at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). He is a social scientist with more than 15 years of experience in the Indian Development Sector. He has been instrumental in evolving distinctive public-private partnership model in the education sector for augmenting learning ecosystem of Government Schools by integrating stakeholder management strategies. He has comprehensive exposure in conceptualizing, implementing, and monitoring Skill Development Programs. He has setup more than 10 Multi Skill Training Institutes for different target groups at various places in India. As Head of Social Initiatives at Landmark Group, he developed the Population based Screening program for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) catering to more than Three Lakh beneficiaries annually. He is the Convenor for CSR Committee of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Karnataka and Member of Board of Studies, Department of Economics at St.Joseph’s University. Mr. Hemanth has completed his M S at London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), London and M A in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

Dr. Jai Asundi is the Executive Director of CSTEP. He joined the organisation in 2009 and has been involved in research and development (R&D) projects in various areas. His initial work was in the field of emergency and disaster management. He mentored teams across areas spanning climate, energy, and urban development. He spearheaded the establishment of AI for Social Impact as a sector of work and the creation of the Center for Air Pollution Studies (CAPS) at CSTEP. His broader research interests lie in decision-making and the development of decision-support systems for diverse public policy problems.

Dr. Asundi started his career as a software engineer/analyst at Infosys Technologies. He spent a year as a postdoc at the Software Engineering Institute, Pittsburgh, prior to becoming an Assistant Professor of Information systems in the school of Management, at the University of Texas at Dallas. He holds a BTech from IIT Bombay and MS and PhD degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a senior member of the IEEE and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr Mehta he is Managing Partner at the Indian Angel Network Funds Division. Here, he invests seed and pre-series A focused funds to propel the startup ecosystem and generate alpha returns for Limited Partners who back the fund. Previously, Jaideep has been the CEO of Mosaic Media Ventures; he led its acquisition by HT Media (NSE: HTMEDIA) in November 2020, and was then also the Business Head for the Mint newspaper business.

Jaideep has also served on the Startup Council as well as the Business Transformation & Knowledge Management Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry, and mentors next gen leaders and entrepreneurs through the Young Leaders Council at the All India Management Association. Jaideep has a dual track record of successful international business leadership with blue chip companies such as Gartner, IDC and Dow Jones / News Corp as well as investing experience which has seen him back winners including Tenmarks, Fareye, Uniphore, Skit.ai, Pipecandy, Publicvibe, Tagbox, Mimyk, Clootrack and several others. From 2011-17, he was Managing Director – International Data Corporation, India & South Asia. Under his leadership, IDC India was conferred the CIO Choice Award for ‘IT Advisor of the Year’ three years consecutively in 2014, 2015 & 2016. He has been awarded the ‘Leadership Award for Contribution to Market Research’ by the World Marketing Congress in 2014. He was also a founding member of the global Emerging Markets Research Council at IDC. He is a graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi University and holds an MBA degree from the Manchester Business School, UK. He enjoys reading, the occasional game of tennis and driving to remote parts of India.

James Williams has over 30 years of experience in the Telco sector, with mobile engagement his principal focus. His clients have included Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Content Aggregators, API companies, Messaging Hubs, Technology vendors and Enterprises, whilst studying for his degree in European Business and German, Mr. Williams fell rather by accident into the world of Technology and Telecommunications. Known by the industry as ‘Mr Connectivity’, he lives and breathes connectivity of all types and is himself an automotive enthusiast. He lives in the north of England and over the years has worked with many large brands, including a good number in India.

Former Deputy Director General in Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). He had been the main architect for creation of 08 Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE) in Public Private Partnership mode for Industry led research in IITs and IIM with the support of Telecom Operators and Department of Telecom; and had managed these centres as Director of TCOE India for over eight years. He was also the promoter and founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Telecom Sector Skill Council that works towards adequate availability of skilled manpower to boost growth of telecom sector. He has substantial contribution in development of the Indian telecom ecosystem and has to his credit formation of 17 Start-Ups.

Dr. Jena holds a Bachelor degree in Electrical Eng., Three Master degrees – one each in Telecommunications (IIT Kgp), International Business (Symbiosis) and Defense Strategy (Madras University) – and a PhD from IIT Delhi.

He had three decades of rich experience in Indian Defense in the field of R&D, Policy Making, Project Management and Indigenous Development of Electronics, Communication &; Weapon Systems before stepping into the Telecom sector.

Jibu Elias is a renowned AI Ethicist and the leading expert on India’s AI ecosystem. Jibu is currently the Research & Content Head of INDIAai -The National AI Portal of the Government of India. He also serves as a Senior AI Researcher with NASSCOM.

He is a member of the Working Party on AI Governance (AIGO) and Member of the Expert Group on AI Classification and Risk and the Working Party on Artificial Intelligence Policies. And one of the Founding Editors of Springer’s AI and Ethics Journal- the first multidisciplinary academic journal on AI ethics.

Jibu is a faculty in Globe Perspectives on AI Ethics – A course offered by The GovLab at NYU, the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence – TUM and the Center for Responsible AI at NYU, where he teaches the role of culture and eastern perspective in AI Ethics.

With years of experience covering emerging technologies with PC Mag and Times of India Group, Jibu’s work currently focuses on building a unified AI ecosystem in India and closing the digital divide created by technologies such as AI. He is an alumnus of The London School of Economics, where he studied International Relations with a specialisation in Sino-India relations.

Dr Kumar holds a PhD degree in Biotechnology from Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, a prestigious national laboratory affiliated to Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi. Subsequently, he moved to University of Illinois at Chicago, where he worked on Leukemia. In the next stint as a Post Doc at Ohio State University, Columbus OHIO (USA) he worked on various cutting edge research projects related to chromatin remodeling, mitochondrial Phospholipase, its role in apoptosis and role of peroxides in inducing mitochondrial dysfunction in heart, liver and brain. He is the author on several internationally acclaimed peer reviewed papers. He holds a MBA degree from prestigious Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University. He also led a team from Ohio State University to contest International Entrepreneurship Challenge, 2008 organized by Materials Research Society.

After returning from US, he joined as a Vice- President of Life Science Incubator at IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad where he was involved in actively mentoring Incubatee companies, creating pipeline of entrepreneurs through innovative models of team building around the technologies, working with public R&D laboratories and Universities to create entrepreneurial models of commercialization. He brought many Government Grants and created a world class center for translational research in Life Sciences at IKP Knowledge Park. As the Director & Head of BBC his current focus is on Incubating Innovations is Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Biofuel/Bio-energy and Pharma/Healthcare. He is working closely with Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services (KBITS), Department of IT, BT and S&T, Govt of Karnataka, to create a vibrant Life Sciences Innovation cluster in Bangalore.

John Grimes was appointed Chief Executive in 2008, and has grown the profile and influence of the Smart Energy Council since that time. He is a bold advocate for the smart energy industry and sits on a number of expert reference committees and boards providing advice to several state governments and the energy sector.

John started his career as an officer in the Air Force and went on to found and grow a number of companies, including a startup company he took to a successful listing on the ASX with a market capitalisation in excess of $30m.

His most recent company was in the environmental sector with operations in Australia, the US and the Middle East. John has a passion for the solar, storage and the smart energy industry. He is regularly called upon by the media to provide relevant and independent comment in these areas.

Currently designated with International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), A statutory authority established by Government of India. The main objective of the IFSCA is to develop a strong global connect and focus on the needs of the Indian economy as well as to serve as an international financial platform for the entire region and the global economy as a whole.

With experiences in client sites in the United States (Houston, San Francisco), Canada (Calgary, Toronto), and Mexico, Senior Technology Professional with experience in consulting and delivering transformational IT Projects for Government/Regulators (RBI) and Fortune 100 clients . Experience building up a Technology Business Incubator and exposure to the startup ecosystem.

Has experience as a member of a management team (part of the five-person core team that co-founded ReBIT, Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s IT subsidiary) with a passion for people, process, and technology. Has a lot of experience in Technology Visioning, Software Estimation, IT Roadmap Definition, Legacy Modernization, Business Case Articulation, Metrics-Driven Operations, Transition, and Vendor Management. With significant exposure to North America (US, Canada, Mexico), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile), Central America (Costa Rica), Europe (UK), and Asia-Pacific (China, Philippines, India), he thrives in geo penetration. He has managed multi-million dollar projects with multiple teams across multiple time zones.

Prof. Srinivas is a Postgraduate in Business Administration and holds a Ph.D. from the School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad. His Ph.D. thesis was titled “Knowledge Acquisition and Organizational Socialization among Knowledge Workers – A Study in the Indian IT Context.”

He is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) from Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), USA.

Before joining IIM Visakhapatnam, he worked with National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) as Senior General Manager. He comes with a rich industry experience of more than two decades and has previously held various senior positions in Centre for Innovations in Public Systems (CIPS), a specialized centre set up by the Ministry of Finance, Accenture, Hewlett Packard (HP), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and was a Visiting Professor at School of Management Studies at University of Hyderabad (UoH) and NMIMS, Hyderabad.

He has led Management Consulting, IT Consulting, ERP /IT Project implementations, e-Governance projects and IS Audits,

His research interests are in the domain of Knowledge Management, Information Systems, e-Governance, IS Security and Privacy, Governance, Risk, and Compliance.

Dr. K. SRINIVAS REDDY obtained his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in Energy Studies in 1999. He then joined National Institute of Technology Warangal in June 1999, after a brief service of about 4 years at NITW, he joined IIT Madras in April 2003 as an Assistant Professor. Presently, Dr. Reddy is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras and he is also an honorary professor at University of Exeter, UK. He also served as an Adjunct Professor at CEERI-CSIR, Chennai during 2014-17

Prof. Reddy is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering (FNAE) and Fellow of the World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies (FWSSET). He is specialist in renewable energy with special research interests on concentrating solar power, energy efficiency and environment. He has 9 patent applications and more than 300 publications with more than 8000 citations and h-index of 50. His co-authored book on “Sustainable energy and the environment: a clean technology approach” Published by Springer and book chapters on solar energy systems are popular among energy and environment community.

Prof. Reddy is actively involved in the implementation of solar thermal technologies for power generation and process heat applications through “Design-Development-Demonstration-Deployment (4-D)” approach. He has secured research funding (about USD15m) as Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PI of more than 30 research projects related to solar energy, energy & environment and heat transfer areas supported by various Indian and foreign funding agencies such as DST, CSIR, MNRE, AICTE, RCUK, EPSRC, IGCS, UKIERI and ICIMPACT. His work on estimation of thermal conductivity & thermo-physical properties and characterization of engineering materials significantly benefited the industrial associates for development of energy efficient thermal insulation materials. In recognition of his research work, Dr. Reddy received awards such as WSSET Innovation award, the Mid-Career Level Institute Research and Development Award (IRDA) Shri J.C.Bose Patent award and twice, the Bhagyalakshmi and Krishna Ayengar Awards. He also won career award for young teachers from AICTE in 2003. He surved as member in Board of Governors, IIT Tirupati during 2018-22. He is an expert committee member in various selection/ review committees and the Visitor’s nominee for IITs and NITs. As a part of human resource developmental activities, he supervised over 200 UG, PG and Ph.D. students, most of them are well placed and working now in prestigious organizations. He organized several national & international workshops on advanced renewable energy technologies.

Entrepreneurial and results-driven IT professional offering 20+ years of cross-platform experience in strategic planning, consulting, P&L management and revenue generation across diverse industry verticals including Telecom, Banking, BPO and MNC. He was the Director with Trust 2 Serv Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, and Maharashtra, India, developed market plans, architecting solutions and establishing markets for various products for India, Middle East and Africa.

Well versed in Business Transformation Services, Solution Sales, Managed Services, Enterprise Applications, System Integration, Information Security, Software Development, IoT, Remote Infrastructure Management, SoC, ITO and LTO. Extensive working exposure across the globe including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Nepal, China, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, KSA, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Kenya, RSA, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, UK, Ireland, Germany & France.

Kavita Bhatia holds the esteemed position of Group Coordinator & Senior Director in the Emerging Technology, Bhashini, Aadhaar & eGovernance group within the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) of the Government of India. Her responsibilities encompass the nationwide implementation of various initiatives, including Aadhaar, Digital Payments, Emerging Technologies, Bhashini, and the Digital India program.

Educationally, Kavita boasts a BSc in Physics and a B.Tech in Electronics Instrumentation, both from Bombay University. Her professional journey commenced at IIT Mumbai as a Research Assistant. Here, she pioneered the nation’s first Smart Card project, “SMARS”, in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and IIT Mumbai. At present, she leads a dedicated team of professionals at MeitY. Their collective efforts are directed towards the execution of numerous technical projects, such as the Centre for Excellence in IOT, AR/VR, Blockchain, Computer Gaming, National Program on AI, Digital Payments, Mobile Seva, National Single Sign On, Digilocker, UMANG, Payment Gateway, eSign, and Standards. These projects form the backbone of the Digital India initiative by the Government of India.

