IGIC event

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Official plenary: Technology at an inflection point: Managing the potential, addressing the risks

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT, is warning the US Senate about the possible risks involved in the use of some AI applications and is urging for regulations to address them. Similarly, the risks of inappropriate and/or repressive utilizations of facial recognition technologies are now widely discussed; and governments are still at pain to counter the ways blockchain technology is being utilized for money laundering and the financing of criminal activities. Regulations are sprouting out against the infringements to personal privacy as Data is the new oil of the 21st
century economy. So while the benefits of disruptive technologies innovations are well recognized, new and Increasing concerns are expressed about their possible negative societal and political implications:

• What ways to prevent that disruptive technologies developments get out of control and go wrong?
• What balance between the need for efficient regulations to prevent abuses and the concern for not hampering unduly technology developments?
• Beyond regulations what ethical guidelines should orient the activities of startup founders and researchers as they develop innovations with a transformative impact?

Speakers:

BV Naidu, Chairman Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, India
Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital, India
Miriam Reiner, Associate Professor Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), Founder NeuroCognition lab, Israel

A VC executives Roundtable

The road to profitability and resilience in a new funding era: A leaner, even more innovative startup ecosystem

• The new metrics for funding
• What kind of startups will thrive through the downturn and how?
• A more arduous path towards unicorn status?
• How will the momentum towards the expansion of India’s startup ecosystem be sustained in the new context?
• What kind of diversification of funding are we beginning to see? What implications?

Speakers:

Pankaj Gupta, Founder, EthAum Venture Partners, Singapore
Nilesh Kothari, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital Partners, India
Salil Pitale, Joint Managing Director & Co-CEO Axis Capital, India
Sudhir Rao, India Managing Partner, Celesta Capital, USA/India

Moderated by:

Ralph C. Voltmer, Partner, Head of India Practice, Covington & Burling, USA

Networking break

Networking break.

Meet the disrupters

Selected, highly innovative, startup founders present their company, highlighting the transformative impact of what they are creating.

Speakers:

Gaurav Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Gamezop, India
Pulkit Baldev, Co-Founder & CEO, Metalbook, India
Geetha Manjunath, Founder, CEO & CTO, Niramai Health Analytix, India
Raghuveer B K, Founder & CEO, Nivetti Systems, India
Shruthi Rao, Co-founder & CEO, Adapt ready, USA
Miriam Reiner, Associate Professor Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), Founder NeuroCognition lab, Israel
David Suter, CEO, Fast Sense, Israel

Moderated by:

Vishal Krishna, Founder, Editor and Head of Content & Media UpStream Life, India

Buffet lunch

Buffet lunch.

Striving for leadership in the sustainability / Clean Tech sector

Part one:
Leveraging the drivers in India’s sustainability/Clean-Tech sector:

• What factors are sustaining the expansion of startups in the Clean Tech sector?
• What assets could India leverage more?
• How does India compare to what is happening in that sector in other parts of the world?

Part two:
What policies and actions to join the sustainability/CleanTech global leaders club:

• What role for startups in upping India’s global role in the sector?
• How could corporate/startup partnerships contribute?
• What additional policies are needed?

Speakers:

David Glazer, CEO, 3R-T, Israel
Yossi Levi, CEO, Todos Tech, Israel
Prasanta Sarkar, Co-Founder & CEO, Newtrace, India
Guruprakash Sastry, Associate Vice President, Climate Action Head Infosys, India
Shreyas Shibulal, Founder & Director, Micelio – Micelio – Electric Vehicles, India
Akshay V. Singhal, Founder & CEO, Log9 Materials, India
Denis Tudor, Founder & CEO, SwissPod Technologies, Switzerland

Moderated by:

Jose Jacob Kalayil, Director & Curator, The India Advantage Summit & Future ICT Forum, India

Striving for leadership in the Fintech sector

Part one:
Leveraging the drivers in India’s Fintech sector:

• What factors are sustaining the expansion of startups in the Fintech sector?
• What assets could India leverage more?
• How does India compare to what is happening in that sector in other parts of the world?

Part two:
What policies and actions to join the Fintech global leaders club:

• What role for startups in upping India’s global role in the sector?
• How could corporate/startup partnerships contribute?
• What additional policies are needed?

