As the student pool continues to grow, the challenge of delivering high-quality technical education to them is also magnifying. This session examines some effective delivery methods, and develops a collective vision of the near future.

Professor Ravikumar Bhaskaran (Director at Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering, Sriperambadur) moderated the session. Professor Ravi welcomed the participants and introduced the distinguished speakers. The keynote speakers began the session with their views on improving quality of education in India.

Prof. Vijay Kumar (Senior Associate Dean and Director, Office of Educational Innovation and Technology MIT, USA) was the first keynote of the session.

He spoke about the initiatives on Education & Technology at MIT. Its always difficult to keep the audience (and speaker as well J) awake post lunch. However, Prof Vijay did a great job in engaging the audience by sharing a short & interesting story about his experience at US University.

He started by sharing the context behind MIT OpenCourseWare – focus is to develop skills and attitudes. UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) program is a great example which epitomises the context of the OpenCourseWare program. Similarly, Vehicle Design Summit is another great example. And many more projects which embraces technology to contribute to the education at MIT. Early exposure to Research tools & Experience is the key aspect of imparting education at MIT. For e.g., Simulation tools really enriches the quality and experience of education at MIT.

MIT OpenCourseWare, one of the most popular initiatives on education in the world - MIT launched 1800 courses, which are accessible from across the globe, under this program. It is also known as a window to education at MIT. iLabs (real labs over the internet) is another great example of innovation in education at MIT.

Finally, he briefly talked about his new book ‘Opening Up Education (The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge)’ is the book which summarizes the innovations in education at MIT. The eBook version of this book is available for free from MIT Press.

Mr. Vivek Singhal (Founder Chairman of the management advisory firm - Strategic Business Management (SBM)

It was decided to conduct workshops across India and US so as to exchange best practices through collaboration as part the newly created ‘2008 Indo US Engineering Faculty Leadership Institute’ -  1400 faculties applied for them and around 600 attended these were workshops. The comments and feedback received by the participants were exceptional. The project was funded by IIT alumni – Desh & Jaishree Deshpande as well as Sudha & Narayana Murthy (Desh and Murthy are IIT alumni).

The success of the 2008 Indo US Engineering Faculty Leadership Institute has led to plans for the 2008-09 year, with the emphasis on sustainability and scalability. The proposals for next level of funding have already been made to various organizations such as CII. Gurajan and Narayan Murthy, have again committed to graciously contribute – validates the success of the efforts in 2008.

Finally, he said that this challenge of improving the quality of engineering education is really global and thus more such collaborative efforts are required.

After the presentation by Mr. Vijay, professors from various IITs presented their views on the topic. Their point of views is available on the website.

Prof. Kannan Moudgalya (Professor, Chemical Engineering and Head of the Center for Distance Engineering Education (CDEEP) IITB)

Prof. A. K. Ray (Professor and former Head, Center for Educational Technology, IIT KGP)

Prof. Kushal Sen (Professor, Textile Technology and former Head, Educational Technology Services Center, Coordinator “Eklavya Channel and National Coordinator Video Courses NPTEL, IITD)

Prof. Gautam Biswas (GD and VM Mehta Chair Professor, ME and former Dean Academic IITK)

Prof. Prem Kalra (Head & Professor, EE and Coordinator Indo-French Cyber University and Coordinator Chattisgarh Knowledge Sharing Program, IITK)

Prof. Mangal Sundar Krishnan (Professor, Chemistry and National Web Coordinator NPTEL and Coordinator for IITM courses on the Web, IITM)

List of panelists:

Pradeep Gupta: Managing Director, CyberMedia (Moderator)

M.S. Ananth: Director, IIT – Madras

Juzer Vasi: Director, IIT – Bombay

Surendra Prasad: Director, IIT- Delhi

Gautam Barua: Director, IIT – Guwahati

Sanjay Dhande: Director, IIT – Kanpur

Damodar Acharyee: Director, IIT – Kharagpur

S.C Saxena: Director, IIT – Roorkee

Pradeep Gupta started the session by congratulating Prof. M.S, Ananth for the Golden Jubilee year of IIT- Madras. He also thanked him for hosting PanIIT 2008 and invited him to share his thoughts.

