IIT2024 Global Conference to be held in Washington DC in January

Washington: A mega conference bringing together the brightest minds and IIT alumni from across the world will be held here in the American capital in January, organisers of the event have announced.

Showcasing “Brand India”, the three-day event beginning January 12 will include among others entrepreneurship and India’s rising global influence with eminent personalities speaking on issues from artificial intelligence to sustainable development and cutting-edge medical breakthroughs.

The foundational theme of the IIT2024 Global Conference Programme being hosted by PanIIT is Innovation.

PanIIT is an umbrella organisation representing an alumni network of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) system.

"The focus of the Conference on innovation and how advancements in artificial intelligence, sustainable energy, and medicine can provide a brighter future for everyone is timely,” said Siddhartha Chowdhary, Chairman IIT 2024 and CEO Credence Management Solutions.

The conference will also highlight the importance of the US-India relationship in technology innovation and security cooperation as a force for global good in the current geopolitical context, he said.

Eminent Indian American and IIT alumni Suresh Shenoy said that IITs have played a big role in the development of India and the United States as well. “Please don't see it as just an alumni event. It is an event to brand India herself. And that is what we did very successfully in 2005, and that is what we want to do in a much larger way in 2024,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Some of the eminent speakers at the three-day mega event include Vinod Khosla, founder and managing partner, Khosla Ventures; Vint Cerf (VP and Chief Internet evangelist for Google); Arvind Krishna (chairman and CEO, IBM); Sal Khan (founder and CEO, Khan Academy); David Rubenstein (Co-founder and Co-chairman, The Carlyle Group); Nirupama Menon Rao (former Indian Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to US) and Steven Chu (Nobel Laureate, Physics and Former Energy Secretary).

Fairfax County Economic Development Authority has joined hands with PanIIT USA for the event.

Atul Mathur, conference co-chair said they plan to invite eminent people from various areas to brainstorm and build sustainable technologies for global use.

IIT Global Conferences are prestigious and globally recognised events organized by the PANIIT Alumni Associations.

“These conferences serve as a platform for IIT alumni across the world to come together to network, collaborate, and ideate on critical issues related to technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and societal impact on a global scale,” Chowdhary said.

Observing that the central theme of IIT 2024 is Innovation for a Better World, he said “IITIan are synonymous with innovations and IIT alumni have contributed to cutting-edge advancement across many sectors that have significantly enhanced how we live our life today.” IITIans have also been instrumental in making this advancement affordable and accessible to everyone across the world.

“The outcome of our previous conferences has been to foster collaboration, knowledge exchange and entrepreneurship in the US, in India and across the world resulting in a truly global impact. This global impact of IITs is guaranteed to increase manyfold in the future with the international expansion of IITs to seven other countries,” Chowdhary said.

IIT 2024, he said, will provide that dynamic forum that envisions a better future through technology and leadership. “We will achieve this by bringing together innovators and top leaders across business, government, academia and research to spark actionable ideas to advance technology progress, effective policy and social impact at the grassroots level,” he said.