Speakers:

Vivek Gupta, President, Head Wholesale Banking Products, Axis Bank, India
Mitesh Jain, Co-founder & CTO, Symbo, Singapore
Aishwarya Jaishankar, Co-founder, Hyperface Technologies, India
Shruthi Rao, Co-founder & CEO, Adapt ready, USA
TCMeenakshi Sundaram, Co-Founder & Vie Chairman Chiratae Ventures India
Kenta Yoshida, Director, MUFG, Japan

Innovation partnerships: Creating an innovation dynamic through ecosystems collaboration

• How can Indian incubators curate suitable collaboration platforms between different startup ecosystems?
• Key success factors for successful innovation partnerships
• Addressing the IP ownership allocation issue
• Leveling the playing field between established businesses and new players

Speakers:

Tammy Ben-Haim, Consul General of Israel to South India, Israel
Jonas Brunschwig, Chief Executive Officer, Swissnex in India & Consul General of Switzerland, Switzerland
Anandi Iyer, Director, Fraunhofer Office India
Shivi Jain, Senior Program Manager, German Entrepreneurship, Germany
Raja Mukherjee, Co-founder & CEO, The GAIN, India

Moderated by:

Siddhartha Anand, Vice President Startup & Innovation, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), India

Leveraging Industry and academia partnerships to join the ranks of Innovation leader countries

The lesson from successful innovation leader countries is clear: No innovation leadership without strong R&D, no strong R&D without enough digital talent being created and without efficient industry-academia partnerships.

• Why has the industry-academia R&D partnership been so far lagging behind in India compared to other countries? Do we now see a change of mindset in that domain in corporate India as a whole?
• How to accelerate the change of mindset across India’s academic world towards a more growth-oriented R&D?
• Government policies and funding have been redirected towards supporting R&D in technologies identified as important for India’s technology overhaul. How can industry and academia leverage that trend to boost R&D partnerships?
• Beyond the government role in providing the conditions to generate much needed digital skills, how can industry and academic work together and create these essential skills?

Speakers:

Ravi Arora, Vice President, Group Innovation, Tata Sons, India
Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director & Professor in the Strategy area, Ram Charan Chair Professor in Innovation and Leadership, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India
Sumit Kumar, Chief Business Officer, TeamLease Education Foundation, India
Miriam Reiner, Associate Professor Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), Founder NeuroCognition lab, Israel

Moderated by:

Madan Padaki, Founder & CEO 1Bridge, President TIE Bangalore, India

Networking break

Networking break.

Public market investors and the funding of technology innovation

Public market investors and the funding of technology innovation

Speakers:

Ashish Gupta, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Mutual Fund, India

Ahead of the curve: Towards the second wave of Health Tech innovation

Brainstorming
Covid 19 generated the emergence of a number of Health Tech startups – with many of them scaling up their activities since the end of the pandemic.

• What new care models or specialized services are emerging to provide patient-centric solutions?
• What assets to leverage to provide “made in India” Health Tech for the world?
• What could be the impact of the new funding conditions on the Health Tech sector development?
• What specific challenges do Health Tech startup founders still need to overcome?

Speakers:

Gaurav Agarwal, Co-Founder, Tata 1MG, India
Kumaar Bagrodia, Founder & CEO, NeuroLeap, India
Nikhil Kurele, Co-founder, Noccarc Robotics, India
Geetha Manjunath, Founder, CEO & CTO, Niramai Health Analytix, India
Yaacov Michlin, CEO, Biolight Life Sciences Ltd. Israel Advanced Technologies Industries (IATI) Co-Chair, Israel
Peter Nguyen, Co-founder & CEO, BuyMed, Vietnam

Moderated by:

Vishal Krishna, Founder, Editor and Head of Content & Media UpStream Life, India

Ahead of the curve: Femtech as a next Big Thing?

Brainstorming
Femtech is a fast-emerging sector in India as well as in several countries, with an accelerating expansion over the last few years. The global Femtech market is expected to be worth 50 billion dollars by 2025. Indian startups in the sector are growing at a 17% pace and the rate of expansion is the same or even higher in some other countries, with women health and wellness driving the sector’s growth.

• What challenges do FemTech startup face in developing their activities? How to address the impact of still existing social and cultural taboos or of a male-dominated investment ecosystem on the development potential of the sector?
• How could FemTech startups disrupt the whole healthcare sector in the coming years by bringing capital and talent to fulfill unmet needs?
• With cyber threats ever more acute, how can FemTech startups address the challenge of data protection given the very private nature of the data they collect and use for their services?