Prof. Ananth started by sharing the fact that now 70% of IITians are based in India and are contributing to the success of India in the Global space. He emphasizes the need to learn global best practices in order to further the contributions of IITians. IIT- Madras is taking significant number of steps to ensure that:

1. Recruiting Young Faculty and giving then freedom to innovate and create. The average age of Faculty in IIT- Madras Electrical Engineering department is 34 years. Thanks to newly recruited faculty.
2. Strong interaction with the industry. Recently 4-5 projects in IIT- Madras has received funding from the Industry.

He also suggested that we should also ensure that foreign talent comes to IIT campus not just for further studies but also take up faculty positions. US has benefited in big way in this initiative. 70 % of the noble price winners are not their natives. India should go in the same direction, even though it seems difficult at this stage.

With these initial comments the panel discussion started.

[Pradeep Gupta] We do you think we need to move the research platform to the next level?

[Juzer Vasi] There are 3 key factors to take care of:

1.     We need to have more PhD Students in the Campus. Currently, 25% of the students are PhD Students.

2.     Build up association/tie-ups with other universities/institutions.

3.     Research sponsored by the Industry.

[Pradeep Gupta] These days there are talks about liberalization of Education. Should we be worried about competition from the foreign universities?

[Sanjay Dhande] No. Every country has its elite education institutions. We should be ready to face the global completion from them. In order to be a truly global player, we need to come up with a game plan to compete with them and attain a significant position among the global players.

[Pradeep] What kind of vision should we create for ourselves (Noble prices or something else)?

[Panel] Lets look at it from a different prospective. Our ambition is to achieve excellence from all sides. Our benchmark for different directions might be different. Noble prices might be a good measure for technological excellence. We might need to have a different measure for market excellence for the products that we create for the society.

[Pradeep] JEE is one the most reputed exam in India. What is our plan to ensure its quality in future?

[Panel] JEE has been very successful till now, but it has some shortcomings:

1. As the question papers are becoming increasingly difficult, it become really difficult to differentiate students based on JEE question papers.
2. IIT Faculty who have preparing the JEE exam has no exposure to the 12 grade education.

There is a need to keep innovating the JEE System further to meet the desired objectives. At the same time the panel acknowledged that at times the quality of students are not up to the mark.

[Pradeep] You have recently received number of RTI (Right to Information) applications regarding the JEE process. Can you throw some light on it?

[Panel] JEE is the best examination system in India. There is no question on that. But at the same time we need to keep in mind that No System is perfect. Every year 300,000 students appear for the exam. Out of which we select roughly 5000. Competition is really becoming tougher. Out of 300,000 students 100,000 students are really good. We take into consideration the overall aggregate and the performance in individual papers.  We must make sure that the overall system is transparent. If we set some rules, we must follow them in all circumstances.

[Pradeep Gupta] Can you explain the cut off criteria a little more detail?

[Panel] We keep different cut offs percentage for each individual subject. The cut off percentage is decided on the bases of difficulty level of that particular exam. For example in a given year the cut off percentage for Maths might be 55% and cut off percentage for chemistry might be 30%. We also keep the cut off for the overall aggregate in all the exams.

For the SC, ST and OBC Categories we keep the cut off percentage lower then the general categories students. Earlier the cut off percentage for SC, ST category was 60% of that of general category students. Now we have decreased it to 50%. Moreover, we also offer preparatory courses in the first year to help them cover up the gap.

[Pradeep] But will this lowering of cut off; will not lower the quality of students?

[Panel] To answer this question we need to answer the question – “What does IIT really offers?” IIT is actually an environment for Study. If you have done well in JEE that does not ensure that you get good performance in IIT. At the same time, some students might have to go through the preparatory courses but they perform really well in the institute.

[Pradeep] IIT Delhi has the smallest campus among all IITs. How are you dealing with Infrastructure problems?

[Surendra Prasad] Definitely this is one of the problems we are dealing with. There is role expansion happening within the institution with requires more infrastructure. Moreover, we are also hosting IIT – Punjab. That puts additional burden on infrastructure requirements. Finally, our goals and vision require more support from infrastructure. Till now we are dealing with it by designing more multistory buildings. We are also thinking of other answers like looking for other locations in Delhi. But as of nothing has been achieved in that direction.

Overall, I can say that this is no threat to the planned expansion. We are happy to be part of it.

[Pradeep] Dr. Barua, How are you dealing with faculty quality problem in IIT Guwahati?

