Business IT Conclave, 15th & 22nd July 2022, The Bengal Chamber Premises, Hybrid Mode
The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry presented the 13th edition of its annual signature Business IT Conclave (#BITC2022) on 15th and 22nd July, Fridays, in a hybrid mode from The Chamber premises. On 15th July, the programme was held physically at the Chamber and streamed simultaneously and on 22nd July, it was streamed online as a virtual programme.
It was a memorable experience for us having overwhelming participation virtually across geography. On Day 1: 15th July, in spite of it being a hybrid event where the physical event was attended by capacity crowd, the digital footprint also reached 3.5 lacs and on Day 2: 22nd July 2022 which was held completely virtually, the digital footprint touched 1.9 million which is unprecedented.
The theme, this year, was “Future of Technology: Business Opportunities”.
This year, the Conclave featured:
Day 1: 15th July 2022:
- Experiences in 5G
- Cloud Transition- Opportunities Ahead
- Prospering Ecosystem for Tech Start Ups
Day 2: 22nd July 2022:
- Decoding Digital Currency
- Technology Pivots for Future:
- Metaverse
- Defi
- Genie on-the-go : Mindtree’s solution proposition
- Globalization 4.0
- Economic Perspectives
- Technology Perspectives
- Business Opportunities
- Digitising the MSME ecosystem and learning of building a startup to scale
- Demystifying Metaverse
- Future of Cybersecurity : Opportunities and Pitfalls
Day 1: 15th July 2022:
Mr. S Radhakrishnan, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry formally welcomed all. #BITC2022 was a vibrant forum with footfall from the tech fraternity of the City. Over 250 participants registered for Day 1. At any given time, there were 100 to 150 participants at The Chamber who were attending the Sessions and also networking at the sidelines.
With rapid acceleration of technology in last couple of years, the focus was to discuss the latest trends, their business opportunities and also to create a networking forum which was in pause due to the pandemic.
Speakers joined from different parts of the countries to participate in #BITC2022 and also had other business meetings. The Chamber is delighted to facilitate the technology ecosystem of Kolkata by inviting relevant stakeholders from outside.
| "With advent of 5G, roles of businesses and technologies will be reversed. Instead of technologies taking the front seat and businesses riding on it, it would be the businesses demanding services which the technologies would provide. With this, many new business and technologies combinations will emerge which is turn will also lead to knowledge based skilled professionals, exploitation of AI, ML, AR, VR , blockchain, data analytics and innovative startups to flourish. Changing sourcing of equipment environment, prevalence of cheaper cost of production in India via a via the west and proactive incentives by Government of India in pushing PLI Schemes, 5G will also create opportunities for manufacturing base to be set up in India with equipment manufacturing and system integration gaining importance. − "Lt. Gen. Dr. S. P. Kochhar'' |
The Opening Session included addresses by Lt. Gen. Dr. S. P. Kochhar, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India and Ms. Prameela Kalive, Chief Operating Officer, Zensar Technologies Limited (online), respectively.
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Ms. Prameela Kalive addressed on “ESG and Sustainable Development: Responsibility and Opportunity for Technology Businesses”. She stated that sustainable development is the masterful balance of meeting our own needs without jeopardizing future generations’ ability to do the same. The environmental impact of economic growth includes the increased consumption of non−renewable resources, higher levels of pollution, global warming and the potential loss of environmental habitats. ESG is a part of top management KRAs and embedded into company’s decision−making and performance evaluation. Major capital investors are keen to support start−ups that actively facilitate ESG goals. India signed the Paris Agreement in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. The World’s large corporate sustainability initiative, a call to companies to align strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anticorruption and take actions that advance societal goals. The UN Global Compact supports companies to do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with the principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti−corruption and to take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation. Ms. Kalive also mentioned that Zensar has actively undertaken ESG. Zensar has created a dedicated webpage on sustainability and started annual sustainable business reporting. It aims to achieve net zero target by 2040. |
Mr. Ravindra Chamaria, Chairman, Infinity Group was invited. Infinity Group was presented a token of appreciation from The Bengal Chamber for facilitating infrastructure of IT in Kolkata. Mr. Arnab Basu, Vice President and Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Advisory Leader and Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. handed over the plaque to him.
Ms. Maya Bridgman, Founder, Dubai AI Society joined, following the Opening Session to connect with the audience. The Dubai AI Society provides free online classes, projects, competitions for underprivileged students.. The Bengal Chamber is connecting Dubai AI Society with Members who run schools for underprivileged students so that the opportunities are available for students in Bengal as well.
The Sessions were engaging and interactive on the technology trends.
Experiences in 5G:
The session featured a theme presentation by Mr. Viswanathan Ramaswamy, Vice President−Digital Solutions Incubation, Tata Communications Limited, followed by a panel discussion. The Panelists included:
- Radhakrishnan Ganti, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras
- David Salam, Director of Mobile, British Telecom (Online)
- Arindam Sanyal, Deputy General Manager (Distribution Automation), CESC Limited
The Session was moderated by Mr. Niladri Shekhar Dutta, Global Director− Head of AI Innovation, Data Strategy & Technology Solution sales, Ericsson.
Mr. Arnab Basu, Vice President and Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Advisory Leader and Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. delivered the Opening Remarks before the session.
Cloud Transition- Opportunities Ahead:
The Panelists included:
- Sudhir Kothari, Founder & CEO, Embee Software Pvt. Ltd.
- Surjit Singh Sodhi, Business Development Leader− AWS Migration, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited
- Anish Agarwal, Head of Analytics, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.
- Anitosh Halder, Business & GTM Head−Cloud, DC & Managed Services
Mr. Chiranjib Bhattacharya, Co−Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chief Executive Officer & Director, Wizertech Informatics Pvt. Ltd. moderated the session.