One of Kavita’s notable achievements is the “Mobile Seva” project, which was honored with the United Nations Public Service Award for its contribution to “Promoting whole of government approaches in the information age.”

He has worked for over three decades with Tata Motors – working across value chain and operations, heading quality, vendor development and later taking key positions in After sales such as heading South India and subsequently heading After Sales for International Business for CV of Tata Motors.

In the stint with Foton Motors he spearheaded the strategy for Quality and After Sales. Last 2 years he has spent in turning around MLR Auto. In a short span of 24 months, he has completed the project and established network of dealers across Andhra and Telangana crossing double digit market share.

Mr. Sen is a post-graduate from IIT – Kharagpur and graduated from Maulana Azad Collecge of Technology.

Kim Collaço is the Executive Director International Affairs at ASA, a cross border accounting and consulting firm that works with foreign companies setting up and operating in India. Based in Lyon, she leads ASA’s international business development in France and UK. She has 16 years of experience in India in-bound investments including institutional investments, fund raising, business strategy and partner search across industries creating mid and long-term investment and go-to-market strategies. She has executed projects across industries from financial services and technology to energy, defence, aerospace and manufacturing including automotives. She has been a speaker on various domestic and international platforms including Cambridge Cleantech, Charge Point Operators Society of India, National Highways for EV, the Indo-Dutch Chamber of Business and Sciences, UK India Business Council and the Department of International Trade, UK to name a few. Kim holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the Goa Institute of Management.

Krishan Batra has diverse experience of 4 decades in the field of Technology & SCM. He enjoys engaging people in sustainable transformation and inspiring business excellence. In his last assignment with UN organization as Chairperson of the supply chain, he was instrumental in re- engineering business processes and implementing ERP worldwide. He started his career with Voltas after completing M.Tech from IIT Delhi. Later he completed MBA from Syracuse University in USA.

Mr. Batra was actively involved in developing EDI Standards during his tenure with the United Nations in Geneva. He is the founder and developer of UNSPSC Classification Standard which is used by SAP, ORACLE, and many others as a global standard. He is Advisor of Economic Times on use of new technology to digitize the supply chain. ISM-INDIA is an affiliate of ISM USA which is the largest and oldest organization in the world with its presence in 70 countries. ISM-INDIA is an Associate Partner of Economic Times on Supply Chain issues & knowledge partner of many organizations.

With 10+ years of experience at the intersection of Product, Technology and Engineering, Kshitij moved from Bay Area (Silicon Valley) to India at the end of 2016, specifically to join 3one4 Capital. As a part of the core team at 3one4 Capital, he has discovered budding technology-enabled companies in several sectors, analyzed investment opportunities, and helped build and execute strategic roadmaps for portfolio companies that the firm has invested in.

Being a technology practitioner and domain expert, Kshitij has had important input to the firm’s thesis on investing in technology-led enablement, access, and scaling of the solutions for gaps identified in the market. One of his key contributions has been building the technology & product audit framework as part of the due diligence process for the firm. This has helped identify core execution strengths and gaps in teams. With such awareness consciously surfaced, the team builds customized plans that have brought a unique edge to the 3one4 Portfolio companies including differentiated market strategies where the reach to consumer can be expanded and value-creation can be achieved with far more efficiency. The portfolio companies have seen tremendous value-add because of his interest and experience in Design Thinking, Agile Frameworks, Data Privacy & Security, Cloud Infrastructure Management, and Open Source technologies.

Lavanya brings deep life cycle growth equity investing experience to the firm. She has deployed funds, mentored portfolio companies through their journey and created healthy exit outcomes for investors in both India and the US. She joined Trifecta Capital to build out its late-stage equity platform, to consolidate its position as the financing partner for the new economy. She also cultivates a deep interest in fitness, yoga and mindfulness.

He worked as a Scientist in CARE, IIT Delhi from 1977 to 1985 where he was involved in designing and implementing real-time DSP systems. For the last 32 years, he is involved in teaching and research in the areas of digital systems design, electronic design automation and embedded systems. He has supervised 17 Ph.D. students, 4 MSR students, 216 M.Tech/B.Tech projects and published nearly 137 conference and journal papers. Further, he has held visiting positions in universities in Canada, USA and Germany. At IIT Delhi, he has been the Philips Chair Professor, Head of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Dean of Post Graduate Studies & Research, Deputy Director (Faculty) and Deputy Director

He has been a recipient of three National awards, ACM Eugene L Lawler award and very recently IIT Delhi’s Life Time award for his work in the disability space. He also served briefly as the Vice Chancellor of a Greenfield Institution of Eminence named Satya Bharti Institute of Technology.

Prof. M. D. Agrawal has been a visiting professor at SJMSOM at IIT Bombay for the past eight years, teaching subjects such as software project management, knowledge management, managing industry 4.0, digital transformation, and E-business strategy. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member at IIT Gandhinagar. He is the director of AIMA’s most popular advanced certificate course on digital innovation and transformation in enterprises. He was also an adjunct professor at NITIE during the 2019-20 academic year, as well as SJMSOM and IITB during the 2018-2020 academic year. His current key interests are consulting, coaching industry professionals on digital transformation plans, and teaching contemporary subjects in the domain of digital transformation and digital capability building for both students and industry professionals. Recently, for his exemplary contribution to education, he was honoured with the Excellence in Higher Education Award by the Higher education Forum of 4000  senior academicians.

He was the former general manager of information technology and chief information officer of downstream BPCL, India’s second-largest oil company. From 2014 to 2019, he worked as an advisor to TCS, developing a strategy for downstream domain excellence and designing innovative and cost-effective solutions for clients. He was also the former President of the Computer Society of India and a Fellow of the Society. During his time as IMM Past President, he chaired the award committees of CSI and the BMA. He is also the former President of SEARCC, South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (searcc.org). He also keeps doing research on industry-focused subjects; his one research paper on the topic “Operational Intelligence and Digitalization digitalization practises for downstream  oil  industry ” was published in the prominent industry journal Hydrocarbon Processing in 2017. He has addressed multiple international and national conferences as a thought leader and accomplished industry veteran. In his illustrious career, Mr. Agrawal has accomplished excellence in completing several technology projects leading to business transformation and organisation development. He is a gold medalist in mathematics and was conferred a CSI fellowship  for his outstanding contribution in the field of IT. His technical work was instrumental in getting BPCL several international and national awards worth mentioning: the Delphi Best Practices Award, the CIO 100 Asia Pacific Award, the NASSCOM Best IT Implementation Award 2011, and the CSI IT Excellence Award 2013.

Professor M. Jayadev is a distinguished academic in the field of Finance & Accounting at IIM Bangalore, where he also holds the esteemed position of Chairperson at the Centre for Capital Markets and Risk Management. His research interests span across Banking, Corporate Finance and Valuation, and Management Accounting. Beyond academia, Professor Jayadev has offered his expertise in the realms of Basel Accords, Banking, and Risk Management to various banks, consulting firms, and software companies. He is an associate member of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) and has been honored with fellowships from ICSSR and UGC.

In addition to his academic and professional pursuits, Professor Jayadev is actively involved in the corporate world. He serves on the board of directors for BGSE Financial Limited and is also a board member for two burgeoning start-up ventures. His educational accolades include a PhD from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, and an associate membership from the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).

Prof M Sreekumar received bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from Madurai Kamaraj University in 1989, and master degree in manufacturing engineering from Madras Institute Technology, Anna University, India, in 2004. He has obtained Ph.D. degree from IIT Madras, India, in 2008 for the research work on “Shape memory alloy actuated compliant parallel manipulator”.

He is currently serving as a faculty at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, Chennai-600127 India (An Institute of National Importance established by the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India) since 2008. He is possessing around 13 Years of experience in the industry, especially in the design of automation and material handling equipment and around 19 Years in teaching and research. Under his supervision, seven research scholars have received PhD degrees as on date.

He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Genoa, Italy, for the EMARO (European Master on Advanced Robotics) programme. His research interests include robotics, fuzzy control, smart materials & structures, parallel & compliant mechanisms, swarm robotics, smart manufacturing, and IoT & Industry 4.0. He is an active member of various professional organisations including IEEE and ISTE.

Prof Madaswamy Moni is the former director general of the National Informatics Centre, which is a principal Indian government institute for e-governance and informatics development, and former vice-president of the Asian Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture. Prof Moni is Professor Emeritus and Chairman; Shobit Institute of Engineering and Technology (Deemed University)

Madhavan Narayanan is an editor, journalist, writer and columnist with more than 35 years of experience in both Indian and international environments. He has worked for media organisations and publications including Reuters, The Economic Times, Business Standard and Hindustan Times. Narayanan regularly features as a commentator on BBC radio, ET Now and Mirror Now, in addition to writing for The Quint, The Economic Times and other publications. His recent ventures with partners include Knowledge Factory, an annual festival of insights and ideas. He has also translated a Tamil novel into English which is due for publication by HarperCollins.

Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar, AVSM, VSM has assumed the prestigious appointment of Dy Chief Integrated Defence Staff (Med) on 29 Feb 2020. The Gen Officer is a medical graduate of Armed Forces Medical College, Pune University and postgraduate in MD (Paediatric) from Indian Naval Hospital Ship (INHS), Asvini. She has had the distinction of being first in Pune University in all the three phases of MBBS and was awarded the President’s Gold Medal & Kalinga Trophy for the best outgoing student of the graduate wing in academics and extra – curricular activities in 1982.

The Gen Officer has held various key staff appts, as MG Med, Northern Command, Udhampur, Dean & Dy Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Deputy Director General AFMS (P&T), prestigious appointment of Prof & Head, Dept of Paediatric at Armed Forces Medical College Pune, Sr Adv Paed, BHDC & MH Namkum, Reader, AFMC Pune and Cl Spl Paed, CH (SC) Pune & 167 MH.

For her distinguished service Gen Kanitkar has been awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2018, Vishisht Seva Medal in 2014, Commendation by Chief of the Army Staff in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2012 (twice) and Commendation by GOC-in-C in 2008.

The Gen Officer has been nominated to the Prime Minister Science Technology Innovation Advisory Committee and Board of Governors of Medical Council of India in the year October 2018 and July 2019 respectively. Her Thrust has been to align medical education and research to Public Health needs.

Prof. Dr. Manoj Kumar Patairiya is currently Adviser & Scientist ‘G’, Science & Engineering Research Council, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and responsible for promoting scientific research and innovation in the country. In his prior assignment he has served as Director, CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources and taken number of initiatives. Earlier Dr. Patairiya was Additional Director General of Doordarshan and All India Radio, where he was responsible for setting up a 24×7 Satellite TV Channel DD Kisan including external broadcasts. He also served as Head & Adviser, National Council for Science & Technology Communication and started a variety of innovative programmes. A well accomplished scientist, academician, administrator, and communication professional, Prof. Patairiya specializes in biosciences, mass media, management and policy. He is decorated with prestigious national and international awards. He has a number of publications and two Indian Patents to his credit.

Director, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE). He was a Professor with Higher Academic Grade (HAG) in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. His research and teaching interests are in modeling the Manufacturing Processes and Operations analysis in Supply Chain Networks. Optimization, Simulation and Computational Intelligence are the main techniques adopted by Prof. Tiwari to automate the decision support system for complex and large-scale problems in Manufacturing and Logistics System

He is Recipient of “Most Influential Researcher Award” in the domain of Operations and Supply Chain Management. He is the Recipient of Mahalanobis Distinguished Educator Award from the Operations Research Society of India (ORSI), in the category of Management education. Prof. Tiwari is in the editorial board of several International Journals.

Prof. Tiwari is also serving as Chairman, Sectional Committee of Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN), Chairman of Board of UG Studies AICTE, First member of Board of UG Studies AICTE, and Member, Board of Governor at NIFFT Ranchi. Prof. Tiwari is Fellow of Institute of Industrial Engineers (IISE, USA), Fellow of Indian National academy of Engineering (INAE, India), and Fellow of National Academy of Sciences (FNASc, India).

Dr. Manoj Singh Gaur assumed the charge of Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu on June 29, 2017. Prior to joining IIT Jammu, he was a Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) Jaipur, India. Additionally, he was Professor-In-Charge (Coordinator) of IIIT Kota, which is currently being mentored by MNIT Jaipur. He has been Dean, Students Affairs and Head, Central Computer Centre at MNIT Jaipur as well. He also served as Chairman, Senate UG Board at MNIT Jaipur.

