Mr Yamini Bhushan Pandey, MD, IIML EIC, delivered the welcome address. He also spoke about the support offered by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, Startup India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Amit Trivedi, Head Investments, EIC, talked about the partnership with NABARD, following which Shri S. K. Dora, CGM NABARD, held forth on the Joint Accelerator Programme.

On the anvil was also IIML’s partnership with Microsoft, on behalf of whom Mr Raghav Sehgal provided insights on the latest developments in the technology sector. He enlightened the audience about Microsoft Startup Founders’.

Also on the agenda was the announcement of the partnership between IIML EIC and State Bank of India. Mr Saket Dalmia, President, PHDCCI elaborated on his involvement with the government. The keynote address by Prof. Neerja Pandey, Dean, IIML, emphasised on the strategic partnerships Finally, Prof. Pooja Pandey, who leads the Enterprise HER initiative for women entrepreneurs at IIML EIC, apprised all concerned about the woman led enterprises who had qualified for support from the institution.

Subsequently guests were given a guided tour of the incubation centre on campus. All in all, it was a fruitful day for the participants.

Professor Lam Khin Yong, Vice President (Industry), NTU Singapore addressed the audience through his opening remarks. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Honorable Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India described the 3C Model i.e. capacity, capability and capital in addressing problems of the country. He stressed on technological aspects in both countries to boost the environment of Innovation and Research & Development. Mr Gan Kim Yong, Honorable Minister for Trade and Industry, Government of Singapore discussed about financial inclusion for encouraging the startups.

The entire program was spread across three technical sessions:

The distinguished speakers of the panels included:

·         Mr. Vijay Sekhar Sharma, Founder, One97 & PayTM

·         Mr. Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore

·         Ms. Tan Bin Ru, Deputy CEO of Chainup Pte Ltd and President, Singapore Blockchain Association

·         Mr. Walter de Oude, Founder, Singlife and Chocolate Finance

·         Mr. Niel Parekh, Partner & Head of Asia, Australia and New Zealand at Tikehau Capital & Chairman, The Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI)

·         Ms. Amita Chaudhury, Group Head of Sustainability, AIA

·         Prof Tim White, Vice President (International Engagement), President’s Chair in Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

·         Professor Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Professor T G Sitharam, Chairman, All India Council of Technical Education

Discussions centered onward technology, finance, block chain, IT, sustainability, research, unicorn, materials tangible and other. The program was informative and insightful for new startups, entrepreneurs and industry.    

The objective of the Research Symposium was to develop research abilities in students and provide them insights in their research reports in Finance Area.  Students demonstrated the research work to the panel for suggestions and evaluation. The winners were felicitated by trophies. 

 Overall the experience was enriching and overwhelming.

The objective of the conference was to provide a common platform for researchers from the Academia as well as the Industry and students to discuss and present their research work by providing an opportunity for collaboration among them. As a resource person the talk focused on IPR and its processes, know how to develop a patentable idea.

Overall the experience was enriching and overwhelming.

had an opportunity time to attend the UN Global Compact Organisation (GCNI) India summit on 6th Gender Equality Summit on the theme “Gender Equal Future: Technology, Innovation & Inclusion” at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi.

The gender equality summit 2023 focuses on innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

Key learnings:

Unlock the path of the private sector for gender equality.

Rethinking through the gender lens using technology changes, innovation and education.

Closing the digital gender gap to achieve sustainable development goals.

It was an honour to hear the eminent speakers of the summit namely

·         Ms. Susan Ferguson, UN Women India

·         Ms. Ajaita Shah, Founder & CEO, Frontier Markets Pvt. Ltd.     

·         Ms. Naghma Mulla, CEO, EdelGive Foundation

·         Dr. Sangita Reddy,India Chair G20 Empower, Past President, FICCI and Jt. MD, Apollo  Hospitals.

·         Ms. Vaishali Nigam Sinha – Chair, GES 2023;

·         Mr. Gokul Pandian - Director EY;

·         Mr. Ratnesh - ED, UN-GCNI;

·         Ms. Ishu Shiva, Founder & MD of Sanitree

·         Mr. Sanket Atal, SVP & MD, Salesforce India

and other esteemed speakers across the globe. It was a very awe-inspiring workshop with free and fair exchange of thoughts, especially from women's point of view. Many of the participants had specific queries relating to their area of operation, which were adequately handled by the dignitaries.

