NARASIMHAN KASTHURI,
SAN FRANCISCO/THE HAGUE, OCT 20
The alumni of 11 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Europe who had formed an an association “PANIIT Europe” to create a platform for networking, mentorship and professional development held their inaugural Alumni conference recently in The Netherlands. The Conference was inaugurated by the Ambassador H.E. Mrs. Reenat Sandhu.
A great initiative by IIT Alumni in Europe! Amb @reenat_sandhu inaugurated the PANIIT Europe conference at @tudelft . This network of IIT alumni will open new avenues for bilateral partnership between India and Europe. @EduMinOfIndia @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy @DiasporaDiv_MEA pic.twitter.com/JYw3bPgCH1
— India in the Netherlands (@IndinNederlands) October 12, 2023
The conference held on October 7 at Delft University of Technology was attended by IIT alumni living in many countries – Netherlands, USA, Italy, Austria, Belgium and India. Scientists from TIFAC have also participated in the event. The event had lightning talks, panel discussions, theme talks, VC Panel pitches among others, etc. It provided a good networking opportunity for the attendees. The event was attended by over 200 alumni coming from over 10 countries. Similar world wide conferences are being organized by PANIIT, one in Bangalore in December followed by Washington DC in January.
Vikram Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner of IvyCap Ventures Advisors Private Limited Ventures, a USD 530 Mn (INR 4200 Cr+) fund that invests through the alumni ecosystems and manages 35+ portfolio companies, was one of the key note speakers.
Naresh Sharma, CEO, President at NASHERO S.R.L. Italy, spoke about how he built a brick and mortar business in Italy. His talk, From Dream to reality: Designing Aircraft Across Generations’. was well received to learn on how built a brick and mortar business in Europe.
Mr Sharma is settled in the north of Italy where he founded and runs NASHERO, an aircraft company, that is developing several interesting aircraft in carbon fibre composites. He was a scientist at the National Aerospace Laboratories in Bangalore during 1987-1991 during which time he designed and prototyped HANSA, India’s first indigenous aircraft for flying training.
Abhishek Bahl, founder of JetLearn, AI academy for Kids, who spoke on the topic of Entrepreneurship in Europe: An Immigrant’s Perspective pointed out that leveraging a global network and embracing cultural adaptation are keys to thriving in the European market. Building strong local connections can open doors to collaborations and partnerships. An immigrant’s weakness of lack of existing local networks, can actually be a strength, he said.
Mr Mohit Saxena, Co-Founder and Group CTO, InMobi, who helped in setting up PAN IIT Europe, gave a talk on ‘Entrepreneurship Journey Through Purpose’, talked about presentation by entrepreneurs. Neelima Kadirisani moderated a panel discussion on “Women in STEM: Breaking Barriers and Forging Pathways and leading sustainable innovation” . It discussed actionable initiatives that women can take and how men can be allies in creating an inclusive ecosystem for women to thrive. Mr Venkat Viswanathan , Founder and Chairperson, LatentView Analytics, spoke on ‘Data, AI and latest technologies.
Mr Manish Kheterpal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, WaterBridge Ventures,spoke on ‘Time to Build – By/For/From India’, provided a very clear perspective of India’s growth potential and the benefits of doing Business in India in the coming decades.
The Embassy of India, The Hague, organised a Roundtable on ‘India Technology Vision 2047’ the previous day. Mrs. Reenat Sandhu inaugurated the event, and scientists from TIFAC – Dr. Pradeep Srivastava and Dr. Gautam Goswami – gave an overview and briefed about the Technology Vision 2047 (TV 2047) exercise to the participants. Around 40 experts (Indian faculty & researchers at Dutch universities, corporate leaders from both Indian & Dutch companies, representatives of startups, investment funds and banks participated in the Conference.
TIFAC is a unique knowledge network institution with a mandate to assess the state-of-art of technology and set directions for future technology…
You can hear Dr Sharma’s recording at: https://lnkd.in/d4SuE6MV