He completed his Master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Ph.D. from University of Southampton, UK. In his teaching and research career of more than two decades, he has been Investigator of a number of funded research projects in the area of Information Security and Networks on Chip. He has been part of the core group of Project ISEA (Information Security Education and Awareness) which is a major multi-institutional project in the domain of Information Security in India.

His current research areas include Computer and Network Security (Network Attack Models and Countermeasures), Mobile Platform Security, Cloud Security, Malware Analysis, Networks-on-Chip, and SDN. He has published more than 170+ papers in reputed journals and conferences. He has also contributed to a number of book chapters. He has several funded international collaborations with many countries.

Ms. Varmani is the Vice President of Invest India- National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency that helps investors looking for investment opportunities and options in India and Lead and involved in Prime Minister’s Science Technology & Innovation Advisory Council Secretariat and involved in Waste to Wealth Mission. Ms Varmani is is driven by the national growth agenda and the vision to create exemplars in the education and innovation domains.

With her current role in the service to the nation she has worked with British Council, Intel Corporation, United Nation. Influencing policy, managing complex alliances and stakeholders, facilitating long term partnerships, leading missions and programmes, are her forte. She did her Masters from Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr Mathew Varghese, heads of the orthopaedics department at Delhi’s St Stephen’s Hospital. He is a hero to his patients and other admirers, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Gates describes Dr Varghese as “my inspiration and my real-life hero” for “fighting and (having) dedicated his life for polio eradication in India”. He is public health expert his famous viral explanatory video on timeline of how the virus infects any patient. He also explains how keeping track of you symptoms can save your life. Dr Varghese joined St Stephen’s in 1990. The presentation brings out the painstaking efforts he has put in over the ensuing years. Currently, St Stephen’s Hospital is a regional centre for the national polio vaccination programme.

Dr Mridul Saggar is the Professor of Practice (in the area of Economics) at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode. Dr Saggar has three decades of experience in various central banking functions. He was earlier the Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), overseeing the central bank’s monetary policy and economics research functions. He was also one of the six members of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in charge of taking collegiate decisions on policy interest rate and the monetary policy stance; as also of its Financial Markets Committee (FMC), that takes decisions on its financial market operations. Earlier, he had served as the Head of the International Department of RBI, representing India at various international bodies/G20 Working Groups/Task Forces. He was also the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPF) Chair Professor at NCAER. during June-November 2022. He also ssrved as Chief Economist of Kotak Institutional equities during 2008-10. Currently, he is also on-boarded as an Expert by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to render expert advise to IMF member countries in the area of monetary policy as part of IMF missions.

A Ph.D. from IGIDR and a mid-career fellow at Princeton University, his research interests cover macroeconomics, international finance, monetary policy and monetary operations, international financial architecture and international economic relations, global financial regulatory reforms, financial inclusion, national accounts, and agriculture policy. He has several publications in national and international journals and has taught and delivered guest lectures at various academic institutions in India and abroad.

Dr. Muktesh Chander graduated in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Delhi University in first class with distinction. After doing one-year specialization in Statistical and Quality Control and Operations Research from ISI, Madras, he joined Bharat Heavy Engineering Limited as a Quality Control Engineer and received several awards for improvement in the quality and productivity.

In 1988 he joined Indian Police Service and has remained posted to several places including DIG Goa and Addl. Commissioner of Police, Crime, and Traffic Delhi and IG Daman Diu. He has served as Centre Director Cyber Division and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre in National Technical Research Organization under Prime Ministers’ Office. He was specially selected as United Nation Police Observer and has monitored, trained and advised police in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Europe for 1 year. He has also done Hostage Negotiation course at Louisiana State Police Academy, USA and Law Enforcement Executive Development Course with FBI, Los Angeles, USA.

Dr. Muktesh Chander also holds a law degree from Delhi University, Diploma in Human Resource Management, Diploma in Cyber Laws from Amity Law School and Master’s Degree in Criminology & Police Science. He has also got Ph.D. in Information Security Management from I.I.T., Delhi. He has been awarded President’s Police Medal for meritorious service, President’s Police Medal for distinguished service, Police Medal for Hard Duty, UN Service Medal and 50th Anniversary of Independence Medal.

His current areas of interest are cybercrime and its detection, cyber terrorism, E-governance, Digital signatures, Cryptography, E-policing, Information security and Cyber laws, Social media monitoring, etc.He has written a number of articles on Cyber Crime and related topics, which have been published in various prestigious journals and newspapers. He is a resource person for premier institutes like Rajasthan Police Academy, Gujarat Police Academy, Gujarat Forensic Science University, National Crime Records Bureau, Punjab Academy of Administration, Bureau of Police Research and Development, National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, CBI, IILM Institute of Higher Education, Indian Law Institute etc., His paper on Cyber Terrorism was selected for the 35th All India Police Science Congress in 2004. He was member secretary of the Joint Working Group which formulated “Guidelines for Protection of National Critical Information Infrastructure in India”. He has also served as Centre Director of Cyber Division of National Technical Research Centre under Prime Minister’s office.

Apart from this Dr. Muktesh Chander holds a license of Amateur Radio. He is also life member of Amateur Radio Society of India. He is life member of Computer Society of India and an elected Fellow of Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers (IETE) as well as The Institution of Engineers India. He has been awarded by IETE with Hari Ram Toshniwal Award 2013. He is also life member of India Society of Criminology and Indian Society of Victimology

Prof. Naliniprava Tripathy is currently a Professor in the area of Finance & Control at IIM Shillong, having previously served as an Associate Professor of Finance & Accounting at IIM Indore. With a D.Litt. Degree in MBA from Utkal University, she has received accolades including a UGC fellowship, a Post-Doctoral research award in Management, and a Fulbright Scholar to Visit the USA. With an impressive academic and research background, she has over twenty-eight years of experience in teaching, corporate work, research, and consultancy. Prof. Tripathy’s areas of interest encompass Corporate Finance, Financial Services, Business Valuation, Investment Banking, Financial Engineering, Financial Market, and Corporate Strategy. As an active researcher, she has published extensively in journals such as ABDC, Scopus, and Web of Science, authoring over 100 scholarly research papers and eight books. Her current research focuses on Corporate Financial issues in Emerging markets, Financial Services, Business Valuation, Stock and Derivative Markets, and Risk Management. Prof. Tripathy has conducted numerous corporate training programs and is recognized as an authority in her field, serving on the Editorial Board of multiple International and National journals and acting as a reviewer for various International Journals. She has supervised several Ph.D. theses and is an international and national Ph.D. examiner for esteemed institutes and universities in India. She has been invited as a panel speaker at both International and National conferences and serves on the Expert/Panel member/Selection committees of prestigious institutes in India. Furthermore, Prof. Tripathy has been honored with numerous awards, including the MMSMA Award for Excellence in Commerce & Business Management, membership of the Global Research Institute for Business Academics, the Distinguished Faculty Award by the Indo-Global Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Agriculture, and Confederation of Indian Universities, and the AIMS – TAPMI Woman Management Researcher Award by AIMS International, among others. She has held several key positions in her academic career, including Former Dean of Alumni & External Relations, Former Dean of Research and Accreditation, and Former Dean of Research, External Relations, and New Initiatives. Additionally, she has served as the Former Chairperson of PGP, Former Chairperson of MDP, and Former Chairperson of Research and Publication, as well as being the Former Editor of the IIMS Journal of Management Science.

Mr. Nanda Kishore Reddy is a career bureaucrat from the Indian Information Service (IIS, 2008), a central civil service of Government of India. He is currently serving as Managing Director APTS (Andhra Pradesh Technology Services Ltd), IT, E&C department (Information Technology, Electronics & Communications), Government of Andhra Pradesh. He is also serving as Group CEO, APEITA (Andhra Pradesh Electronics andInformation Technology Agency) and is responsible for investment promotion for IT and Electronics sectors in Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Reddy had worked on various Government of India positions such as Officer on Special Duty to Minister for Commerce & Industry where he had contributed towards developing Export Promotion Strategies, Trade Analytics, Market Access, Internal Trade Promotion, promotion of Start-ups etc. He had also served in Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in various other capacities. Prior to this, he worked in Software industry for 8 years. These diverse portfolios have accorded him immense experience in various facets of both the private sector and the government.

Mr. Reddy, in his current capacity, is playing a pivotal role in the investment promotion and e-Governance initiatives being undertaken in the State of Andhra Pradesh. APTS provides consultancy, procurement services, implementation support to the government entities for their ICT initiatives. APEITA being the investment promotion agency is responsible for implementation of both IT and Electronic policies.

Hailing from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Reddy holds Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Hyderabad. He authored a book titled ‘Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude’, published by “McGraw Hill Education”. He was awarded “Web Ratna (Platinum Icon)” by Ministry of Communications & IT, Govt of India for the work done in the field of ‘New Media’ for the year 2014.

Dr. Harale is currently working as Vice President and Head – Cyber Security Vertical at Reserve Bank Information Technology. Dr. Nareshkumar has more than 23 years of rich progressive experience in Information Risk Management, IT Infrastructure Security BOT, Cyber SOC, Next Generation SOC BOT, Red Teaming, Blue Teaming , Cyber Drill Solutions, Threat Hunting and Intelligence , UBEA/NBAD/PCAP Solutions, Security Engineering & Cyber Security Program. Dr. Harale has built and managed high-performance specialised skilled projects as well as operational teams across IT Security, Information security, Data Security, Data Privacy, Cyber security, IS/CS GRC and Research-Innovation Programs. He specialises in conceptualizing and architecting complex strategic and transformational projects.

Prior to joining ReBIT, Dr. Harale was the Head Information Security & GRC and CISO at IDBI Intech and has handled various roles across leading BFSI & Non BFSI entities such as IDBI Bank/Intech, IDBI Subsidiaries, DBS Bank, UBI Bank, NSE, KMB, SBI, TCL, PwC, SecureSynergy, Sify Technologies and LIC companies. He has also worked with various MSSP and Govt organisations. He holds well acclaimed IT/Infrastructure Security, Data Security and Cyber Security professional certifications like CISM, CCISO, CEH, CHFI, CISA, COBIT5.0, ITIL Expert, ISO 9000/20000/27001/22301 Lead Auditor, Agile Scrum Master, VCP5.0, PMP and numerous Technology /Cybersecurity vendor certifications.

Mr. Harale holds a Doctorate Degree (Ph.D.) specialised in Cyber Security and master’s degree in Computer Engineering (MTech.) He is also dedicated to improving skilled workforce development and career mentoring. He has been awarded as India’s Top 100 CISO 2021 and 2022 – IT Security Influencers and Community Contributors by CISO Platform.

Commander Navneet Kaushik is the Group Head (Projects) & Program Director (Start-Ups), Technology Development Board, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. Of India; He is experienced professional working for commercialization of Indigenous Technology with a demonstrated history of efficiently working in the government administration, projects and interfacing with industry. He was the Commander from the Indian Navy with 20 years of work experience in Quality, Project and Acquisition Management with strong communication and relationship management skills with an ability to lead and manage large teams.

Dr. Neelesh recently moved to Academia as Director, Symbiosis Centre for Alumni Engagement (SCAE), established across the Symbiosis International University to focus on creating a connected world of alumni for new possibilities.

Before, in a career spanning over 22 years, he has gained an extensive global experience in creating IP, wining and managing large international business in various engagement models, domains and technologies. Dr. Neelesh has created and managed competencies such as Cloud, Application Performance Management and Modelling and Simulation, and contributed to make them super-sized. He was leading a team of strategic consultants. He had set up 3 Customer experience and technology centers and made them profitable. As a member of Specialist Cadre – he was responsible to enable multi-fold growth for the organization in disruptive technologies.

Dr. Verma is the first woman Director General of National Informatics Centre, a Premier Science and technology organization of the Government of India. National Informatics Centre (NIC) was established in 1976, and has rich experience in providing ICT and eGovernance support to the Government for the last 4 decades and bridge the digital divide. It has emerged as a promoter of digital opportunities for sustainable development. NIC has been closely associated with the Government in different aspects of Governance  besides establishing a Nationwide State-of-the-Art ICT Infrastructure, it has also built a large number of digital solutions to support the government at various levels, making the last-mile delivery of government services to the citizens a reality.

She was mission director of Aarogya Sethu, Indian open-source COVID–19 “contact tracing, syndromic mapping and self-assessment” digital service, primarily a mobile app. She holds a PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Her areas of research interests include applications of emerging technologies in Governance, Cyber Security, Data Centers, etc.

Mrs. Nidhi Bansal took over as Director, Technology Development Fund (TDF) on 01 March 2020. TDF extends funding and technical support to private sector industry (especially MSMEs & Startups) that may work in collaboration with the academia or research institutions to carry out innovation, research and development for military technology. At TDF, she has been working towards the accelerated growth of the scheme in line with the vision of “Atmanirbharta” of the Govt of India, nurturing the R&D culture in the private sector with Academia for building an eco-system in the country.

