INDIA-U.S. TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT

Ms. Priyanka Mahani Assistant Professor from Electronics and Computer Engineeing Department along with five more faculty members from the college represented Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon in the India-U.S. Technology Summit organized collaboratively by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt of India, in association with Department of State, U.S.A. from 18th to 19th November 2014 at the India Expo Center, Greater Noida.

The objective of this summit was to discuss the policies and other strategic partnership between India and USA for providing mutual concerns in the field of Manufacturing, Information Technology, Clean & Renewable Energy, Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, Healthcare Sectors, Sustainable Cities, Natural Resources & Earth Science etc.

The welcome address was delivered by Mr. Venkatesh Valluri, Chairman, CII National Committee on Technology & Chairman & President, Ingersoll Rand India followed by addresses from other eminent personalities including: Ms. Diane Farrell, Acting President, U.S. India Business Council, Dr. Naushad Forbes, Vice President, CII; Chairman, India-U.S. Technology Summit, Mr. Ajay S Shriram, President, Confederation of Indian Industry & Chairman & Sr. Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd. All of them highlighted the various aspects of the collaboration of India and U.S. on various topics like science and technology, renewable energy and many more.

Inaugurating the summit, Hon’ble Chief Guest, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences, Government of India talked about the government promoting “science with a human face” that serves common man. He also said that this summit will mark an important milestone in the partnership of India and USA.

In a session on “Roundtable on Innovation and Excellence in K-12 Education the panellists Mr. Vijay Thadani, Chair, CII National Committee on School Education & CEO, NIIT Ltd; Ms. Eve Psalti, Director, Partners in Learning Microsoft USA; Dr. Vijayan K, Assistant Professor, ESD, NCERT; Prof .Steve Molyneux, Professor, Global Education Center for Doctoral Studies; Faculty, Lamar University, Texas, USA, Chief Executive Leadership, Tablet Academy, UK; Mr. Amit Kaushik, Practice Head, Education & Skills Development IPE Global Private Limited; Mr. Ajith Basu, Chief Program Executive Agastya International Foundation talked about the need of empowering teachers with better tools and technologies to enhance teaching.

Ms. Leocadia Zak, Director, U.S. Trade and Development Agency and Mr. Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President, Export-Import Bank of the Unit discussed in detail about the two projects i.e. Aviation Corporate Program and Energy Corporate Program in which India and USA are collaboratively working.

During the Special Session on “Class Room of the Future- Flipped Learning” the panellists Ms. Mansi Kirloskar, Educate India; Prof. Steve Molyneux, Professor, Global Education Center for Doctoral Studies; Faculty, Lamar University, Texas, USA, Chief Executive Leadership, Tab talked about the emerging trends in education like Student Access to platforms, Tech Savy Users, Innovation Adoption, Classroom in the cloud, Generation Z.Further, three transformation strategies SAMR, TPACK and TIM were also discussed.

During different sessions on “Technology, Excellence & Innovation in Education”, “Technology-Enabled Innovations in Teaching and Learning”, “Making Vocational Education Relevant” the distinguished panellists Dr. Naushad Forbes, Chairman, CII National Committee on Higher Education & Director, Forbes Marshall; Dr. Robin Angotti, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Washington; Dr. R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India; Mr. Pratik Mehta, Director Education, Microsoft India; Ms. Amita Sharma, Advisor, Ministry of Human Resource Development; Dr. Jonathan Cohen, Assistant Professor, Learning Technologies Division, Georgia State University’s College of Education; Dr. Avinash Pant, Vice-Chairman, AICTE; Prof. Prem Kumar Kalra, Director, Dayal Bagh Educational Institute; Dr. Shubnum Singh, Dean, Max Institute of Health Education and Research; Dr. Leon Richards, Chancellor, University of Hawaii- Kapi'olani Community College provided valuable inputs on various concepts related to pedagogy, technology, creativity and innovation which can contribute in the development of various domains of the Indo-US partnership.

At the end, there was an exhibition also. There was a wide variety of equipment with latest technology for display ranging from industry to University Projects.