[Gautam Barua] We are constantly hiring young faculty across various departments and we are not facing any significant problems in that, except while recruiting faculty for Computer Science Department. Which I think is the problem across all institutes. Hiring of senior faculty is definitely a challenge for us. At the same time as far as technical staff is concern, we are performing very well. In fact among other institutions, have set a benchmark in technical staff training at IIT – Guwahati.

[Pradeep] How is IIT - Patna mentoring going?

[Gautam Barua] Till now we have recruited 30 faculties and 10 technical staff members are already in place. We are in the process of recruiting the Director. Once that is done. I will handover the charge to him/her.

[Pradeep] Can you throw some light on the corporate governance at IIT?

[Panel] To explain that let’s first understand what autonomy means. Autonomy means that you remain true to framework, which is assigned to you, and you stay bold enough to take independent decisions inside of that. Finally, how good or bad the system functions depend of the quality of people running the system and so far we are very fortunate in this regard.

Pradeep on behalf of all the IITians requested the directors to confirm that the quality of education will be maintained in future.

All panelists assured individually!!!

The PanIIT 2008 Global Conference is an impressive IIT alumni platform focusing on single objective – to inspire IITians to innovate and transform India and hence the rest of the world.

As part of this conference, IITech Expo led to a series of interactions, thought processes, ideas and concrete action items towards various projects and activities. For companies and brands, IITech expo is a great opportunity to network with the greatest minds in the world – globally vibrant and economically influential IIT alumni community of CXOs, thought leaders, entrepreneurs and influencers.

The 15,000 square feet exhibition includes an Incubatee exhibition by current Incubatees across IITs as well as about early stage IITian founded businesses.

Where else could you find the better set of people to showcase your products, services and brands?

In addition to the IITech Expo, there was a Science Exhibition as well. I had the opportunity to capture it live. It reminded me of my old school days.

It is an honor to be invited to speak to the IITians, especially so because in a few days I will share this platform with Kishore Mahbubani, my former boss. My current boss, Strobe Talbott, Brookings’ President, has asked me to send his greetings. Strobe expects to be back in India some time soon next year.

I want to address three issues in this talk all pertaining to likely trends in US-Indian relations. (Ambassador Mahbubani and I will examine India’s prospects of becoming a superpower)

• First, what are the long-term trends in US-Indian relations? What is likely to happen to the new economic and political ties between America and India?

• Second, what will the Obama administration’s approach to India be–will it abandon the very pro-India policy of the Bush administration, will it press India hard on Kashmir, will it shift its attention to Pakistan or some other region or issue?

• Finally, a few words on the Mumbai catastrophe, and how it might affect US-India ties across the board; the immediate American reaction was shock, but will it lead to a distancing from India?

Long Term Trends
Ten years ago there were three comprehensive assessments of India-US relations by the Asia Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and my own book, India: Emerging Power. The consensus was that we were on the verge of a new era. In the past, cliché substituted for substance, it was very difficult for Americans to talk to Indians, and vice versa, a Cold War mentality hovered in whatever room we gathered—meetings always began with a few hours of an “alaap”, rehearsing past grievances, imagining new ones.

The argument of these studies was that the Cold War context would fade, and that the two countries could add substance to the relationship. In particular we talked about a new economic relationship serving as a “ballast.” My book was qualified but optimistic—it did away with the question mark that was part of the title of my previous study, “India: Emergent Power?”

This audience knows better than I do what happened: economic reforms took place in India, India’s image as a poor backward country was rivaled by that of the country where the techies came from, and “Get me an Indian” was the battle-cry of American CEOs and CTOs. I would add Dr. Sanjay Gupta to the list—he was only the most visible of the Indian-American doctors, teachers and engineers who found a home in American society.
Now that India has become a major manufacturing center, as well as a center for research and development, not just BPOs, and an outpost for many American firms, we will have to address criticisms of outsourcing US jobs, cheap Indian manpower, and so forth, but the situation is transformed, we will have to learn how to manage success, not failure.

So, the new complementarity of our economies, the intermingling of our cultures and perspectives, and the gradual dissipation of stereotypes from the Cold War and earlier, mean, for me, that the long-term trend in US-Indian relations will be upward. We may see a lessening of the growth rate, but I doubt if the curve will decline, or even level off.