Mrs. Nidhi Bansal is an Aero Engineering graduate of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh and was awarded University gold medals for best academics and also for project on “Design of a Multi role Fighter Aircraft – ASTEJ”. She holds a Masters degree from IISC Bangalore in Mechanical Engineering. She is an alumnus of prestigious institutions like NIAS, IIM, Ahmedabad and other universitites. She joined DRDO at Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL, Kochi) as Scientist and has been instrumental in indigenization of various Sonar Systems and Laser Systems during her tenures at NPOL and LASTEC. She spearheaded the indegenous development of “Pressure Recovery System” for high power lasers. She has over 30 years of experience in the field of CFD, Thermal Mechanics and Electronics Cooling for military systems. She has many awards and publications to her credit. She is a lifetime member of various professional societies like Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Indian Institute of Engineers (IIE), Indian Society for Heat and Mass Transfer (ISHMT), and Indian Laser Association (ILA).

Mr. Nikunj Sanghi is an industry veteran with over 4 decades of experience in automobile retail industry. He has been vocal on the issues related to the automobile industry on almost all business TV channels & the print media. He is a strong business development professional skilled in Negotiation, Business Planning, Operations Management, Sales, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). He is an experienced owner with a demonstrated history of working in the automotive industry. He is today among the top 10 dealers of Mahindra & Mahindra. He is also amongst the top 10 dealers of Hero MotoCorp. His dealership J.S. Fourwheel Motors has many state-of-art facilities across many districts in Eastern Rajasthan with a turnover over 300 crores.

Mr. Sanghi is an eminent philanthropist and is trustee of various charitable trusts including the Jaipur Calagary Eye Hospital and Rajasthan Swasthya Yoga Parishad, SML Blood Bank Charitable Trust & Rotary Charitable Trust. In addition, he is also a part of various social organizations. He is a patron of Authorised Motor Vehicle Dealers Association Rajasthan, Alwar Tractor and Automobile Dealers Association and as well as a member of Industrial Advisory Committee Govt. of Rajasthan, Bhartiya Skill Development University Jaipur. He is the past chairman of Alwar Chapter, Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Mr. Sanghi is Honours Graduate in Commerce from University of Rajasthan and He has also graduated in law from University of Delhi. He is a qualified company secretary and is a member of The Institute of Companies Secretaries of India.

Dr. Nirupama Kulkarni is Senior Research Director at CAFRAL. She is an applied empirical economist and her research interests include corporate finance, banking, household finance, real estate and monetary policy. Her recent work focuses on the role of government policies in the financial and housing market and its implications. Her research looks at how government regulation can stack the odds against private market competition and the implications of government policies aimed at increasing homeownership.

Nirupama has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay, an MBA from Stern School of Business, New York University and a Ph.D. in business administration (finance and real estate) from Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. She has been the recipient of the Fisher Center Fellowship at UC Berkeley, Fisher Center Research Grant at UC Berkeley, Vanier Family Foundation Grant at UC Berkeley and was the FWA Clarin S. Schwartz Memorial Scholar and a Glucksman Research Fellow at the Stern School of Business, New York University.

Mr. Nikunj Sanghi is an industry veteran with over 4 decades of experience in automobile retail industry. He has been vocal on the issues related to the automobile industry on almost all business TV channels & the print media. He is a strong business development professional skilled in Negotiation, Business Planning, Operations Management, Sales, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). He is an experienced owner with a demonstrated history of working in the automotive industry. He is today among the top 10 dealers of Mahindra & Mahindra. He is also amongst the top 10 dealers of Hero MotoCorp. His dealership J.S. Fourwheel Motors has many state-of-art facilities across many districts in Eastern Rajasthan with a turnover over 300 crores.

Mr. Sanghi is an eminent philanthropist and is trustee of various charitable trusts including the Jaipur Calagary Eye Hospital and Rajasthan Swasthya Yoga Parishad, SML Blood Bank Charitable Trust & Rotary Charitable Trust. In addition, he is also a part of various social organizations. He is a patron of Authorised Motor Vehicle Dealers Association Rajasthan, Alwar Tractor and Automobile Dealers Association and as well as a member of Industrial Advisory Committee Govt. of Rajasthan, Bhartiya Skill Development University Jaipur. He is the past chairman of Alwar Chapter, Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Mr. Sanghi is Honours Graduate in Commerce from University of Rajasthan and He has also graduated in law from University of Delhi. He is a qualified company secretary and is a member of The Institute of Companies Secretaries of India.

Professor Olinga Ta’eed PhD FIoD is Visiting Professor in Blockchain at Birmingham City University and since April 2019 appointed to 7-person Chinese Ministry of Commerce ‘China E-Commerce Blockchain Committee’ with oversight of 70% of US$ 103 trillion global market. He is Founder and Director of the not-for-profit Centre for Citizenship, Enterprise and Governance – world’s leading think tank on movement of value with 170,000 members. He is Chief Editor of Frontiers in Blockchain, the peer reviewed academic journal with 475 editors. In 2017 carried out the UK’s first and only official ICO (Initial Coin Offering) with FCA guidance. Currently he is launching in the Middle East the world’s first  £210m Seratio DLT Open Bank, the TTP Procurement 4IR Foundation leading 2700 multination consortium HQ in Nairobi, and an international community charging Electric Vehicle project using blockchain.

Dr. Omkar Rai was Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and has got wide experience in the matters of IT/ITeS industry. Software Technology Parks of India(STPI) was established and registered as an Autonomous Society under the Societies Registration Act 1860, under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India on 5th June 1991 with an objective to implement STP Scheme, set-up and manage infrastructure facilities including data com & incubation for startups and provide other services like technology assessment and professional training.

Prior to joining of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), he served National Informatics Centre (NIC) in various capacities. He earned wide experience in formulation and implementation of various important ICT applications across various domains. He is also serving as Director on the Board of Directors of MTNL-STPI IT Services Limited and National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). Dr. Rai has been educated in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) from where he earned his Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D in Statistics.

SK Ong lectures at National University of Singapore, and her research interests are virtual and augmented reality applications in manufacturing, ubiquitous manufacturing, assistive technology and rehabilitation engineering. She is a pioneer in the research and development of augmented reality technologies application in product design and manufacturing. As a firm believer that research outcomes should benefit the general population, she leads the laboratory to apply these augmented reality technologies that have been developed for manufacturing in the assistive technology area. She is a Fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering CIRP, where she was the 1st from the Asia region and the 4th female fellow in the world to be elected in 2012. She received 2004 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, US Society of Manufacturing Engineers and 2009 Emerging Leaders Award in Academia (US Society for Women Engineers). She has published 8 books and over 300 international refereed journal and conference papers, with a google citation of more than 10,890, and a H-index of 57.

Dr. P. Saravanan is a distinguished academic and professional in the realm of Finance and Accounting, currently serving as the Dean (Corporate Relations & Faculty Affairs). Formerly a professor at IIM Shillong, his expertise spans corporate finance, security analysis, and corporate governance. With a prolific publication record, he has contributed 45 articles to esteemed journals, including those ranked by the Australian Business Deans Council. Seven of his case studies have been recognized by Ivey Business School and are part of the Harvard Business School case collection. A regular columnist for major business newspapers, Dr. Saravanan has also penned three books with renowned publishers like McGraw Hill and Oxford.

In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Saravanan has played a pivotal role in the evaluation of over a hundred Ph.D theses across premier institutions like IITs and IIMs. His corporate training endeavors encompass a range of topics, benefiting organizations such as UNDP-India, LIC, and L&T. As a consultant, he has collaborated with various governmental departments, offering his expertise to states across India. His directorial stint at TANSIDCO and affiliations with international institutes like the Institute of Financial Accountants UK and Institute of Public Accountants Australia further accentuate his illustrious career. As an educator, he has been lauded for his teaching prowess, consistently receiving high feedback scores across various programs.

Professor Pabitra Mitra received the B.Tech. degree in electrical engineering from IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India, in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree from the Indian Statistical Institute, India, in 2004. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kharagpur. His research interests include machine learning, data mining, and information retrieval.

Palok Aich is currently a member and was the first chairperson of School of Biological Sciences at NISER Bhubaneswar. Before joining NISER he was a Scientist at Vaccine Institute (VIDO-INTERVAC) @ CANADA. By training he is a biophysicist. During his stay in Karolinska Institute, Sweden, he developed the world’s first UV-FCS with Professor RIgler. He began his career to understand higher ordered DNA structure-dynamics which led to the discovery of a novel form of DNA called M-DNA (where ‘M’ stands for metal) with his mentor Professor Jeremy. He then turned his interest in quantifying stress status of individuals and animals. At VIDO he built the program to quantify various stressors in cattle and later in NISER for humans. He slowly transformed the project on stress to understand the gut-adipose-brain axis and the role of gut microbiome. Today his programs deal with perturbation of gut microbiota by diet, antibiotics, disease and altered light-dark cycle. He has both industry and academia collaboration and several relevant accolades. His overall goal is to identify a handful of gut microbes that can maintain health instead of having a luxury of trillions of microbes. He currently teaches undergraduate and post-graduate courses on Biophysics and Biostatistics, Quantitative Biology and Chemical Biology. He also served as Dean, International affairs as well as at other equivalent administrative positions at NISER.

Ms Pamela association with the telecom sector began in 1985 and since then she has worked in different capacities with organisations such as AT&T Information Systems, IBM, HP, C-DOT, Network Programs India and Texas Instruments India. She is currently director general of the Telecom Standards Development Society of India and president of the Cloud Computing Innovation Council of India. Her works to bring together technical experts from the industry, academia and government on a collaborative platform to define India-specific use cases and develop local standards in the 5G space. During her long professional journey, several experiences have stayed with Ms. Kumar. One such memorable experience was her involvement in the development of India’s first fully indigenous telephone exchange while she was at C-DOT. Another experience was leading the design of a single-chip solution for the 2.5G feature phone at Texas Instruments India. Kumar is an electronics and electrical communications engineer from Punjab Engineering College with an MSc in electrical engineering from Rutgers University. She has also done an executive general management programme from IIM Bangalore.

An officer from Indian Defence Service of Engineers, 1989 Batch, Shri Paresh Kumar Goel, is presently on deputation in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as Director (Transport, International Cooperation and Establishment). He is an Electrical Engineer and graduated from University of Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) in 1989. He has served all across the country including border areas in Western Sector and NE region and has a rich experience of planning and execution of Defence infrastructure projects. He has earlier also held the appointment of Director (Road Safety) in the Ministry for considerable time. Presently he is dealing with the policy matters related to Transport and International Cooperation in addition to Establishment related matters in Ministry.

Prabin Kumar Panigrahi, esteemed professor in the Information Systems area at the Indian Institute of Management Indore, brings a rich academic background with a master’s from NIT Rourkela and a Ph.D. from IIT Kharagpur. His research, delving into realms like Social Inclusion in IT, Emerging Technologies, and Artificial Intelligence, has graced numerous prestigious journals, underscoring his prolific contribution to the field. Prof. Panigrahi’s expertise is further recognized through various international and national honors, including the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Lecture Fellowship and the Best Teacher Award at IIM Indore.

His editorial acumen benefits the International Journal of Business Information Systems and the Journal of Global Information Management, among others. Notably, Prof. Panigrahi’s commitment to cybersecurity and e-governance is exemplified in his involvement with Cyber Surakshit Bharat and the SWAYAM platform, contributing significantly to national cyber resilience initiatives.

His accolades, such as the outstanding paper in the 2021 Emerald Literati Awards and the Prof Manubhai M. Shah Memorial Award, highlight his scholarly excellence. Further embellishing his international stature are fellowships and research positions under the Obama-Singh Initiative, at institutions like UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of Wales, and HEC Montreal. Additionally, his inventive spirit shines through the 11 patents he has filed, showcasing a relentless pursuit of innovation and knowledge enrichment.

Amongst the most seasoned B2B investors in India, Radhesh brings rich operational experience in the enterprise technology space. He is a self-driven professional ready to take up challenges. He started Arka Venture Labs along with 3 anchor investors in 2018 August with the objective of investing, mentoring, and providing connections to the ecosystem for B2B startups between the India and US corridor. The fund has made 27 investments till end of 2021 out of which there are 4 exits and 11 uprounds (Nexus, Lightspeed, Matrix, B Capital, Sequoia, Facebook to name a few). Radhesh also mentors his portfolio startups in areas like product, product market fit, GTM, channels strategy, branding, uprounds etc.

