$25,000 Business Plan Competition a key features of the conference.
By Raif Karerat
The 2016 Leadership Conference of the US-based alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology will be held at the Rhode Island Convention Center, in Providence, RI, from August 12 to 14. The event will be co-sponsored by the IIT Association of Greater New England (IIT AGNE) and PANIIT USA, the national IIT alumni organization.
The theme of the conference will be “Leading transformation for a better tomorrow: Technologies that lift the human spirit,” according to the organizers.
One of the highlights of the conference will be a Business Plan Competition, where emerging entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to potential investors. The winners will get $25,000 in cash prizes.
“We are excited to host the 2016 Leadership Conference which will be held for the first time in New England,” Raj Laad, the Conference Chair, told The American Bazaar. “The conference is open not just to IIT alumni but to everyone and with over 1,200 attendees and 100 speakers expected, you are sure to find it a fun, exciting and enriching experience.”
Laad and Percy Chinoy, another key member of the organizing committee, said the conference will bring together a dazzling array of thought leaders across industries and technologies to paint a vision of the future.
Some of the key speakers will include the Massachusetts-based technology and social entrepreneur Dr. Gururaj Deshpande, COO of GE Boston Eric Gebhardt, FedEx EVP Marketing Rajesh Subramaniam, Chair of NASA MARS Mission Dr. Amitabha Ghosh, CEO & Founder TripAdvisor Steve Kaufer and Harvard Business School Dean Dr. Nitin Nohria.
According to the organizers, the wide-ranging series of keynotes, panels, and discussions will include the following:
- Topics drawing from strong life sciences and healthcare clusters in New England, including integrative medicine, efficient and effective healthcare delivery, robotics in medicine, advances in vaccines, and state-of-the-art genetically driven treatments.
- Impactful energy and environmental technologies from renewable energy generation and storage, water challenges and solutions, to energy markets and climate policy.
- Sessions on the frontiers of technology including the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT), CIO panel on the Cloud-based Enterprise, exploding Big Data Analytics, and unlocking the potential of social/civic data.
- Thought-provoking discussions from some of the leading educational institutions, including an international university leadership panel, implications of digital learning and Campus in the Cloud, and the democratization of education.
- An engaging series of sessions highlighting women in technology, the opportunities and successes.
Laad and Chinoy said the conference schedule allows plenty of opportunities to network with industry leaders, make business connections and recruit talent or advance your career. There will also be musical entertainment and an online bridge tournament.
The Indian Institutes of Technology Association of Greater New England (IIT AGNE), a nonprofit dedicated to engaging in and supporting charitable educational and scientific research activities, is an organization of IIT alumni living in the Greater New England area, including the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont, according to its website.
PANIIT USA, the national IIT alumni organization, has more than a dozen chapters, including IIT AGNE.
PANIIT 2016 Leadership Conference: Key Facts
Where | Rhode Island Convention Center, in Providence, RI |
When | August 12, 13 and 14 |
Conference site | http://www.iit-2016.org/ |
Early bird registration ($200) | https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-leadership-conference-registration-registration-20784696587 |
Contact for Business Plan Competition | BPC2016@iitagne.org |