Clinton, Bush and Obama

Independent of these economic, cultural and social trends a new strategic relationship has begun to emerge. Clinton liked India very much but he had to sanction it because of the 1998 nuclear tests—he lifted the sanctions as soon as he could. George Bush, however, came to office with the goal of actually building up India’s strategic position, and secretly the Bushies may have welcomed the fact that India was going to be a nuclear weapons power.

Indeed, they stated at one point that the goal of America was to build India into a major strategic power in Asia, a not very subtle way of saying that India would balance what they thought was America’s major strategic rival in the 21st century, China.

I have reservations about the wisdom of such statements, but none about the US-India nuclear agreement, which certified India as a de facto nuclear weapons state. Bush doggedly supported the agreement, intervening at least twice and ordering the American negotiating team to agree to the last Indian position.
However, and this brings us to the Obama election, there were many Obama advisors who strongly opposed the agreement as damaging the international non-proliferation regime. I won’t go into the gory details, but this is likely to be at least a minor point of contention between America and India in the next administration.

India understands this, and has moved to forestall any American retreat from the nuclear agreement. (A number of prominent Indian strategists and retired diplomats have signed on the Zero-option or Global nuclear disarmament movements, which has gained traction with the support of Schultz, Kissinger, Nunn and Perry).

I would observe, however, that even the bitterest critics of the nuclear deal like India—the days of India-bashing are over, and all of the Obama advisors, regardless of their position on the nuclear deal, believe that a strong US-Indian relationship makes sense.

However, strategy is important, especially when you are trying to address issues of world disorder, peace, and war. Just as the Bush administration approached India through the China problem, Obama seems to be approaching India via what he calls the most important conflict in the world today, Afghanistan. A concern about losing Afghanistan to the Taliban led him to worry about Pakistan—the two cannot be separated strategically.

As I wrote four years ago, Pakistan has now become one of America’s most important foreign policy problems: first because of its involvement in Afghanistan, second, because of its own nuclear program and its bad record regarding proliferation to unstable and unfriendly states, third because of its domestic incoherence, and recently, because of its apparent involvement in the Mumbai attack.

Mumbai’s Impact

This brings us to recent developments. The Lashkar-e-Taiba through its brilliant stupidity has managed to do what the Indian government has been unable to do: internationalize Pakistan’s tacit or explicit support for terrorists.
For years, the Indian government has been unable to persuade the United States (or other countries) to crack down on Pakistan. The evidence was always ambiguous, or India was partly to blame, or there was a fear that if Pakistan were declared a state supporting terrorism that a moderate government might fall, opening the road to power for the Islamic radicals.

More to the point, foreign officials, especially in Washington and Britain, believed that they still needed Pakistani cooperation if they were to fight in Afghanistan, and there was always the nightmare of heightening tension between the two nuclear armed South Asian states—a threat that played a role in all the India-Pakistan crises since 1990. Indeed, both India and Pakistan have played this card with American officials.

Mumbai was something awful but something special. Nationals from at least twenty countries were killed, this was not a butchery of Indians alone. Further, many foreigners knew the Taj and the Oberoi, they could imagine themselves there. Finally, despite what appears to be bad police work, the evidence seems conclusive, and I suspect that the US itself has independent sources as to its origin.

For the US, the facts on the ground have led to a long-delayed reconsideration of policy. Mumbai and the LET have been internationalized, while everyone knows that the senior levels of the Pakistan government are not responsible, there is a new awareness that states must be held accountable for actions such as this that are launched from its territory. America applies this policy to Pakistan’s FATA and North West Frontier province, it is beginning to apply it to attacks on India and perhaps Kashmir.

This leads me to a final remark on an issue of enormous sensitivity to India. President-Elect Obama was quoted as having suggested that Kashmir needs to be solved, since it was a matter of great concern for Pakistan, and we needed Pakistan in Afghanistan.

There has also been talk of a “special emissary” for Kashmir, with Bill Clinton’s and Richard Holbrooke’s names being thrown out.