He is the investment lead for Obviously.ai (Upround from B capital, TMV, UTec), Deepaffects (Acquired by Rincentral), Insent (acquired by Zoominfo), Simplicontract, Nirmata (Upround from Uncorrelated, Zee5 Ventures), dotin Inc (acquired by Opensesame) , Firsthive (acquired by Mela Ventures), Essenvia, Enact, Glance HQ, Rocketium, Trainn and Zapscale. Radhesh has also spent 18 years in IBM garnering strong technical, sales, and business development experience. He headed the Global Entrepreneur Program (IBM startup initiative), for IBM India and South Asia and made it a company to be reckoned with by the Startup ecosystem in India.

Rahul leads GSMA’s Mobile for Development (M4D) team in Asia Pacific which covers four themes: digital inclusion, financial inclusion, resilience to climate change and humanitarian response. He also leads GSMA’s engagements in Bangladesh. He has been part of M4D for nine years starting in the Digital Utilities programme which supports the use of mobile to improve access to energy, water and sanitation services in underserved communities.

Prior to joining the GSMA, he worked in a variety of roles ranging from engineering of wireless communications systems to general management in solar energy and media & entertainment sectors.

Rahul has an MSEE with a major in communications and digital signal processing from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and an MBA in general management from IIM-Ahmedabad.

Former Director General of Health Services, India, and past-chairman of Board of Governors, Medical Council of India, Professor Rakesh Kumar Srivastava, was Indian delegate for WHA (2005-2011), member of public health task force for past epidemic/pandemic/disaster, architect for preparedness against pandemic, chairman of PCT committee and member of Tech Transfer Committee, Advisory Committee in Medical Technology Assessment Board in Department of Health Research, chairman of PMR specialty board with National Board of Examination (NBE), besides serving on various committee of Ministry of Health, NBE, Welfare Ministry, SEARO Office, WHO. Professor Srivastava brought about health system reform by creating National Centre for Disease Control, which has state of art national surveillance system, Integrated vector borne disease program, Microbiology with BSL-3 lab, national tele-medicine program, national AMR policy and national IHR compliance mechanism. He is a well-known public health expert, hospital administrator and medical educationist.

Professor Srivastava is presently involved in transforming primary care by integration of technology, innovation and artificial intelligence solutions in healthcare. He is patron of Indian Federation of Neuro rehabilitation, member of Executive committee of Kalam Institute of Medical Technology (KIHT), Vizag, senior advisor for innovation and technology at Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Health (WISH), India. Professor Srivastava graduated/post-graduated from KGMC, Lucknow University, India (1971/75), fellowship in UK/Denmark (1982) and did certificate course from Upsala University (1984) Professionally, he is renowned physiatrist, who had contributed to patient care as specialist in Safdarjung Hospital, as professor in PMR department of VMMC, as PMR sub-specialty board chair of NBE, as chairman of locomotor disability subcommittee of RCI, as EB member of NIOH, Kolkata, as architect for competency based curriculum for PG in PMR under NBE, as DGHS in developing blueprint for AIIMS like institution(with PMR as integral department) and a secretary/president of IAPMR for PMR specialty development

Mr. Singh is an Electrical Engineer from NIT and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. He worked in Corporate for ~12 years before joining NITI Aayog as a lateral entrant at the Director level in E-Mobility vertical. He has worked in management positions at Daimler and MAN Truck and Bus India (A Volkswagen Group Company). He has co-authored several reports, including the recently launched report on Battery recycling. He is a senior team member for ACC PLI. He is part of the ETD 51 committee for EV infrastructure standards and the Technical jury for Battery Swapping Standards. He was instrumental in bringing out the Light EV charging standards published in mid of 2021. He is also leading the Battery swapping policy. He was one of the youngest in management at Daimler and also in MAN Trucks and Bus (where he was India’s CFO). He is also a member of the steering cum external expert committee for all CSIR Units.

Prof RK Shyamasundar is a JC Bose National Fellow and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay. He was the Founding Dean of School of Technology and Computer Science at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is a Fellow IEEE, Fellow ACM and Fellow of all National Science and Engineering academies and a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste. He has authored over 300 peer reviewed publications, 8 patents, and 8 books. More than 35 Ph.D. students have graduated under his guidance in India and USA. He has been a consultant to ESPRIT projects, Industries, Govt. of India etc. He is on the editorial board of Journal of parallel and distributed computing, Sadhana etc. He has served as Faculty/Visiting Scientist at various places like IBM TJ Watson Research Center, UCSD, UIUC, SUNY at Albany, INRIA, IRISA, University of Cambridge, JAIST at Japan, Max Planck Institute at Saarbrucken, Visiting Distinguished Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering, UK twice etc. One of his principal areas of research has been cyber security and is leading the Information Security Research and Development Center (ISRDC) funded by MEITY at IIT Bombay. He has/had been on the boards of IIIT Allahabad, IIIT Jabalpur, IDRBT, Bombay Stock Exchange etc.

Rangan Banerjee is the Forbes Marshall Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay – a Department that he helped start in 2007. His areas of interest include energy management, modelling of energy systems, energy planning and policy, hydrogen energy and fuel cells. He is on the editorial board of Energy for Sustainable Development, International Journal of Sustainable Energy, International Journal of Sustainable Engineering and International Journal of Thermodynamics and Frontiers in Energy Research. He has been involved in setting up a Megawattscale Solar Thermal Power Testing, Simulation, Research Facility sponsored by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. He was the faculty advisor to Team Shunya the first Indian Student team selected for the finals of the Solar Decathlon 2014 held in Europe that involves designing and constructing a fully functional Solar house.

He was a member of the TIFAC Technology Vision 2035 – Apex Committee and Chairman of the Energy Technology Theme. He was a Convening Lead Analyst for Industrial End Use Efficiency and a member of the executive committee for the Global Energy Assessment (2008-2011) coordinated by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He was a Member of International committee to review UK’s Energy Research Programme in 2010 (RCUK Review of Energy). He was a member of the Working Group on New and Renewable Energy for the Elleventh and Twelfth Five Year Plans and a member of the Planning Commission’s Integrated Energy Policy. He has been involved in advising the city, state regulatory commission and energy agency, Planning commission, Niti Aayog, MNRE on energy issues. He has co- authored a book on Planning for Demand Side Management in the Power sector, a book on Energy Cost in the Chemical Industry and a book on Engineering Education in India. He has conducted two international training programmes on solar energy and several National programmes on renewable energy and Energy Management. He is also an Adjunct faculty (Honorary) in the Department of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University. He has been the Dean(R&D) of IIT Bombay. He has received the Excellence in Teaching Award from IIT Bombay and is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Ranjna Nagpal (Deputy Director General) heads the Agri-Informatic Division at NIC, and is spearheading the implementation of Digital solutions in Agriculture and allied domains (Fertilisers, Irrigation, Animal Husbandry, Agro-Forestry etc.).

She has more than 3 decades of expertise in conceptualisation and implementation of multiple pioneering ICT initiatives in the country, most of which have been awarded at various forums. During these 3 decades she has been a part of the growth and challenges of technology from basic IT infra to smart digital systems, which enables her to provide very valuable insights for the application of technology to solve grassroot level problems

Prof Rajat Agrawal, the Head of the Department of Management Studies at IIT Roorkee, is a prominent figure in the academic world, particularly in the realms of Operations and General Management.

Dr. Agrawal’s research interests span a broad spectrum within Operations Management, including Supply Chain Management, Quality Management, Inventory Management, Manufacturing Strategy, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and Innovation. He also delves into Business Models and Entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on IP Management. His expertise is not confined to these areas, as he also explores General Management topics such as Indian Models of Management. His commitment to education and research is evident from the prestigious Ramkumar Prize he received in 2020 for Outstanding Teaching and Research. Beyond his primary role, he is involved in various interdisciplinary capacities, serving as a Joint Faculty member in the Department of Design and as an Associate Faculty in both the Centre of Excellence for Disaster Mitigation and Management and the Centre for Transportation Systems. His diverse contributions also include a tenure as the Former Associate Dean of Innovation and Incubation, reflecting his commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in the academic community.

Dr. Rajkumar Buyya is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Director of the Cloud Computing and Distributed Systems (CLOUDS) Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He served as a Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council during 2012-2016. He has authored over 625 publications and seven text books including “Mastering Cloud Computing” published by McGraw Hill, China Machine Press, and Morgan Kaufmann for Indian, Chinese and international markets respectively.  He is one of the highly cited authors in computer science and software engineering worldwide. Microsoft Academic Search Index ranked Dr. Buyya as #1 author in the world (2005-2016) for both field rating and citations evaluations in the area of Distributed and Parallel Computing. “A Scientometric Analysis of Cloud Computing Literature” by German scientists ranked Dr. Buyya as the World’s Top-Cited (#1) Author and the World’s Most-Productive (#1) Author in Cloud Computing. Dr. Buyya is recognized as a “2016 Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher” by Thomson Reuters, a Fellow of IEEE, and Scopus Researcher of the Year 2017 with Excellence in Innovative Research Award by Elsevier for his outstanding contributions to Cloud computing.

Software technologies for Grid and Cloud computing developed under Dr. Buyya’s leadership have gained rapid acceptance and are in use at several academic institutions and commercial enterprises in 50+ countries around the world. Dr. Buyya has led the establishment and development of key community activities, including serving as foundation Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Scalable Computing and five IEEE/ACM conferences. Dr. Buyya received “Mahatma Gandhi Award” along with Gold Medals for his outstanding and extraordinary achievements in Information Technology field and services rendered to promote greater friendship and India-International cooperation.  He served as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing. He is currently serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Software: Practice and Experience, which was established over 45 years ago.

Mr Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay is an Indian Telecommunications Service (ITS) 1975 batch officer who was the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). A graduate of IIT, BHU, Varanasi in Electronics Engineering, he is also a graduate of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) Wellington. He has obtained MSc (DS) degree from Madras University and is a MBA from IGNOU. He served telecommunications sector for more than 40 years in India and abroad and held important positions in the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Government of India, Telecommunications Consultants of India (TCIL) and BSNL, both leading Indian Public Sector Companies-PSUs.

He successfully led these two PSUs as their Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). He served as country in-charge Republic of Yemen (ROY) and People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria for TCIL.  A widely travelled person, he headed and also was member of important Government delegations visiting foreign countries, delivering keynote addresses in many international conferences.

Dr. Raman Saxena is currently a professor of design thinking, HDC, and HCI at the Software Engineering Research Centre, IIIT Hyderabad. He is also an adjunct professor at the Department of Design, IIT Kanpur. Before moving to academia in 2013, Dr. Raman had 25 years of corporate and senior leadership experience in multidisciplinary and multicultural organizations, including Siemens, Nokia, Network Programs (NPI), Human Factors International (HFI), and CA Technologies, etc., in India, the US, Europe, and China, where he worked on many high-impact technology and design projects in the areas of HCI, product design, service design, software, and information technology. He holds a PhD in Human-Centered Design from the India Institute of Technology (IIT) in Guwahati as well as an industrial design diploma from India’s premier design institute, the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmadabad, and is a Federal Government of Germany scholarship recipient for an advanced programme in product design, planning and development, and international management.

He has been actively engaged with startup and incubation as a co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Microskills, a platform offering learning, skilling, and a growth eco-system for the BoP and microentrepreneurs. He has mentored several startups and incubation initiatives, including the AUD Centre for Incubation & Innovation of Entrepreneurship (ACIIE), and served as a mentor at DLabs and the Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad. Many international conferences and seminars have invited him to speak, including the South Asia Connection on Economy, Health, and Education at Soka University South Asia Research Center, Japan 2020, the International Council of Design (ICoD)’19 in Graz, Austria, the ICoD’18 in Beijing, China, the ICoRD21 at IIT Mumbai, COCREAID’15 at IISc (Indian Institute of Science) Bangalore, the User Friendly Conference Shanghai, China, 2011, and the WUD Event in Shanghai, China.

He has also served as a jury member for the CII Design Excellence Awards 2018 and the India Design Mark 2014 and 2015, both of which are initiatives of the India Design Council, a government-sponsored initiative. He has also served as an Advisory Board Member of the National Institute of Design’s R&D Campus Bengaluru (Bangalore) from 2008–2010. He conceptualised and organised several conferences, seminars, workshops, and Gurukul programmes related to design, business, technology, and innovation under the USID Foundation, a non-profit platform for evangelising design and technology for social impact.

R Ramanan was the 1st Mission Director of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) – a flagship national Innovation initiative of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Government of India of India under the NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). AIM’s goals are to establish and promote a vibrant culture of innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide. As the Mission Director of AIM, Ramanan has been instrumental to date in the launch and execution of several nationwide innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives.

