Panel Discussion

“Leveraging Entrepreneurship Development through Emergent Technologies and Disruptive Innovation”

Rapid Technological Innovation and innovative applications are constantly creating paradigm shifts in Society and Industry. Startups and Entrepreneurs around the world are leveraging on these technologies to come up with new business models that are disrupting the traditional industries. Some of these technological trends include the emergence of mobile app ecosystems, Big Data analytics, Social Media and Digital Revolution, and Blockchain based decentralized trust mechanisms. Other major trends include, the development of Augment Reality, Drones, 3D printers, Virtual Reality, as well as massive advances in Micro Electronics and its biomedical applications. Entrepreneurs around the world have been developing upon some of these technologies to solve some of the most basic societal problems and present business solutions that significantly provide value to the industry and the economy. In this process the focus is also shifting to solving societal challenges and environmental issues through initiatives such as circular economies.

India is not a leader yet in core technological innovation, but has seen a rapid growth of Startups bringing value oriented innovations in the country. Being the third largest economy in the world, India should focus on technological innovations. However, there have been promising signs in the recent past with at least three sectors of the economy showing readiness for innovation namely Information Technology, Automotive and Pharma / Biotech etc. Initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, NASSCOM 10000 Start-Ups in IT, the introduction of Nano and Reva electric vehicle in automotive and cutting edge research in Pharma/ Biotech indicates potential exists for us to turn the corner. What is definitely needed is systematic and active support of policy makers and institutional stakeholders to make this trend pervasive.

In this Panel, we shall discuss some of these major emerging trends, and also how various stakeholders such as Universities, Policy Makers, Educators, Investors and the Society at large can incentivize further innovation. We shall also be exploring the success stories in the global and Indian context, and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian Entrepreneurial Ecosystems with respect to innovation ecosystems in other parts of the world.

The panel discussion aims to bring together leading lights from academia and industry to discuss the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship. The deliberations will help in the sharing of ideas and best practices to give an impetus to the essence of innovation and entrepreneurship for catalyzing the new ventures and startups on technological innovation in the country.

Proposed Panelist: Distinguished Panel Members:

Dr. Arvind Ashta
Professor, Burgundy School of Business, France, Panel Chair

Dr. Aneesh Zutshi,
Assistant Professor, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. Panel Keynote

Dr. P. Satish,
Executive Director, Sa-Dhan, New Delhi, India

Dr. Pushkar P. Jha,
Reader and Associate Professor, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.

Dr. Reetesh Kumar Singh,
Professor & Head, Dept. of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, Delhi, India.

Prof. (Dr.) Chris Patel,
Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Prof. (Dr.) Justin Paul,
University of Puerto Rico (UPR), USA and Distinguished Scholar, IIM, Kerala