Those of us who have looked at this problem have mostly come to the conclusion that this would be the worst possible policy—Kashmir is a problem, it is something that India wants to put behind it (just as it needs to normalize relations with Pakistan—better sooner than later).
Brookings has published several studies on Kashmir—its strategic importance, its social and political intricacies, and we are going to publish, in May, a masterful history by Amb. Howard Schaffer of past American efforts to resolve Kashmir. Before either Clinton or Holbrooke contemplate the position of special emissary for Kashmir they should first read this book.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Forty years ago when I first lived in India it was a strange and exotic land, known only for its poverty and Mahatma Gandhi, if it was known at all. Thirty years ago India was seen as an economic basket case, and an ally of the Soviet Union; twenty years ago it was not seen at all, it had dropped out of American consciousness—although the foundation for a new relationship had been poured. Ten years ago the changes were apparent, and they have turned out to be enduring.

US-Indian relations will of course have their ups and downs—but the oscillations will be less abrupt, more on the up side than the down side, and there are new areas where we can work together.
Given Obama’s own background, and that of Senator Biden and others who will make India and South Asia policy, I am optimistic that the nuclear issue can be navigated, that military to military cooperation will continue, and that the economic ties will be strengthened. Of course, there is also the “human bridge” between the two countries—the many Americans of Indian origin who are ambassadors of each country to the other.

More broadly, I expect India and the US to work more closely together on issues that transcend bilateral concerns: I would like to see a concerted  effort to deal with the looming water and environmental crises, greater economic integration among the South Asian states, and much closer cooperation on terrorism. These are problems that affect many states, and some of them, such as stamping out terrorism, are of direct and vital concern to America.

Let me thank you again for this opportunity and your patience. I look forward to your questions and comments.

About Stephen Philip Cohen:

Stephen Cohen joined the Brookings Institution as Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies in 1998 after a career as a professor of Political Science and History at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Cohen is the author, co-author or editor of over twelve books, mostly on South Asian security issues, the most recent being Four Crises and a Peace Process: American Engagement in South Asia (2007),  The Idea of Pakistan (2004), and an edited volume that explores the application of technology to the prediction, prevention or amelioration of terrorist acts. A book on the future of the Indian military is now in progress.

In 2008 Dr. Cohen was Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School in Singapore, where he taught a course on the politics of manmade and natural disaster; he has also taught in Japan (Keio University) and India (Andhra University). He has consulted for numerous foundations and government agencies and was a member of the Policy Planning Staff (Department of State) from 1985-87. Dr. Cohen is currently a member of the National Academy of Science’s Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and was the founder of several arms control and security-related institutions in the U.S. and South Asia. He received undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Chicago, and the PhD in Political Science and Indian Studies from the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Cohen is married to Roberta Brosilow, and they have six children and seven grandchildren.

scohen@brookings.edu
www.Brookings.edu

As a part of the Family track of PanIIT ‘08, the event was organized at IC&SR.
“Hema Malini still attracts so many people at this age” somebody commented. It was all house full and people were sitting all over on the floor.

And then the program started with Smt. Anuradha Sriram’s beautiful voice. She sang a small devotional piece to inaugurate the event.

The first part of the evening was “The Five Elements Of Nature”;   Designed by Smt. Laxmi and Smt. Saraswati, the program was a dance depiction of the celebration of the five elements of nature and also carried a message on how we humans are destroying them.

Five different people represented five elements followed by choreographies.

It started with the element Akash:
Represented by Dr. Nidhi Chidambaram (working with Apollo hospitals)
A compassionate doctor and a passionate dancer is also the daughter in law of Sri P. Chidambaram.
She represented Element Akash from various  dimensions, from the space in us “Inaksha” to the Space around us our environment. In an effort to keep the space around and inside us serene there was a dance depiction of Lord Shiva- the Lord of Space.

Next was Element Wind was represented by the renowned and famous singer Smt. Anuradha Sriram. A beautiful representation of an unpredictable and most dynamic element was followed by another dance depiction by 4 beautiful women in white on a mesmerizing  piece of music which required no lyrics.

Element Fire represented the fire in women to fight against injustice. This element was represented by Dr. Ambika Kameshwar (A Dance therapist). She talked about fire inside us as power of transformation which gives dimensions to intentions, fire of ambition that breaks all the barriers. After the speech was a dramatic representation of Draupadi in Duryodhana’s court. The idea was to show how the fire in Draupadi came out as a curse for kaurawa when she said that none will survive in the battle.

Water was represented by Smt. Rohini Rao, first Indian woman  Sailor.
She read a beautiful quote which goes like this. She said tear and ocean both are water, so once a fish said to the water

“you cant see my tears because I am in you” water said “ I can feel your tears because you are in me”.
This talk was again followed by the celebration of element Water by the  fisher folk dance.