Speakers:

Saraswati Chandra, Co-founder, Cranberry.fit, India
Rohit M A, Co-founder & Managing Director of Cloudnine Hospitals, Managing partner at PeerCapital, India
Noa Muzzafi, Founding Partner & Israel Director Asia Bridge, Israel
Sanjana Rao, Scientific Communications lead & Co-Founder, Miyara, Switzerland
Sanjith Shetty, Founder, Miror, India
Ekta Tibrewal, Founder, Savage, India

Moderated by:

Geraldine Lüdi, Founder, Josei, Switzerland

Ahead of the curve: Operationalizing the Metaverse to deliver sustainable business outcomes

Brainstorming
Whether it is for improving education and training, enhancing customer experiences, improving business operations efficiency, or enterprise applications, the business applications of the Metaverse are beginning to be leveraged by established companies and startups.

• How far can companies already go in Metaverse use for business creation and as growth engine?
• Making the difference between the hype and the already actionable Metaverse business use
• What challenges still to overcome to achieve the full operationalization of the Metaverse for business?

Speakers:

Sandeep Alur, Director, Microsoft Technology Centre, India, USA
Madan Padaki, Founder & CEO 1Bridge, President TIE Bangalore, India
Yuvraj Tomar, Co-Founder & CEO CloudWorx Technologies Pvt Ltd, India

Moderated by:

Winslow Taub, Partner, Covington & Burling, USA

Networking reception

Networking reception.

Seated gala dinner

With a keynote speaker

Amitabh Chaudhry, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Axis Bank Ltd, India
Paul Saffo, Technology Forecaster, Professor in the School of Engineering, Stanford University on the future of engineering and the impact of technological change on the future, USA
Ganapathy Venugopal (VG), Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, Axilor Ventures, India

Moderated by:

Yaël Smadja, CEO, Smadja & Associates, USA

India as the last frontier mega consumer market: The pivotal role of technology

In April 2023 India became the world’s most populous country. In the past decade – except for the Covid disruption – the country has registered 5 to 7.5% annual growth and its consumer class is estimated to be at around d 480 million people, increasing on average by 20-25 million people per year. One key – and very promising – feature of India’s consumer picture is the average young age – 30 to 35 – of the Indian consumer. However a huge percentage of the consuming population live in rural areas. A handicap partly compensated by the widespread reach of mobile phone and the internet and fast digitization and adoption of new technologies.

• What are India’s key Consumer Trends?
• What is the impact new consumer types – GenZ, expectations of new consumers of T2/T3 cities?
• With 700 million of internet users at this stage, are there ways to
  measure the impact of internet, mobile phone and digitization on consumption growth in India?
• How can startups leverage the new opportunities of this growing consumer market
• How could the Indian market be the “proving ground” for B2C products and services developed in India to be disseminated in other promising emerging market countries?

Pratik Pal, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Digital,

In conversation with:

Claude Smadja, Chairman Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory, Switzerland

Sourcing global products and services innovation from India: The road ahead

• How are MNCs increasingly tapping on innovation made in India to sustain their competitive edge and market leadership through innovation?
• Leveraging the role of the country’s startup ecosystem in India’s positioning as an emerging global innovation hub.
• According to some studies, India accounts for 45% of the world’s Global Capacity Centers -GCC – set by MNCs. What additional actions could help consolidate the country’s position as the destination of choice for GCCs?

Speakers:

Prashant Gokhale, Managing Director, Bühler India, Switzerland
Rajashree R, Chief Marketing Officer Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) India
Saj Sekhon, Chief Digital and Information Office (CDIO), Head for Group Function India, Switzerland

Moderated by:

Sujit John, Deputy Resident Editor, The Times of India India

Networking break

Networking break.

Striving for leadership in the EVs sector

Part one:
Leveraging the drivers in India’s EVs sector:

• What factors are sustaining the expansion of startups in the EVs sector?
• What assets could India leverage more?
• How does India compare to what is happening in that sector in other parts of the world?

Part two:
What policies and actions to join the EVs global leaders club:

• What could be the impact of the recent lithium discoveries?
• What role for startups in upping India’s global role in the sector?
• How could corporate/startup partnerships contribute more?
• What additional policies are needed?

Speakers:

Sanjay Krishnan, Co-founder & CEO, Lithium Urban Technologies, India
Nakul Kukar, CEO, Cell Propulsion, India
Amitabh Saran, Co-founder & CEO, Altigreen Propulsion Labs, India
Vivek Srivatsa, Head of EV Sales and Marketing Strategy, Tata Motors, India

Moderated by:

Manuj Khurana, Vice President Ather Energy, India

Striving for leadership in the Bio-Pharma sector

Part one:
Leveraging the drivers in India’s Bio-Pharma sector:

• What factors are sustaining the expansion of startups in the Bio-Pharma sector?
• What assets could India leverage more?
• How does India compare to what is happening in that sector in other parts of the world?