It was an enriching experience to hear from experts on how a gender equal future can help us to achieve sustainable development goals.

The objective of the conference was to provide a common platform for researchers from the Academia as well as the Industry to discuss and present their research work by providing an opportunity for collaboration among them. Various novel idea and the prototype models on the above mentioned theme were presented in the conference. 

The papers were presented by academicians, research scholars, and executives from industry. Overall the session was more on the research papers dealing with real problems and scenario in techno managerial areas. It was a rich learning opportunity for the participants and all. The interactive nature of the session further added great learning. The feedback was given to the participants on one to one basis along with suggestions for continuing their research in their area of interest.

The discussion was based on the following themes;

·         An Empirical Study on Entrepreneurial Intention and Entrepreneurial Orientation amongst Gen Z

·         A Recent Analysis and Understanding the Attractiveness dimensions of Shopping Malls in Orissa

·         Consumer Awareness and Perception about Cashless Transactions

·         Chatbot Technology in Education Sector – A Bibliometrics Analysis Using VOSviwe

·         Exploring Consumers’ Purchase Intention for Fashion Products: An empirical study based on Spirituality, Need of Uniqueness and Traits of Vanity

Some papers were presented by participants on the above themes in the track-2 of General Management and Marketing. Jury members of the session suggested points for improvement in their research work. The participants were from academia and industry. They discussed their points on literature review, modeling, objectives and applications of statistical tools etc. They asked queries which were based on statistical analysis.

Dr. Johari gave concluding remarks on the presentations on different aspects like objectives of the study, literature review, data collection and sampling procedure of the study. 

The programme began with the opening remarks and welcome by Mr Arun Kumar Singh, CMD, ONGC, and President UN GCNI. This was followed by the special address (via video) by René Van Berkel, UNIDO representative and Head, Regional Office in India, where he held forth on the circular economy; take, make and recycle approach; and the replacement of the traditional 3Rs. Then Mr. Hindol Sengupta, Chief Economic Research Officer and VP, Invest India, explained the research done in this area, including the use of materials like bamboo. He also discussed how the circular economy is related to SDGs, using the acronym GST (Gender, Sustainability and Transitivity). The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Sivasubramanian Ramann, CMO of SIDBI. Mr Ramann spoke of the need for a bottom up approach, and how India has had a centuries old relationship with the circular economy. The inaugural address was given by Dr Rakesh Sarwal, CMD, National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation. He pointed out the relation between affluence, consumerism and waste, session ended with the vote of thanks delivered by Dr Ratnesh Jha, Executive Director, UN GCNI.

The inaugural session was followed by a session on the theme Business Commitment: Integration of Circular Economy Practices by Businesses to achieve SDGs.

The panelists of the session are:

·         Mr Ganesh Ramamurti, CEO, Auro Research;

·         Mr Prashant Choubey, Lixil;

·         Ms. Priyanka Tanwar, Leader Communications and Corporate Responsibility Asia, Lixil

The session was moderated by Dr Ratnesh Jha.

The deliberations centred on different aspects of renewable energy and how that played into the circular economy.

Session 2 had the theme Uncomplicate Technology: Technology as a Catalyst to integrate Circular Economy/Waste to Wealth into Business Models and to reach the last mile.

The panelists of the session are:

·         Dr Shilpi Jain, Professor of Data Sciences;

·         Mr Alok Lall, Customer Success Lead – IteS, Microsoft;

·         Mr Mohit Narain, MD, Environmentors Perpetuity Solutions and Services Pvt. Ltd.

The moderator was Ms. Sonia Duhan, AVP, Invest India. The discussion proceeded on how technology can contribute to the circular economy.

Session 3 was based on the theme Policy Framework, Governance and Financing to  strengthen the implementation of Circular Economy Practices.

The panelists of the session are:

·         Mr Ashwin Saxena, CEO, JSW Foundation;

·         Dr Ulac Demirag, Country Director and Representative, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD);

·         Ms. Shuva Raha, Head – New Initiatives Council on Energy, Environment and Water, CEEW.

The moderator for the session was Mr Vishvesh Prabhaka from Accenture, The discussion centred on policy initiatives in this space.

Session 4 had the theme addressing the Challenges: Best Practices and Global Trends in Circular Economy/Waste to Wealth Generation Practices by Businesses/Non-Businesses.

All in all, it was a very comprehensive examination of various aspects of the circular economy, with the practitioners and policy makers providing a ringside view of the thought processes in this field.