The fifth Element Earth was then represented by Dr. Priya Selveraj (a famous gynecologist). She represented earth as ultimate feminine element hence we call it “Mother Earth”. She talked about Earth as depiction of Tolerance of what we as humans have done to it. This too was depicted later in the form of a choreography on a Sanskrit number.

There after was the acknowledgment and the felicitation by Ms. Hema Malini.

After this was a Q & A session between Ms. Hema Malini and Ms. Meenakshi Chitaranjan.

Post contributed by: Ms. Jaya Nakra

The first session of the Rural Transformation track was on the theme of ‘Inspire: Learn from success stories from the field’ (on 19th December at 2.00 pm). It was chaired by Ms.R.V.Bhavani of MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai. After the symbolic lighting of lamp, the array of speakers enlightened the eager audience with their really stirring stories of phenomenal success.

Harish Hande of SELCO Solar Light (P) Ltd narrated how rural electrification through solar energy has improved local economies and added subtly that economic disparity is, in fact, worse than terrorism. The root cause of many serious social problems is the existing economic disparity which can be often solved technologically.

R.Madhavan of Padapai Farms (he is more comfortable calling himself IITM Engineer-turned-farmer!) spoke about sustainable agricultural practices. Agricultural growth can best come from higher productivity which means a lot for a country like India where land and labour have to be optimised. Farm management is by itself a specialised discipline covering optimal use of soil, irrigation, tools and so on. Our practices actually consume more labour and cost in return for low yields, less than 40% as compared to better farm management. The importance of enhancing the agricultural productivity can be understood, he said, if we consider the fact that over 70% of livelihood is spent on food in India.

The architect of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, Ms. Aruna Roy impressed upon the audience with her forceful personality and enlightened them on how information can dramatically improve national producitivity. She pointed out that only by enabling democratic access to knowledge and information could we prevent more of 26/11’s. RTI can bring about national integration, boost image of the country and preserve the unity of India, she added. She appealed to the IIT forums to strive towards achiving this goal by concertedly mobilising ideas and opinions at the highest levels. She rephrased the popular slogan to say: “Janta Tum Aagai Bado, Desh Tumhare Saath Hai!”

Dr. GNS Reddy of BAIF (Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation. See www.baif.org.in) presented how better livestock management and use of local technologies have brought about sustainable economic development in rual areas. He appealed to the technologists that more research in livestock maintenance, especially in diagnostics/prognostics, could be done to prevent and control diseases. Also centralised control mechanism for breeding control, effective cross breeding and building up a national database on breeds can vastly improve livestock productivity and thus enhance incomes for rural families.

Popatrao Pawar, Village Sarpanch, Hiware Bazar, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra told many interesting stories of how his village has now become a popular landmark.The contributions of the Yashvant Krishi Watershed Development Trust towards improving the ground water level in the area, thereby enhancing agricultural producivity and incomes for rural families were well known, considering the fact that there are 54 millionaires among 180 families in the village! He said that his village is free from mosquitoes, boasts of sufficient water throughout the year and generates sufficient employment from within. The achievement was due to the right application of local knowledge and local tools and technologies. He appealed that technologists must come forward and improve technology for education, health and infrastructure.

The session closed with the presentation by Dr. Ashok Khosla, Chairman of the Development Alternatives Group, Delhi. His slides were both interesting and enlightening. Understanding how nature has developed technology could solve a lot of our technological issues and also serious problems like climate change, desertification and floods can come from nature. We need to learn from nature, he said. He also said that his organisation has been working on compiling the best technologies from nature.

The speakers then answered many questions from the audience who had a lot to ask.

Post contributed by: M S Soundar

Continuing the previous post on Session I of Innovation Track, this one summarizes the views and experiences of various panelists.

Anuradha Acharya (Founder & CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions), was the first panellist, who presented her views on Innovation & Entrepreneurship by sharing a story. She asked the audience to imagine a group of different birds who were trapped – some who can fly fast while others not, some who are smaller while others are large, some who are white while others are coloured. Since all of them were unequal they couldn’t fly and thus continued to be trapped. Their idea at Ocimum Bioslutions, a Global Genomics Outsourcing company, is to create the equality and build an ecosystem among various pharmaceutical, biotechnology companies and academia so that they can get out of the trap and fly together. Essentially, she highlighted the importance of Equality and Collaboration, as the key ingredients for innovation in today’s world.

