The ‘Best of the Best’ are coming together for PanIIT 2008 Global Conference at Chennai

To Inspire, Innovate and Transform India

Chennai, November 18, 2008: PanIIT, an umbrella alumni organization of all seven IIT institutes, today announced the names of the global leaders who would be participating for the much awaited annual IIT Global Conference – PanIIT 2008, and will be imparting their knowledge on this year’s theme –to Inspire IITians to Innovate and Transform India

Abraham Flexner once says, “Method is much, technique is much, but inspiration is even more.” This year at the PanIIT Global conference we have some pre-eminent luminaries in the field of Politics, Education, Business, Technology coming together to put their minds to help Transform India at the PanIIT Global Conference

Some of the luminaries are, our esteemed Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh; the Honourable Finance Minister of India, Mr. P. Chidambaram; the Founder and Chairman of ArcelorMittal steel, L.N. Mittal, and many more addressing the gathering on ‘Inspire’.

Just as energy is the basis of life itself and ideas the source of innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress. ‘Innovate’ is the chosen topic of Bob McDonald, CEO Procter & Gamble; Prof. Surender Prasad, Director IITD and Harsha Bhogle, ESPN Cricket Analyst.

Transformation is essential for any development and ‘Transform’ is the topic on which Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate; C K Prahalad, University of Michigan and S. Ramadorai, CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy Services will be talking on.

The pre-eminent luminaries from around the world will look hard at the future, explore the frontiers of new thought and technology, and identify the next big forces and trends that will sweep across the world.

Mr. Santhanam, Chairman, PanIIT 2008 & Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Glass India said, “This year’s conference brings together the best of the best in each of their fields and we are proud and privileged to host them in India at Chennai. This will be a great forum for knowledge arbitrage across geographies and industries and the bringing together of some of the greatest minds and setting them to work to inspire, innovate and transform India.” said

PanIIT 2008 Global Alumni conference will deliver a diverse itinerary including tracks, sessions and panels on topics such as: Research & Technology, Entrepreneurship, Rural Transformation, Infrastructure, Innovation and Education.

This three-day conference will serve as a forum for over 3000 IITians from all over the world to re-establish old bonds, create new friendships, and network with fellow alumni, faculty, and their families. Registration for the conference is open at http://www.paniit2008.org

About PanIIT 2008:

PanIIT is a not-for-profit global association formed by like-minded IIT alumni in the year 2002 and registered in India, USA & UK. The raison d’etre is for each IITian to leverage the network in an endeavour to proactively contribute to nation-building, tap opportunities through networking and contribute to the alma mater. PanIIT global conference takes place in India and the US in alternate years (PanIIT 2006 was in Mumbai while PanIIT 2007 was in Santa Clara, U.S.A) and it has different chapters. PAN IIT is forging a strong link with the Ministry of Human Resources and is playing a vital role in formulations of Technical, Vocational and Research related policies of the Government. The association includes all former IIT students and former faculty members – from all seven IIT campuses, and any IIT’s that are established in future. For more information log on to www.paniit2008.org

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