R Ramanan was previously Managing Director & CEO of CMC Ltd, a subsidiary of the globally acclaimed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Ramanan led CMC’s rapid transformation from a domestic government organization to a global IT private sector organization. Under his leadership CMC share price grew over 2100% between October 2001 to 2014, its operating profits over 1338%, 72% of its business coming from the overseas markets and leading to its successful amalgamation into TCS in 2015

Ramanan’s joined TCS in 1981 after graduating from IIT Mumbai in Electrical Engg and played an instrumental role in the growth of TCS with a variety of responsibilities ranging from product development, technical marketing, global business development, and general management of large centers of TCS.

Professor Rathinavelan Thenmalarchelvi, holding a Ph.D. from the University of Madras, is a distinguished member of the BioTechnology department. Her research interests are diverse and impactful, spanning Bacterial Glycobiology, Transition State Structures of Proteins, DNA-protein Interaction, and DNA Structure and Dynamics. She is also deeply involved in Multiscale Modelling, integrating AI and ML in biotechnological research, and employing Optics, Photonics, and Spectroscopy in her studies. Furthermore, her work extends to understanding Disease and Toxicity Mechanisms, contributing significantly to Drug Discovery, Drug Target Validation, and Preclinical Testing in Molecular Virology. Her multifaceted research endeavors make her a prominent figure in advancing the field of biotechnology.

Ravi is an Entrepreneurship Evangelist, Startup Expert, Curator & Ex Business Advisor Shark Tank India and an Alumni of The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), a premier professional exchange program by U.S. Govt. Department of State’s. He is Strategic Director & India Representative at Royal Family of Dubai The Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktou.

Ravi has over 10 years of experience helping Start-ups, Entrepreneurs and Govt. across India to solve problems using Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Innovation. He is the Chief of Partnerships at Venture Catalysts Group – a $0.7 Billion Multistage VC Network (www.venturecatalysts.in). His expertise lies across sectors such as Entrepreneurship, Angel Investment, Venture Capital, early-stage ventures, Government Relations, Global Startup Ecosystem, Business Incubator, Operations, Events, and Media.

Coming from a small village in Jharkhand, his humble background helped him witness Multiple Geopolitical challenges first hand which inspired him to study Journalism and Communication. Ravi started his career as a Journalist & went on to join the Indian Entrepreneurship Ecosystem to help Startups solve problems. Working with start-ups, Global Corporations, Government and multiple stakeholders, Ravi thrived in new challenges, committing to continuous learning and thought leadership while demonstrating originality in thinking and leadership through action. A connector, mentor and keen observer of the ever-shifting and metamorphosing Startup Ecosystem, Society, Business and Government space, Ravi has spotted social disruptions and changes while evaluating risks and economic rewards for enterprises.

Professor Ravi Shankar, a luminary in the field of Operations and Supply Chain Management, serves as a Professor (HAG) at the Department of Management Studies (DMS) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He is distinguished as a Fellow of the prestigious Indian National Academy of Engineers (FNAE), a testament to his expertise and contributions in his field. As of March 2023, his research has garnered over 34,900 citations, with an impressive H-index of 79. This level of research productivity is arguably unparalleled in any business school across India. Professor Shankar’s academic interests are diverse and impactful, encompassing Operations & Supply Chain Management, Business Analytics & Optimization, Project Management, and Technology Management & Innovation. His work in these areas has significantly advanced the understanding and application of these disciplines.

His major areas of interest are expansive and influential, covering Decision Sciences, Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Project Management, Business Analytics & Optimization, Strategic Technology Management, and Knowledge Management. This breadth of expertise highlights Professor Shankar’s role as a leading academic and researcher, shaping the future of these critical business and management domains.

23+ years of experience across various geographies with the world’s leading telecommunications & Networking OEMs, Service Providers, System Integrators, ISVs & Academia. Digital Evangelist with a background in Technology & Consulting with Fortune 500. Currently involved in the introduction of AI-enabled Platform-Based Services, Consulting, Transformation, Thought Leadership, Product & Program Management & Business Transformation Advisory Services for Roadmap, Revenue Generation, Digital Strategy, Business Processes, IT Architecture. He heads Digital & Business Transformation for ConneQT Business Solutions and an IIM-Bangalore Alumnus. He is an angel investor with preference of early Stage Startups with strong & differentiated value proposition with large market size. Founder’s Team with Strong Focus on Product Market Fit, Profitable Growth, and Tech background.

Ritu Mehta is Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. She holds a BTech in Chemical Engineering and MBA in Marketing. Prior to joining academia, Ritu worked in consumer-packaged goods companies in diverse sales and marketing roles. Her research interests include, among others, retailing, consumer behavior, sales promotions, and role of gender in consumption and decision making. Her research has been published in several international journals such as Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Consumer Studies, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, and Decision. She has presented her work at leading international conferences. She has also developed several case studies with Ivey Publishing. Ritu’s teaching interests include marketing research, retailing, pricing, and services marketing.

Dr. Rupesh Kumar Pati is associated with Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) from May, 2007. Before joining IIMK he served ISRO as a scientist in Program Planning and Evaluation Group. In ISRO he was a part of a team responsible for planning and monitoring of various prestigious PSLV, GSLV missions. After joining IIMK, he has received Indo Shastri Partnership Development Seed Grant (2012-13) to work in HEC Montréal, Canada for understanding and designing sustainable pharmaceutical Supply Chain for Indian and Canadian Industry. He was also awarded Emerald/ IAM management research fund award 2010 (supporting the dissemination of knowledge for social good in India) by pursuing research on “Reverse Logistics in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry” (along with Ms. Sushmita A Narayana).

He is a member of the Advisory Board of School of Project Management (SOPM), NICMAR University, Pune. He was also the member of the Expert Committee for revision and updating the Manual on 24×7 sustainable water supply formed by CPHEEO under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (GoI). He is also one of the Jury member of L&T project management institute reputed industry case competition.

At IIMK he is actively involved in research publication in the domain of sustainable supply chain management. He has published in 25 top International Journal publications in the domain of Operations Management (like Production Planning and Control, Resources conservation and Recycling, Journal of Cleaner Production, OMEGA-Management Science, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Logistics Management, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, OPSEARCH etc.).  His current research interest is in sustainable supply chain, green business, and project management. In recent years most of his research studies have been highly appreciated among academicians (based on citations) and is primarily in the field of enhancing sustainability in pharmaceutical, fertilizer as well as organic food sector.

He has also conducted over 100 training programs for leading corporates in the area of Supply chain, project and quality management, green business etc. One of his student has set up her own sustainable farming practices there by reducing solid waste (environment and health issues) and providing join to marginalized section of society (details can be seen in  www.tmkagroproducts.com).

Dr. Sagar Mitra is currently an associate professor in the Energy Science and Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. Dr. Mitra received his Ph.D. in solid state electrochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in 2004. After completing his PhD, he joined Prof. J.M. Tarascon’s lab for two years as a postdoctoral researcher (2004–2006). Later, he joined the electronic industry at Replisaurus Technologies in Stockholm, Sweden, as a Principal Electrochemist (from 2006 to 2009). At Replisaurus Technologies, he has received a prestigious Swedish award as “Expert in Electrochemistry for the Electronic Industry” in 2006. He is currently leading the battery research team in the National Centre for Solar Photovoltaic Research and Education (funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India) at IIT Bombay, and his current research is mainly focused on advanced materials and technology development for different energy storage applications, particularly lithium-ion batteries and sodium-ion batteries.

Dr Samit Bhattacharya is an Associate Professor in the Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, with over 15 years of experience in teaching and research. He is an active researcher in the broad area of human-computer interaction, having specific interest in Extended Reality (Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality), E-Learning, Smart Interactive Systems, Affective Interfaces and User-Centric Computing. He is the founder and principal investigator of the User-Centric Computing and Networking Laboratory (UCCNET) at the Dept of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Guwahati. His achievements include over 85 research publications including books, book chapters, journal articles and conference proceedings; successful supervision of 6 PhD theses (with couple more continuing), 20+ MTech and 40+ BTech projects; execution of funded research and consultancy projects worth over INR 90 million; multi-dimensional teaching experience catering to students, faculty, and working professional/executives in India and abroad covering an array of topics; recipient of national and international awards; membership of various national and international committees.

After graduating as an Electrical Engineer from NIT Kurukshetra, Mr Samrat completed his Post Graduation in Supply Chain from NITIE Mumbai. During the 21 years in the industry have worked in almost all the fields of Supply Chain like Procurement, Demand Planning, Inventory Planning, Production Planning, Distribution, Ware House Management. Spent bulk of his career with FMCG, Pharma Companies and Tyre Industry.

He has been handling roles of increasing responsibility across the Supply Chain having worked extensively in Supply, Demand and Production Planning. Later on he had opportunity to work in Procurement at RB for more than 3.5 years where a strong vendor base was developed that is giving structural benefits to the organization even upto now. Also worked as Head of Supply Services where he was involved in various initiatives to Modernize the warehouses.

Currently at Dabur he is Leading a large Cross functional and Change management project in his current role as Head of Supply Chain. Part one of the projected is successfully implemented in which the key improvement areas were the Integrated S&OP process, Range Availability improvement at the CFAs, Continuous Replenishment System for the Distributors, Post GST Network optimization and Long Term Capacity Planning. The project has lead to improvement in Range availability at CFAs and at the Distributors. Second phase is about the IT interventions which is under way currently.

Sandeep Phanasgaonkar is a seasoned professional with over 3 decades of experience in business and technology leadership, spanning IT for banking, financial services, ERP software, and business and IT outsourcing. Since 2013, he has been a strategic consultant, helping enterprises leverage IT for growth and profitability. His expertise includes implementing private and public cloud, mobile technologies, infrastructure virtualization, and business intelligence processes.

Sandeep plays a crucial role as a mentor and advisor to high-tech startups, collaborating with private equity firms, venture capitalists, and angel investors. He focuses on guiding these companies to tap into the vast enterprise and mass market in India and abroad, with a particular emphasis on the Mumbai-Pune region’s mobile, social media, and cloud companies.

Previously, Sandeep was the President & Chief Technology Officer at Reliance Capital Ltd, where he developed a diverse enterprise platform that significantly contributed to the company’s rapid growth. His career began at the State Bank of India, followed by significant roles at Tata Unisys, Oracle Financial Software, and Deutsche Bank. He notably served as the Regional Technology Head for Deutsche Bank in Asia, managing critical phases including the Y2K transition and cash management system implementations. Later, he joined GE Capital, India, as Group CIO and then moved to Genpact as the Global Chief Information Officer, overseeing global IT deployment and operations.

A career bureaucrat for 24 years from West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) cadre who had earlier served as an Intelligence Officer for 4 year whilst remaining in charge of various high value government installations, among other assignments in the North-East. I

Alma Mater of Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, Mr. Das has a Master’s in law, specialising in Constitutional Law from Kakatiya University; another Master’s in Business Administration from ICFAI University; Bachelor of Science with Honours in Physics from Calcutta University along with Post Graduation Diploma in Rural Development; Cyber Law, Intellectual Property Rights and Training & Development from various institutions of repute. Recently, he topped the first National Cyber Security Scholar Programme organised by ISAC, MDI Gurgaon and NCIIPC, Govt of India. He has also been trained as a Cyber Security Strategist by DSCI and CrowdStrike. He is a Certified Lead Implementer Professional in ISO 27701 and GDPR by BSI.

Dr. Sanjay is a though leader for telecom technologies. He has a unique blend of Technology, Advocacy, Education, Defence and Management. He has 30+ years of experience (including 11 Yrs in India Air Force in Tele Communication stream as a Short Service Commissioned officer) in Telecom domain in Wireless technologies like IoT, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, CDMA, GSM, Microwave, UHF/VHF. He has also worked in Infrastructure security, safety as in Smart cities, Wireline networks, Broadband Networks etc. in different roles such as Practice Head, BU Head, Delivery Head etc. He also has PMP & CWNA certifications.

Dr Sanjay has worked with various companies like TCS, Wipro, Tata Teleservices, Tata Infotech, Amdocs (Comverse), Nelco, Hinduja Group, India Satcom, apart from his Air Force tenure. He is also a member of Board of Studies for Dept. of IT at NMIMS Mumbai.  He has done his Ph.D. from Mumbai Univ in Management (Thesis on ‘Study of Customer Experience in mobile telecom networks and its impact on Operator’s financials’). He has done his BE & ME in Electronics & Power engg from VNIT Nagpur. He has also done ICWA (I), MDBA (Finance) from Symbiosis Pune, and Armed Forces Program (Full time 6 months) in General Management at IIM, Ahmedabad. Dr Sanjay has acquired PG Diploma in Big Data and Business Analytics from Aegis School of Big Data, Data Science and Cyber security, Mumbai in 2017. He also has UGC-NET (Management). He had completed LL.B. from Mumbai University and currently is a practicing Advocate in Bombay High Court and other Mumbai courts.