Murugavel Janakiraman (Founder & CEO, bharatmatrimony.com) was the next panellist, who shared about their innovation at Bharat Matrimony in creating one of India’s successful and multimillion dollar internet oriented property.  According to him, one can:

1. Either wait for the big idea  or
2. Jump in and learn on the ground

In his view, most of the people (he humbly included himself), wait for long time in search of THE big idea before they enter (and most of them never) into entrepreneurial bandwagon. He shared how his idea of starting a Tamil portal, which later shifted its focus on Matrimony, became a world class business. Talking on their innovation he highlighted some of the simple (yet highly valuable) ideas which led to big success:

1. Photo Protection: they saw the need from their customers about privacy
2. Horoscope matching & creation: another important need which created value for their customers
3. Profile verification: to their surprise, people opted for 3^rd party verifications, while searching for their business partner on the net
4. Matrimony reference: their customers became their marketers when reference system was put into place
5. Payment options – through Sify iWay, tie ups with banks, creating local associates (who gets commission) in various cities
6. Going mobile: another trend they spotted and served the needs of their customers
7. Partnerships such as with Tata Sky
8. Outsourcing: their customers (who didn’t have much time to search for their life partner J), opted for this paid and unusual offering

To close his session, he restated his mantra about ‘Jumping in than waiting for the D Day’.

Raj Shah (Engg Director at Google) started his session by giving his framework on how to inculcate Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

While talking on Innovation, he listed 4 types of Innovations:

1. Minor Innovation – cosmetic, incremental change (e.g. airlines offering better experience at the same price)
2. Substantive Innovation – new standard in the market place (e.g. roaming facility by telecom operators
3. Major Innovation – fundamental change which can’t be ignored by customers and competitors (e.g. Just in Time delivery)
4. Radical Innovation – dramatical shift which takes its time before its impact is realized (e.g. computers when arrive were perceived as glorified typewriters before creating its true impact)

According to him, each of the above ways requires different structures and mindsets. Fore.g. radical innovation needs high amount of patience (both time and money) and generally happens in a research environment (Google is a great place for such innovations)

While talking on Entrepreneurship, he gave the definition that Entrepreneurship is an ability to bring a new business into market – may come from a new idea or improving an existing one.  Talking on how IITs can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurial growth, he highlighted the importance of Exposure – students need to be given more exposure through such conferences and practical opportunities (Centre of Innovation at IIT Mumbai is a great example).

Rathindra Roy (Development Consultant at United Nations), followed Raj Shah and shared his views on Innovation in the Social Economy and urged the IIT Alumni to come forward & use their intellect to impact the quality of lives of millions of Indians, who are under privileged. His role at UN is to enable poor people to overcome their poverty.

Areas such as Malaria, Flood, Solid Waste and Agriculture are some of the important areas which need the contribution from the IIT system. While requesting the audience, he said that all of you who would like to face the challenges in the above mentioned areas and who’ve the heart to follow them must come forward.

Rajeev Srinivasan (Prof IIMB and Mgmt Consultant), a semi academician and semi industrialist, shared his views on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He started his session be defining:

1. Invention – Creating of something new
2. Innovation – Taking the Invention to the market

He brought forth an interesting reality related to the history of India. He said that India has a long history of Invention and Innovation, which ceased to exist, post colonial invasions. For e.g. centuries back, India produced Steel, which due to its intrinsic properties, was considered best in the world. According to him, post that phase, in which India was affluent with all kinds of resources; we’ve not produced any true invention or innovation. The lack of confluence of technology, marketing & finance, according to his view, is one of the key impediments for invention & innovation in India. Some of the sunrise areas which offer numerous opportunities for both invention and innovation are:

1. Food & Agriculture
2. Energy

Talking on what how IITs can contribute to the innovation, he said that IIT system should seriously work on the above mentioned sunrise areas. The curriculum must recognize and include the importance of Innovation & Invention.