Prospering Ecosystem for Tech Start Ups:
The Session was divided into two parts:
Prospering Ecosystem for Tech Start Ups I featured Mr. Kamal Ajitsaria, Technology Leader, Adani Group (online) and Mr. Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures. They addressed on how budding Startups can accelerate their business in Bengal.
Mr. Kalyan Kar, Member, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mentor, WEBEL− BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre and Co−Founder and Managing Director, Inqube Innoventures Pvt Ltd. moderated the session Prospering Ecosystem for Tech Start Ups II was graced by :
Two promising incubatees of WEBEL- BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre were presented.
- Solaire Initiative Pvt Ltd
- SISIR Rader Pvt Ltd
Solaire Initiative Pvt Ltd has joined the Incubation Centre in February 2022. The Startup Organization was founded in 2019, by a group of Scientists, Medical Experts and Engineers from leading global Universities, who have developed patented indigenous technology at the interface of the chemical, physical and engineering sciences to address the immediate challenge of making healthcare affordable. Their innovative product--"OM REDOX, Your Oxygen Box"
¡s a deep Science Innovation from Bengal, giving oxygen that is 3.5 times purer than that one normally gets from a concentrator and that too at a rate of 3.5 LPM. This unique product is certified by ISO 9001: 2015, ISO 13485:2016, and approved by WHO and European Conformity (CE).
SISIR Radar Pvt Ltd is one of the deep tech incubates of WEBEL− BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre. SISIR RADER is building the world’s first high resolution drone−borne SAR system. This will provide a world class resolution of 0.3m in X−band while ¡introducing flexibility of operations because of utilisation of drones as the deployment platform. A single drone−borne SAR system will be able to map 100 sq km in 10 mins. This will enable capturing data at a much higher temporal frequency and allow for significantly more area coverage of imaging. In comparison, satellite−borne SAR can only map 500 sq km ¡n a day at similar resolutions
During the Session, the Co-Founders of Solaire Initiative Pvt Ltd- Dr. Soumyajit Roy and Prof. Dr. Pei Liang and Dr. Tapan Misra, Founding Director, SISIR Radar and Former Director, Space Applications Centre (ISRO) shared their journey and achievement as Startups so far.
The Session was followed by a Special Address of Mr. Manjit Nayak, Director, STPI West Bengal, on Startup's contribution towards Product Nation.
The Session was moderated by Mr. Sarbajit Das, Mentor, WEBEL−BCC&I Tech Incubation Center; Member, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Founder & CEO, Sun Dew Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Day 2: 22nd July 2022
Decoding Digital Currency
The Session highlighted the impact of Crypto Currency on Indian economy.
The Panelists included:
- Prof Pulak Ghosh, Decision sciences and Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
- Mihir Gandhi, Partner, Leader − Payments Transformation, PwC India
Mr. Deepak Daftari, Chairperson, Entrepreneurs Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Mentor, WEBEL− BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre and Director and CEO, eSiksha.com− DD Web Vision Pvt Ltd. moderated the Session.
Technology Pivots for Future:
The session featured Metaverse; Defi and Genie on−the−go: Mindtree’s solution proposition, addressed by:
- Santanu Mukherjee − Head of Blockchain Practice & Principal Architect, Mindtree Ltd.
- Somnath Chatterjee − Global Advisory Lead for Hospitality and Real Estate, Mindtree Ltd.
- Karthikeyan Dhayalamani − Head of Metaverse Practice and AR/VR COE, Mindtree Ltd.
Mr. Anupam Dutta, Member, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Partner, Data & Analytics, Technology Consulting, PwC India moderated the Session.
Globalization 4.0
The session featured Economic Perspectives; Technology Perspectives and Business Opportunities, addressed by:
- Lead Speaker− Pedro Jordão, President, CINT
Other esteemed Panelists included:
- Subrata Bhattacharyya, Director, Pharma Quant.
- Dr. Abhirup Sarkar, Former Professor of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute and Chairman, Fifth Finance Commission, West Bengal.
Mr. Subho Samanta, Special Invitee, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mentor, WEBEL−BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre and Founder, Diracsol Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd moderated the session.
Day 2 of the Conclave presented a special session − Mr. Deepak Jain, Co−Founder, FlexiLoans Technologies in discussion with Mr. Arnab Basu, Vice President and Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Advisory Leader and Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. on Digitising the MSME ecosystem and learning of building a startup to scale.
Demystifying Metaverse
The Panelists included:
- Puneet Agarwal, Chief technology Officer, Zensar Technologies
- Rajesh Dhuddu, Global Head for Blockchain & Metaverse Practice, Tech Mahindra
- Navin Manaswi, CEO & Founder, WoWExp
- Roberto Hernandez, Chief Innovation Officer − Customer Transformation & Metaverse Leader, PwC US
Mr. Kaushik Chatterjee, BFSI Global Delivery Head, Zensar Technologies moderated the Session.
Future of Cybersecurity: Opportunities and Pitfalls
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Das, Joint Secretary, IT&E Department, Government of West Bengal graced the Panel Discussion as our Guest of Honour. He addressed on “Future of Cyber Security: Opportunities in West Bengal”. Other esteemed Panelists included:
- Sudeep Kumar Das, Pre−Sales Manager, India & SAARC, Tenable
- Charly Graf, CEO & Founder, Defendeer and Mr. Konstantin Stassinakis, Cyber Security Expert, Senior Business Consultant, Senior Project Manager and Portfolio Manager, Bluecoons Group, GmbH.
The Session was moderated by Mr. N K Ghosal, Mentor, WEBEL−BCC&I Tech Incubation Center; Member, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Director, NKG & Associates.
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