Renowned as a luminary in global health and a proven digital health innovator, Dr. Sanjay Sood stands among the pioneers in global telemedicine since 1998, leading ground-breaking digital innovations that fortify health systems worldwide. With an expansive skill set in large-scale digital health implementations, his expertise spans diverse geographies, fuelling transformative change. His dedication to advancing global health initiatives is evident across his extensive career. His depth of knowledge and insights are exemplified in over 50 distinguished world-class publications authored by him.

As the helm of eSanjeevani, India’s National Telemedicine Service and the world’s largest telemedicine platform, as the Project Director Dr. Sood leads this monumental endeavour that has provided health services to over 200 million patients nationwide. His exceptional leadership has garnered accolades such as the prestigious Digital India Award 2020, conferred by the Hon’ble President of India, acknowledging the profound impact of eSanjeevani. Currently serving as the Associate Director at C-DAC, Mohali, and as the Technology Director for Healthcare Technologies C-DAC India, Dr. Sood continues to drive innovation and transformative solutions in global health. His collaborations with global development organizations including BMGF, JHPIEGO, J-PAL, PATH, TAF, and USAID underscore his significant contributions in the development sector. Additionally, he has excelled in multicultural teams, leveraging diverse perspectives for pioneering advancements. Driven by an unwavering passion for development initiatives, Dr. Sood’s proactive approach and steadfast belief in leading from the front continue to shape the future of global health. His efforts empower communities, strengthen health systems worldwide, and implement cutting-edge digital health solutions.

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Varshney is a prominent figure in the field of scientific cooperation in India, holding a significant position as the Head of the International Scientific Cooperation in the Ministry/Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. His career in this department commenced in 1990, and since then, he has played a vital role in advancing international scientific collaborations through bilateral, multilateral, and regional partnerships.

As the Indian Co-Chair of the Governing Body of the Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) and the U.S-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF), Dr. Varshney has been instrumental in promoting joint industrial research and development. His expertise extends to his role on the Board of Directors of Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA), a private limited company. He is also actively involved as the chair of the IORA Working Group on Science & Technology and serves as a Member of the Governing Council of the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy (ARCI).

Dr. Varshney represents India in several international forums, including as the Focal Point for BRICS Working Group on Science & Technology and a member of the OECD Committee on Science & Technology Policy. He has previously been a Governing Board member of the US-Indian Education Foundation (USIEF) and a member of the Board of Research Studies in the Department of Geology at Aligarh Muslim University.

His international experience includes serving as the Counsellor (S&T) at the Embassy of India in Moscow, where he facilitated India-Russia bilateral scientific cooperation from April 2008 to June 2011. His academic credentials are equally impressive, with a Master’s in Geology from Aligarh Muslim University, where he was awarded the University Medal in 1984. He also qualified for the UGC NET in 1985 and was awarded the Dr DN Wadia Research Fellowship in 1986 for his research in Himalayan Geology. Dr. Varshney was conferred a Doctor of Science (DSc) (Honorary Causa) by Amity University, Rajasthan.

As a Life Fellow of the Geological Society of India and the Nepal Geological Society, and a member of the International Association of Sedimentologists, he contributes significantly to his field. His efforts extend beyond academia into science popularization, evidenced by his regular contributions to newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Dr. Varshney’s career is marked by his dedication to fostering scientific collaboration and his contributions to the field of geology and scientific policy.

Dr. Satish Narayana Srirama is an Associate Professor at School of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Hyderabad, India. He is also a Visiting Professor and the Honorary Head of the Mobile & Cloud Lab at the Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Estonia, which he led as a Research Professor until June 2020. His current research focuses on cloud computing, mobile web services, mobile cloud, Internet of Things, fog computing, migrating scientific computing and enterprise applications to the cloud and large-scale data analytics on the cloud. He received his PhD in computer science from RWTH Aachen University, Germany in 2008. He is an IEEE Senior Member, an Editor of Wiley Software: Practice and Experience journal, a 51-year-old Journal since Jan 2016, and a program committee member of several international conferences and workshops. He has co-authored over 160 refereed scientific publications in reputed international conferences and journals. Dr. Srirama has successfully managed several national/European/international/enterprise collaborative research grants/projects worth over 6 million Euros during the past decade, in the areas of cloud computing, software engineering and Internet of Things. He also served as an expert panel member in evaluating project grants for various government-funding bodies such as the Academy of Finland, Italian Ministry for Education, Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, Research Council of Norway etc.

Prof. Saurabh Kumar is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore in the Information Systems area. He is presently the Chair of the Integrated Program in Management (IPM) at IIM Indore. He has worked earlier as a Faculty at IIM-Nagpur and also as a Visiting Research Scholar at Beedie School of Business (Simon Fraser University), Canada. He has undergone his Doctoral Studies (FPM) in the IT & Systems area at IIM Lucknow. He holds an engineering degree in computer science and has corporate experience with Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore. He is working in the fields of data mining, business analytics, and digital transformation. He was awarded with the very prestigious award of Young Faculty Research Chair-2020 of IIM Indore. He has publications in reputed journals like Industrial Marketing Management (ABDC-A*), IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management (ABDC-A), Behaviour and Information Technology (ABDC-A), Journal of Enterprise Information Management (ABDC-A), and so on.

Saurabh has been involved in the startup ecosystem since his graduation over 11 years ago. A majority of this time was spent as an entrepreneur setting up companies in the healthcare, food-tech and e-commerce domains. About five years ago, he switched to the investment side and has been an investor at Trifecta Capital ever since. Currently, Saurabh is a Director at Trifecta Capital and invests in Consumer Services, Healthcare, Ed-Tech, Social Media and Agri-Tech sectors among others. He is a prolific risk-taker and revels in exploring new segments for business opportunities.

Having been a serial entrepreneur, Saurabh brings the unique “founder’s perspective” to the table. He specialises in standardising the operations of a company and using technology as a catalyst to achieve scale. Saurabh is an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad and IIT-Varanasi.

Seema Bhardwaj is an Indo-German professional with over two decades of experience in strategic advisory. Before joining GTAI in July 2020, she headed the India Desk of a major German law firm for 14 years, consulting companies from German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) in their market entry into India. She studied law in India and Germany and holds a Master’s degree in Political Science. In her current position as Director, India, Seema Bhardwaj is responsible for Indian Investors are providing support on all questions relating to business establishment in Germany. Market Data, legal and tax framework information, personnel recruitment, and site selection support are all part of Germany Trade and Invest’s service portfolio.

She is a regular speaker at international conferences and speaks German and English about Indian law.Further Seema Bhardwaj is the Ambassador for the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Change. Action, Germany; Head of the German Indian Roundtable (GIRT) in Berlin; a founding member of the Indo-German Association of Legal Cooperation (IGAL); A Member of the Internationalization Committee of the Berlin Chambers of Commerce

Dr. Shanta Thoutam, a gold medalist in BTech Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, has an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University (NMSU) in the United States.She worked for 5+ years as an analogue IC designer in Austin, Texas, USA. While pursuing her PhD, she had the opportunity to serve the Arrowhead Center, the primary economic development arm of NMSU, in various capacities, including as a Technology Commercialization Associate, a Commercialization Analyst, the Director of Launch Competition, a Proof of Concept Center, and a technology commercialization accelerator that created 10 startups and 10+ patents. For 5+ years, she played key role in bridging the gap between NMSU and the market by successfully advancing technologies emerging from campus to business development settings. She is also one of the Stanford VentureWell University Innovation Fellows (UIF).

After living in the USA for 15 years, she accepted the opportunity with T-Hub and relocated back to India with a great zeal to learn, serve, and build the innovation and startup ecosystem of India. As the Vice President of Corporate Innovation and Business Development at T-Hub, she was instrumental in establishing partnerships with new corporate clients and retaining old ones while spearheading various open innovation programmes for corporate clients that are scouting for startups working on disruptive technologies emerging in sectors including AgriTech, FinTech, HealthTech, Sustainability, Transportation and Logistics, Smart City, etc. Some of the marquee T-Hub Corporate Innovation programmes that she led had about 170+ startups graduate with $130 million in funds raised cumulatively, and seven of them were acquired.

From September 1, 2021, she is appointed as the Chief Innovation Officer of the Government of Telangana to foster the innovation and entrepreneurial culture that transform the livelihoods and lives of grassroots innovators, social innovators, and women across 33 districts in Telangana. She presides over several advisory committees and panels that deal with innovation and entrepreneurship. She shares and lives the Telangana government’s vision of making Telangana one of the world’s innovation and startup destinations.

Dr. Shekhar C. Mande obtained his MSc in 1984 from Nagpur University and PhD in 1991 from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in Molecular Biophysics. After postdoctoral training of two years at Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands in the laboratory of Prof. Wim G. J. Hol, he worked as Senior fellow, in laboratory Prof. Wim G. J. Hol for three years at University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He returned to India in 1995 and joined as Scientist-C, at Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh and continued working there until 2001. In 2001, he moved to Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad and worked there as staff scientist until 2011. Since 2011 he is working as The Director of National Center for Cell Science, Pune. His laboratory has been involved in two broad research themes in the recent past: (1) structural characterization of M. tuberculosis proteins and (2) computational analysis of genome-wide protein: protein interactions. Dr. Mande received several recognitions for his studies, Fellow, Indian National Science Academy New Delhi, Elected 2010, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Biological Sciences, 2005, Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellow, since 2003, Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India, Elected 2003, Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, Elected 2003 and B M Birla Young Scientist Award, 1999 for his contributions to Science.

As the CEO of TASK, his major role is enhancing the employability for the youth in Telangana under the Department of ITE&C, Government of Telangana. He has been responsible for on boarding Govt. degree colleges and polytechnics, multiple industry partners as well enhanced the offerings at TASK. his priority has been to increase focus on the rural areas of the state as well as to promote skilling and placement of girls and the underserved communities. With the onset of the COVID pandemic, he has been spearheading the transition of conventional training programs to virtual (online and blended) mode, and initiated several webinar series on various subjects.

He was part of the Program Review & Support Group (PRSG) for PMGDISHA, was also part of the two-member committee which has provided guidelines to be followed for all Govt. of India Websites & apps (GIGW). He served as a member of various Govt of India’s working group like ‘IT for Masses’; ‘Technology Development for Indian Languages Program’; part of the content, assessment for NDLM & PMGDISHA. An eminent speaker at national and international forums, he is also part of the Technology Advisory Group for ‘Girls in IT’, A champion of Social & Grassroot innovations and inclusive India, his passion got him to join the advisory board of the Nagrik Foundation & Action Aid India.

Prior to joining TASK, he was the CEO of NASSCOM Foundation, the social development arm of the Indian IT-BPM industry body – NASSCOM, where he led the ‘tech 4 good’ movement in the country for little over 4 years. Prior to joining NASSCOM Foundation, he was based out of Malaysia, working as Head Corporate learning, APAC and MENA, at GlobalNxt University (formerly U21Global), a leading Online Graduate School, helping thousands of people working in corporates across the Asia-Pacific, Middle-East and North African regions with limited or no access to good quality academic opportunities.

Through his unique perspective and diverse and rich experience spanning over 32+ years, he helped take NASSCOM Foundation to newer heights and helped create much larger impact. He has also been championing the cause of collaborative CSR, where corporates can join hands for a common cause, with government and non-government entities to solve social issues and create large scale impact. As a respected leader in the space, A student of Computer Applications & Physics from Delhi university, earlier in his career, Shrikant has played a pivotal role in the success of APTECH  in India, in Latin America & the Middle East.

Shobhana Lele, currently the VP-IT for The Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd., is a seasoned IT professional with more than two decades in the industry. She has a varied experience in industries like chemicals, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, retail, real estate, and manufacturing, with previous stints at Sanofi India Ltd., Heinz India Pvt. Ltd., and BASF India Ltd. in multiple geographical locations in Europe, the UK, and China. She has a master’s in information technology from the University of Madras. She is on the committee of CIO Klub, a non-profit organisation of, for, and by CIOs. She is also a certified independent director.

Prof. Somanath Tripathy is a Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department of Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India. He is also serving as an Associate Dean, Administration and former Associated Dean Academic, at IIT Patna. As a researcher, he is passionate about working in security, blockchain, machine learning, and IoT applications. He has successfully mentored 5 Ph.D. students and currently mentoring 6 Ph.D. students. He has published more than 100 research papers in different journals and conferences of repute like IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications, TrustComm and GlobeComm, are naming a few. He serves as a reviewer in International conferences and journals of repute, like IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Springer, and Elsevier.