Part two:
Defining the policies and actions to join the Bio-Pharma global leaders club:

• What role for startups in upping India’s global role in the sector?
• How could corporate/startup partnerships contribute more?
• What additional policies are needed?

Speakers:

Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, Chairman and CEO, IKP Knowledge Park, India
Vinod ML Kumar, Co-founder & Managing Director, String Bio, India
Leela Maitreyi, Director – Business Development, Bugworks Research, India

Moderated by:

Madanmohan Rao, Research Director, YourStory Media, India

Ahead of the curve: Driving the Supply chains digitization: Meet the new players

Brainstorming
While geopolitical factors, climate change considerations, the evolving notion of just-in-case rather just-in-time are contributing to reshape global supply chains, a number of startups are emerging as key players and innovators in this domain in the B2B as in the B2C areas. They are riding the digitization wave, optimizing the capabilities of IoT and AI to create new paradigms in the logistics and supply chain industries.

• How will startups and corporates end-users manage together the supply chains disruptions which will continue to occur, moving towards ever faster, more reliable, more sustainable, more cost-efficient supply chains?

Speakers:

Pulkit Baldev, Co-Founder & CEO, Metalbook, India
Satya Chakravarthy, Co-Founder, The ePlane Company, India
Dheeraj Tiwari, Co-Founder & CEO, CapGrid, India

Moderated by:

Vishal Krishna, Founder, Editor and Head of Content & Media UpStream Life, India

Buffet lunch

Government/Corporates/Startups synergies for harnessing the power of Al

• How government programs and corporate actions can combine more effectively to fully use the capabilities of AI towards Digital India?
• How can corporations and startups combine the use of so called “big data” and so-called “small data” to go much further in the capabilities of AI and Machine Learning?
• Is small data “the next big thing in Data science” as some scientists have predicted? If so, how can it be used to create more new applications? Are there some lessons to be learnt from successes achieved in this domain?
• What are the key focus areas for an expanded access to – and use of – AI?
• With the government prioritizing the adoption of AI and ML, robotics, blockchain what kind of opportunities for Deep Tech startups to develop their innovations?

Speakers:

Derick Jose, Co-Founder, Flutura Decision Sciences and Analytics, India/USA
Pascal Kaufmann, Founder, Starmind, Founder & Group CEO, Mindfire, Switzerland
Yatin Kavishwar, Co-founder & COO, Awiros, India
Yasuhiro Nose, Co-Founder I’m besideyou.inc Japan
Eli Schwartz, Research Scientist, IBM Research AI, Israel

Moderated by:

Sanjeev Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), India

Striving for leadership in the Aerospace sector

• Part one:
  Leveraging the drivers in India’s Aerospace sector:

  • What factors are sustaining the expansion of startups in the Aerospace sector – especially drones and rocket launchers?
  • What assets could India leverage more?
  • How does India compare to what is happening in that sector in other parts of the world?

  Part two:
  What policies and actions to join the Aerospace global leaders club:

  • What role for startups in upping India’s global role in the sector?
  • How could corporate/startup partnerships contribute more to technology innovation in the sector?
  • What additional policies are needed?
  • What is the potential for developing Indian OEMs in the aerospace sector?

  Speakers:

  Srinivasan Dwarakanath (Dwaraka), Strategic Advisor in Aviation and Aerospace, Adjunct Faculty Indian Institute of Science, India
  Ankit Mehta, Founder and CEO, ideaForge Technology, India
  Ishan Sahgal, CEO, Anavia AG, Switzerland
  Aruna Schwarz, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Stelae Technologies India/United Kingdom
  Kunal Shrivastava, Co-Founder, SUIND, Switzerland
  Vipul Singh, Co-founder & CEO, AEREO, India

Ahead of the curve: Joining - and being a winner - in the global chips race

Brainstorming
While a great number of chips produced by global manufacturers are being designed in India, the country has been so far absent from the club of global players in the strategic semiconductors industry. A situation that the government is now aiming to change with a slew of initiatives and incentives to try to boost the development of a strong semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem.

• Are the incentives and policies implemented by the government the right response to the challenges involved in creating a strong national semiconductor ecosystem?
• What role can the increasing number of startups involved in fabless and fablab chips play alongside MNCs and Indian corporations?
• What would be the most appropriate strategy to make of India a significant player in the chips race, playing on the country’s assets and mitigating the existing or structural weaknesses?