Finally, Arun Sharma (COO, L-RAMP; Rural Innovations Network), shared his experience about how a non-profit incubator (L-RAMP) of business ideas for social cause is contributing to the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Like previous speakers, he also pointed out the areas such as Agriculture, Energy, and Water Supply, in which his company is supporting innovation. Talking on the roadmap for entrepreneurship and innovation, he listed 3 steps:

1. How to be an Entrepreneur?
2. What opportunities to focus on?
3. How can we inspire others to execute?

According to him, the Indian mindset that one just needs to create a product (and it will sell on its own), is one of the major obstacles for successful business creation. In his view, most of the budding entrepreneurs in India don’t have sufficient understanding and experience about:

1. How to Price a product/service?
2. What problem are they trying to solve?
3. What are the various financial options?
4. Finally, how to sell?

Speaking on ‘What can IITs do?’, he listed:

1. Courses in Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship are the need of the hour – must have practical exposure and must be supported by avenues such as Business Plan competition
2. Centers for Innovation (e.g. 1981 IITM batch recently initiated the same at IIT Madras) with focus on work-study programs must be created. Opportunities to fail are required for students to create Opportunities to success.
3. Inspiration – The students must be empowered and acknowledged to make a difference in the society

Q & A, the most interesting part of the thematic tracks, followed the presentations by panellists. Gunjan acknowledged Dr Ganesh for putting up the wonderful panel and the structure which truly inspired the IIT Alumni to embrace Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

B Santhanam (Chair, PanIIT 2008 Conference) made a presentation on making of the PanIIT 2008 conference. He started by welcoming the participants including distinguished guests. While talking about the making of the event, he heartedly acknowledged the people who were behind the success of the conference. Attended by over 3000 people across the globe, PanIIT 2008 is truly a mega event and everyone was part of the organizing body really deserves big round of applaud.

Some of the key highlights on the planning and the execution of the PanIIT 2008 conference:

1. 15 months of effort
2. 93 Alumni (including CXOs of large organizations) and 100+ student volunteers
3. A great and lively website – 71,000 visits / 285,000 views
4. 11 Alumni Outreach Programs
5. and..
6. One common Goal …

World Class Experience for All Stakeholders

It truly signifies the spirit of PanIIT body. Million thanks to the people who were directly and directly involved in the making of the PanIIT 2008 conference.

The PanIIT 2008 is designed to be truly a family event. And, yes there is a lot loaded for the kids.

A carnival atmosphere for Kids – that’s what characterizes the PanIIT 2008 Mela. Every effort is made to ensure that the whole family comes away with great memories. Surely, the kids carnival is special. Designer balloons welcome you and the man with the candy floss follows next. The giant tumbling castle awaits the little ones and invites them to take a giant leap. The fun includes pottery, mehendi, tattoos and much more.

However studious you might were while studying at IIT, there is no way you can escape fun @ PanIIT 2008 :). Here is the video on Pottery Making at Kids carnival.

It was a great moment for PanIIT 2008 when Dr. Manmohan Singh, for the first time at PanIIT conference, gave his inaugural speech directly from his residence in Delhi through Video Conferencing.

Mr. Ashank Desai , Chairman PanIIT Alumni India, welcome and thanked Dr. Manmohan Singh. He then urged the prime minister for the continuous support from Govt. Of India through aggressive policies, which are required for PanIIT to fulfil on its mission and vision.

The prime minister started his speech by welcoming everyone. He then acknowledged the contribution of IITs & IIT Alumni in nation building and in speeding India to be the global knowledge superpower over the last 6 decades. Representing the government of India, Dr Manmohan Singh assured everyone of Indian govt’s continued support towards IIT system. He acknowledged and recognized the contribution of over 100,000 strong global IIT alumni body comprising of Academicians, Industry Leaders, and Policy Makers in changing the image of India across the globe.

Going forward, he highlighted the need and importance of expanding the current IIT network. He said that for India to become a true ‘Science & Technology’ global leader, many more IITs are needed. As part of the 11th 5 year plan, 6 new IITs will go live in the current academic year. He also shared the development of numerous other universities, colleges, institutes of science, poly techniques and more. He requested IIT Alumni and IITs to:

a.) Contribute back to their alma mater through intellectual & financial support
b.) Collaborate with and recognize the contribution of various other institutes of the country

He shared his firm belief that PanIIT over years will become stronger & stronger and will continue to rise to its true potential in its contribution to nation building. Finally, he wished everyone (IITs and IIT Alumni body) a great success in achieving their dreams.