He has co-founded and mentoring two startups, Federated Learning Explorer Pvt. Ltd. which is working on AI in Agriculture, and Whitenet Explorer Private Limited on secure FinTech applications. He has been PI and Co-PI of several security-related projects from the Ministry of Home Affairs, India, and SERB (Mathematical Research Impact Centric Support (MATRICS), India. Prof. Tripathy is currently serving as an associate editor of Sadhana-Academy Proceedings in Engineering Science of the Indian Academy of Sciences and editor of IETE Technical Review. He is a Life member, CRSI [Cryptology Research Society of India], a Senior Member, IEEE.

Mr. Subhash built one of the largest tech Think-Tanks in Southeast Asia, and he is credited with creating one of the most novel audit procedures ever. In 2018, the Department of International Trade (DIT) in the United Kingdom recognised his process as a “unique disruptive technology with exceptional global potential, being led by a professional management team.” He is the founder and CEO of both the venture-building company Technoplat and Lemon Advisors Lemon assists firms in “growing and scaling” their operations in more than 30 nations via offices in the UK and India. Lemon focuses on the following five industries: telecoms & media, fintech, health tech, space tech & aviation, and renewable & sustainable energy. Lemon provides services in the areas of technology transfer, knowledge transfer, and business transformation.

A global platform called Technoplat was created to foster and expand tech-based start-ups. Its primary focus is on emerging businesses in the MENA, APAC, and EU regions. Mr Subhash serves on the board of directors and as president of global partnerships for Orbital Micro Systems (OMS), a SpaceTech Data firm founded by the University of Edinburgh. He is a judge for Tech Nation’s Rising Star 4.0 Program Skill, In-depth Understanding of Technology, and Tech Nation UK Ambassador. Wide-ranging business connections with industry experts, the corporate and governmental sectors, investors, and financing organisations; areas of expertise; “C” level access spanning Asia, the Middle East, and Africa; the EU; and the United States; Entrepreneur, tech adviser, non-executive, and mentor at Tech Nation, Level39, NatWest Accelerator, and TechStars.

Subrat Kar graduated with Honours in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani in 1987. He holds a Doctoral Degree in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1991). He has been with the International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste as a Post-Doctoral Fellow (1991-1994). Presently he is a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi where he is also the Ram and Sita Sabnani Chair Professor.

His research areas are in optical communication, switching, access technologies, telecom protocols, embedded systems and high speed networks. As a member of the Optoelectronics and Optical Communication research group, he works in the area of non-linear optical CDMA networks, free-space optical communication (ground-satellite and inter-satellite) and in ultra-fast optical LSI and fault-tolerant integrated optical switching architectures. His interests also involve formalisms in embedded system design, hardware-software co-design, telecom protocol design and verification tools for telecommunication protocols. He has designed and holds patents in the field of large-scale sensor networks, routing algorithms, macro languages, large scale repository design for sensor data and localization issues in sensor networks.

Mr. Sudhir Gupta has done his B.E (Electronics) in 1979 from the University of Indore and Post Graduate Diploma in IT & Management in 1999 from the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.

Having spent 25+ years in technical roles in different companies like HCL, Agilent, Marvell, Freescale, Juniper, among others, Sudhanshu has gained extensive experience in the embedded domain in different verticals like networking, storage, printing and imaging, medical equipment, IoT, security, etc. He also holds a patent in the imaging area.

Sudhanshu completed his graduation in electrical engineering from IIT-BHU and is also a certified intellectual property rights professional from the Indian Law Institute.

As “Head – CoE Gurugram and Director – Technical Solutions” with NASSCOM Center of Excellence for IoT and AI, Sudhanshu leads the overall operations of Gurugram CoE and is also responsible for driving the solutioning of the problem statements brought by CoE partners. Primary focus verticals are healthcare, standardisation activities, electrical vehicles, and academic engagements.

Captain Ramanujam has a rich experience of 30 years in Maritime Logistics and Transportation. He has been engaged with the skill eco system since its inception in 2010. Mr Ramanujam was the CEO Logistics Skill Council his endeavour was to ensure Logistics Companies have at least 25% of their workforce below Managerial Cadre are skilled and LSC certified, while reducing the cost of hiring by 20% in 3 years. He is an ardent advocate of Apprenticeship and feels this should be the preferred route for Companies and Candidates as it is a win-win situation for both. He also feels Education and Vocational Skills are intimately connected and has had the support of the Academic Institutions, Industry and Government of India to embed Logistics Training in the Educational Sector in a first of kind Degree Apprenticeship Program.

Mr. Khanna is a partner of the Investment Advisor and is responsible for ideating, identifying, investing, monitoring and exiting investments in the consumer products and services sector. Mr. Khanna also plays a role in managing key LP relationships. Mr. Khanna is serving and has served on the boards of several portfolio companies of the Investment Advisor – NTL, Barbeque Nation, Sapphire Foods, Mrs. Bectors Foods and Thalappakatti Hotels. Prior to joining the Investment Advisor in 2008, Mr. Khanna was a director in the investment and corporate banking sector at Yes Bank, an Indian private sector bank. Mr. Khanna was responsible for originating mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) and capital raising transactions across North and East India for four and a half years, originated several private equity transactions and worked with several private equity funds, including with CVCI. Mr. Khanna was also an integral part of the startup team at Yes Bank and served in a variety of leadership roles. Prior to his engagement at Yes Bank, Mr. Khanna spent four years at Citi’s corporate and investment banking business, before which he was with GE’s commercial finance business for 18 months. Mr. Khanna earned an MBA from the University of Baltimore and a B.S. degree in Engineering from the University of Maryland.

She holds 20^th position as “India’s 100 Most Influential Cyber Warriors”. Ms Tulika has lead to undertaking national initiatives in technology assessment & development, several initiatives have been undertaken towards building the country’s internet resilience; significant contributions in the national cyber security strategy and cyber warfare formulation as also policy and regulations; initiatives for creation of skilled workforce; programme for encouraging cyber security industry & startups; international alliances for collaboration and confidence building measures. Member Task Force and Committees. She has Lead technology development and successful field implementation in the areas of Digital Payments; Alternate Technologies for Connectivity in Rural India; E-Readiness Assessment Methodologies; Internet Governance; Digitization & Digitalization, E-Learning; E-Infrastructure; IPv6; Convergence, Communications & Broadband Technologies;Smart Cities;Transforming Villages into Smart Villages;Security especially in Digital Payments. She has Lead research & development in the areas of Microelectronics & Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems(MEMs); Convergence of Cognitive Radio Frequency with Internet; Emerging Technologies – IoT, Data Analytics, Blockchain Technology & Artificial Intelligence. She has Technical Reports and Research Papersthat have lead to adoption and implementation– Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMs); E-Learning Models for Secondary Education; E-Readiness Assessment of India; Internet Governance Position Paper of India; Secondary Usage of TV White Space in UHF Band to provide Broadband connectivity; Smart City – IoT Framework; Security – Digital Payments, IoT, 5G; Women Empowerment through ICT, Standards – Smart Grid, IoT, Digital Payments.Digitization & digitalization; Network Engineering; Cyber Trailing, Wireless Sensor Networks; Pervasive Computing; Security in IoT/CPS; Blockchain Technology.

He has Built a large Geocycle (AFR) Business in ACC; Nil TPA (2006) to 0.5 Million TPA (2015), Served as a Member of many strategic committees of Holcim, ACC, and Geocycle. He Spearheaded a Co-processing initiative – that ensures sustainable growth – in the country and established it as a business model. He has  Implemented advocacy through CII to include co-processing in the Indian Policy framework, and served as an expert member on several committees constituted by the Govt of India and also some state governments.

After retirement in 2018, he has executed strategic assignments for the European Union and a few organizations from Europe and has also started a new Circular Economy Initiative named   ISCE. He extends consultancy services as an expert to some of the globally operating management consultancy companies and also to cement plants and waste management companies. He has published >30 papers in national and international journals of repute with global scientists, academicians, and officers of CPCB  & SPCBs as co-authors. He has also co-authored a book on co-processing which is published by Springer, Singapore.

Dr Usha Ananthakumar is a Professor in the area of Decision Sciences & Quantitative Methods at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay.  Her areas of research include Applied Statistics, Classification under Imbalance, Statistical Learning and Data Mining. Her publications have appeared in International journals like Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production and Operations Management, Journal of Quantitative Economics etc., Her teaching interests include Statistical Methods, Multivariate Data Analysis and Predictive Analytics.

V Giridhar is currently an Assistant Professor at the Industrial and Management Engineering department of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK). He was awarded PhD in Marketing Management in the year 2019 for his original ethnographic research work on marginalized communities presented in his doctoral thesis titled “Identity, Resistance, and Transition among Indian Subaltern Communities.”

Prior to joining for his PhD at IIM Shillong, Giridhar held managerial positions in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Vishakapatnam and State Bank of India, Hyderabad. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; and a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering (BE) from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

After obtaining his doctoral degree, V Giridhar worked as Assistant Professor in Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya for an year, where he taught courses like Marketing Management and Retail Management. His research interests include consumer culture, subaltern consumers, B2B marketing, and retail management.

Commander Varun Gupta has 20+ years of rich Naval experience in Information Security and ICT in Indian Navy and has held important portfolios onboard ships and shore units.

He has commanded two Naval ships and has been a specialist in fields of Communication, Networking, Electronic Warfare and Infosec. Having lead Operations Networking, Information Security and Electronic Warfare through his career, he is presently serving at Headquarters of Western Naval Command as Director ICT and Infosec.

The officer is alumnus of National Defence Academy and is an MBA in IT Systems. He’s a keen learner and is passionate about Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation. He also holds industry certifications viz. CISSP, AWS Solutions Architect Associate and ISO 27001 LA.

Dr. Veena Iyer is an Associate Professor with Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar. Her areas of academic and research work include Maternal health, Infectious diseases, and Urban health. She is a qualified medical practitioner from Goa Medical College (1990) and has secured an MPH from Emory University, Atlanta (2009), and a PhD from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

In the 90s Veena served as an Emergency Medical Officer at Lokmanya Tilak Medical College and Hospital, Sion, Mumbai for three years. Veena worked as a Medical Officer of an Urban Health Centre in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation for ten years (1995-2005) where she practiced as a General Practitioner and implemented all national health programmes. That body of work resulted in her present areas of interest. Veena has also volunteered with the United Nations as a Medical Doctor at Accident and Emergency Services, Rio Claro Health Centre, Trinidad, for a year (2007).

He has done his PG Diplomas in Cyber Law (2016), IPR Law (2017), ADR Law (2018), Company Law (2019) and International Trade Law (2020) from ILI /ISIL, New Delhi;

Dr. Vikram Popli is a Director with LeapFrog’s Asia team. He is an orthopedic surgeon with more than a decade of experience in healthcare private equity investment. After completing his MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College, Vikram completed his MS in orthopedics from Safdarjang Hospital. He has also obtained an MBA in Finance from ISB Hyderabad. He comes to LeapFrog not only with deep medical experience, but with 10 years of experience in private equity through OrbiMed, a healthcare focused fund, where he was a Director.

Vikram has experience of investing in various sub-sectors in healthcare and lifesciences including hospitals, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and distribution. He was involved in multiple investments at OrbiMed, including KIMS Hospital, a leading chain of hospitals in Kerala and GCC, Surya Children’s Medicare, the largest private neonatal and pediatric hospital in Mumbai, and Advanced Enzymes, the largest enzyme company in India and in the Top 15 businesses in its industry globally. He has successfully exited investments generating good returns for the investors. His experience in these investments spans all stages of the transaction from deal identification, diligence, negotiation, investment, post investment monitoring,  performance improvement, impact assessment and exit.

Dr Vinay Kulkarni has completed his B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Ph.D. in Computer-aided Manufacturing from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He is currently the Director of Aegis School of Data Science, Faculty for Statistics and Probability, Apache Hadoop at Aegis School of Data Science and also an former Adjunct Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay In the past he has worked as a Vice President – Innovation and Incubation, Geometric Ltd, Strategic Advisor for Mindmap IT Solutions.

Vinod Keni is the Managing Partner, IAN Alpha Fund, an early-stage VC fund. He is also an advisor to Harmonic, a venture-buyout fund based in the US. In addition, he is the co-founder of Bottomline, a finance transformation and automation platform, and Peachtree Management Advisors, a boutique growth advisory and management consulting company.

An experienced entrepreneur, investor, advisor/mentor, and business builder with more than 25 years of operating, entrepreneurial and investing experience in the US & India, Vinod has a track record of success in achieving positive business results. Having lived in the US and Singapore besides India, Vinod combines the best of Western practices and processes with Indian pragmatism.

He has worked with early and growth stage companies, leading the finance function, investing in them, fund raising, M&A, corporate development and being a mentor/advisor to founders and management teams. As a CFO, he has led two NASDAQ IPOs and worked extensively in building and growing businesses. Vinod leverages his extensive experience, best practices, pragmatism with demonstrated execution capabilities and networks.