Speakers:

Manu Nair, Co-founder & CEO, Synthara, Switzerland
Gadhadar Reddy, Founder & CEO, Nopo Nanotechnologies, India
Chinnu Senthilkumar, Managing Partner, Exfinity Ventures, India

Moderated by:

Sujit John, Deputy Resident Editor, The Times of India India

What changing VC landscape could mean for startup funding

• Is the decrease in funding from global US VCs creating new opportunities for involvement from VCs and LPs from Europe, the Gulf countries or Asian ones?
• Global VCs and LPs are considered to still have a lot of dry powder at their disposal. Could we see a lot of investment money being released in the period ahead, given the continuing developments in domains such as AI, IoT, blockchain, Big Data?
• While seed funding has remained quite active, late-stage funding has declined substantially. How long will this trend continue?
• The VC business has always been a cyclical one? How long will this cycle last? Could we see the next cycle bringing the industry FemTech companies disrupt the back to the levels of 2021 or even higher?

Speakers:

Francisque Lebrunie, Venture Partner Super Capital, France
Ben Mathias, Managing Partner, Vertex Ventures SEA & India, Singapore
Yaacov Michlin, CEO, Biolight Life Sciences Ltd. Israel Advanced Technologies Industries (IATI) Co-Chair, Israel
Pranav Pai, Founding Partner, 3one4 capital, India
Patricia Sosrodjojo, Partner, Seedstars, Switzerland
Nandan Venkatachalam, Principal, Axilor Ventures, India

Moderated by:

Katy Knight, Associate Covington & Burling LLP, United Kingdom

Delivering the "right" IP ecosystem for a would-be innovation superpower

While the government has taken several measures to strengthen and expand IP protection, such as creating a Cell for IPR Promotion and Management, many of these measures have yet to come into force and a number of lacunas subsist that need to be addressed. And IP protection remain a concern for MNCs establishing operations in India and for startups not always well equipped to protect and monetize the IP they create.

• What are the next steps to establish an IP framework up to the highest international standards?
• What measures to a full-fledged, efficient, faster enforcement of IP protection rules?
• How to better equip innovative startups to assess, protect and monetize the IP they create?

Speakers:

Ravi Bhola, Managing Partner, K&S Partners, India
Renju Harikumar, Director Global Innovation Protection, Accenture, India USA
Nidhi Mathur, Venture partner, Axilor Ventures, India
Winslow Taub, Partner Covington & Burling, USA

Moderated by:

Madanmohan Rao, Research Director, YourStory Media, India

Meet the disrupters

Selected, highly innovative, startup founders present their company, highlighting the transformative impact of what they are creating.

Speakers:

Vishal Chopra, Co-founder & CEO, WeRize, India
Manu Nair, Co-founder & CEO, Synthara, Switzerland
Ram Shoshan, CEO, BeAir, Israel
Ezhil Subbian, CEO & Co-Founder, String Bio, India
Denis Tudor, Founder and CEO, SwissPod Technologies, Switzerland

Moderated by:

Jose Jacob Kalayil, Director & Curator, The India Advantage Summit & Future ICT Forum, India

How Innovation in the next five years will differ from what it was in the last five years: Getting ready for it

Whether because of radical changes in the global geopolitical and economic landscape restricting technology transfers, or because of the need to innovate more with less funding or because the change of priorities and expectations in the business world as well as in the society at large, there is a prevailing notion that the directions and priorities in technology innovation in the years ahead will be different from what we have seen recently.

• What role can Quantum computing play in supporting and accelerating the innovation process?
• Will technology innovation be increasingly geared towards creating a cleaner, safer, and more inclusive world? What implications for startups and for funding?
• How to assess the increasing impact of the global regulatory trends on disruptive technologies and privacy protection on how innovation is evolving?
• Sustaining innovation in tight financial conditions: Towards a greater emphasis on frugal innovation (“Jugaad”)

Speakers:

Maria Anselmi, Head of Start-ups and Next-Generation Innovators Division, Innosuisse, Switzerland
Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner & Founder, Ideaspring Capital, India
Florin Müller, Head of Swiss Business Hub India, Switzerland
Dattatri Salagame, CEO, President & Managing director, Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), Germany

Moderated by:

Sujit John, Deputy Resident Editor, The Times of India India

Connecting the dots

Connecting the dots.

Farewell Drinks

Farewell drinks.