First Global IIT Conference Comes to NYC
August 4, 2011
More than two thousand Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni, comprised of distinguished business executives, government officials, and leading entrepreneurs from around the world, will descend upon New York City for the first-ever global IIT conference from September 30 to October 2, 2011, at the New York Hilton Hotel. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the inception of the "IIT System." The seven IITs--each built on the pattern of MIT in India--are globally recognized as the premier engineering and science universities and regularly make the Top 50 list in global rankings. The IIT graduates have come to represent India's capacity for excellence in education, technology, and human capital around the world.
"We believe it is imperative to continue to build upon this positive image of the IITs and present it to a global audience," says Kumar Shah, one of the organizers of the event and an IIT Bombay graduate. "We also want to give our alumni plenty of opportunities to network with each other and industry leaders. Today, we find that the United States and India are on a path of major collaboration in multiple platforms, including healthcare, commerce, and entertainment; IITans are very much integrated in building that bridge. Thus, the theme of this conference is: ‘SOLUTIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD."
Past speakers at IIT Conferences, held biennially in the United States in cities like San Jose, Washington, D.C., Santa Clara, and Chicago, include President Bill Clinton, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric Jack Welch, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tom Friedman, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Featured keynote speakers in this conference include MIT Media Lab Chairman Nicholas Negraponte, renowned Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and Grammy-nominated Chandrika Tandon; also invited are: Vice President Joe Biden, Sec. Hillary Clinton, Sec. Steven Chu, Andrew Liveris (CEO, Dow Chemical), and Mukesh Ambani (CEO, Reliance),
just to name a few. In addition to keynote speeches, a number of panel discussions are planned in areas of finance, healthcare, geopolitics, academia, investments, entrepreneurship, and alternative energy.
IIT graduates are known to be lifelong achievers. Several have risen to CxO positions at large corporations, including Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Hartford Financial, Alcoa, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Vodaphone, Rohm & Haas, or have founded companies such as Sun Microsystems, Cirrus Logic, Sycamore Networks, Providian, Juniper Networks, Infosys, and HCL. Others have excelled in academia at prestigious universities such as Harvard, MIT, IIT, Kellogg, CMU, Stanford, and Berkeley and in R&D for IBM, NASA, NSF, and NIH. Many others are in key leadership positions in government.
More than 50 thousand alumni make their home in the United States. They constitute a model immigrant community: extraordinarily well-educated, high-achieving, creating businesses and opportunities, generating wealth, and contributing to their adopted nation.
As the Times of India reported, the 200,000+ alumni of the IITs (about 25% in the USA):
Have created about 20 Million Jobs
Have created $500 billion of economic value
Control annual budgets of $1 trillion
Serve on the boards of over 50% of the 500 largest companies in India
9% of alumni are entrepreneurs
40% of them have founded more than one company
In the U.S., IIT alumni achievements include:
Creation of more than 200,000 jobs
Pioneering such technologies as cellular communications and HDTV
60% of Silicon Valley startups have an IIT graduate as a CEO or a founder
Leading executive positions, including CEO, at firms such as Citicorp, Hartford Financial, Harman International, Google, Cisco, Microsoft, and Rohm & Haas
Deans of leading universities such as Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT and Director of the National Science Foundation
Honored by the U.S. Congress (HR227) for contribution to the creation of industries, jobs, and intellectual properties in America.
The conference seeks to bring together a diverse group of iconic industry leaders to provide insights and analyses of the current economic trends and developments in the global markets. It will host a series of plenary sessions and panels featuring an exciting lineup of executives and strategists, including a packed agenda over three days to facilitate discussion, networking, entertainment, and career development.
The conference will open with the IIT 2011 Global Conference torch-lighting ceremony. The torch will be lit by distinguished dignitaries from U.S. and India, symbolizing the contribution of IIT Alumni towards enhancing the bilateral trade ties between the two countries.
Plenary and panel sessions will cover important topics such as:
Indo-U.S. Foreign Relations
Finance
Technology and Mobile Media
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Digital and Social Media
Life Sciences
Real Estate – in the U.S. and India
Consulting
Academics & Research
For more information about the Global IIT Conference 2011 or to register, visit: www.iit2011.org
"We believe it is imperative to continue to build upon this positive image of the IITs and present it to a global audience," says Kumar Shah, one of the organizers of the event and an IIT Bombay graduate. "We also want to give our alumni plenty of opportunities to network with each other and industry leaders. Today, we find that the United States and India are on a path of major collaboration in multiple platforms, including healthcare, commerce, and entertainment; IITans are very much integrated in building that bridge. Thus, the theme of this conference is: ‘SOLUTIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD."
Past speakers at IIT Conferences, held biennially in the United States in cities like San Jose, Washington, D.C., Santa Clara, and Chicago, include President Bill Clinton, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric Jack Welch, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tom Friedman, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Featured keynote speakers in this conference include MIT Media Lab Chairman Nicholas Negraponte, renowned Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and Grammy-nominated Chandrika Tandon; also invited are: Vice President Joe Biden, Sec. Hillary Clinton, Sec. Steven Chu, Andrew Liveris (CEO, Dow Chemical), and Mukesh Ambani (CEO, Reliance),
just to name a few. In addition to keynote speeches, a number of panel discussions are planned in areas of finance, healthcare, geopolitics, academia, investments, entrepreneurship, and alternative energy.
IIT graduates are known to be lifelong achievers. Several have risen to CxO positions at large corporations, including Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Hartford Financial, Alcoa, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Vodaphone, Rohm & Haas, or have founded companies such as Sun Microsystems, Cirrus Logic, Sycamore Networks, Providian, Juniper Networks, Infosys, and HCL. Others have excelled in academia at prestigious universities such as Harvard, MIT, IIT, Kellogg, CMU, Stanford, and Berkeley and in R&D for IBM, NASA, NSF, and NIH. Many others are in key leadership positions in government.
More than 50 thousand alumni make their home in the United States. They constitute a model immigrant community: extraordinarily well-educated, high-achieving, creating businesses and opportunities, generating wealth, and contributing to their adopted nation.
As the Times of India reported, the 200,000+ alumni of the IITs (about 25% in the USA):
Have created about 20 Million Jobs
Have created $500 billion of economic value
Control annual budgets of $1 trillion
Serve on the boards of over 50% of the 500 largest companies in India
9% of alumni are entrepreneurs
40% of them have founded more than one company
In the U.S., IIT alumni achievements include:
Creation of more than 200,000 jobs
Pioneering such technologies as cellular communications and HDTV
60% of Silicon Valley startups have an IIT graduate as a CEO or a founder
Leading executive positions, including CEO, at firms such as Citicorp, Hartford Financial, Harman International, Google, Cisco, Microsoft, and Rohm & Haas
Deans of leading universities such as Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT and Director of the National Science Foundation
Honored by the U.S. Congress (HR227) for contribution to the creation of industries, jobs, and intellectual properties in America.
The conference seeks to bring together a diverse group of iconic industry leaders to provide insights and analyses of the current economic trends and developments in the global markets. It will host a series of plenary sessions and panels featuring an exciting lineup of executives and strategists, including a packed agenda over three days to facilitate discussion, networking, entertainment, and career development.
The conference will open with the IIT 2011 Global Conference torch-lighting ceremony. The torch will be lit by distinguished dignitaries from U.S. and India, symbolizing the contribution of IIT Alumni towards enhancing the bilateral trade ties between the two countries.
Plenary and panel sessions will cover important topics such as:
Indo-U.S. Foreign Relations
Finance
Technology and Mobile Media
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Digital and Social Media
Life Sciences
Real Estate – in the U.S. and India
Consulting
Academics & Research
For more information about the Global IIT Conference 2011 or to register, visit: www.iit2011.org