IIT alumni conclave as part of Vibrant Gujarat summit

Ahmedabad, Jan 9 (IANS) To give a thrust to the technological development of Gujarat, the state government, along with the 500-strong Pan-IIT Gujarat Alumni Association will be organising a conclave on technology and development here Monday.

'The IIT Conclave: Technology and Development in Gujarat' will present and discuss various issues such as addressing educational challenges for innovation and looking at alternate approaches to development in order to secure economic leadership for Gujarat in the 21st century.A few of the initiatives already taken by the alumni association and the state are also slated for discussion and announcement.

Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) will be signed between the Pan-IIT Gujarat Alumni Association and the Gujrat government in various areas including castor production, improving agri productivity using nanotechnology, urban waste management and skills development in the state.

The conclave will also have international participation and is designed to bring together renowned thought leaders and industrialists. Participants include IIT alumni like IIT Kharagpur alumnus Farrokh Mistree, now a professor at the University of Oklahoma, Sammy Haroon, managing director, The RBR Group; and Dr. Rafiq Dossani, executive director, South Asian Institute, Stanford University.

Pan-IIT Gujarat Alumni Association founder chairman Sunil Parekh, an IIT-Delhi alumnus, said that there were over 500 IIT alumni currently working in Gujarat.

These include the directors and heads of major Gujarat based universities and institutions, such as Pradyumna Vyas of the National Institute of Design (NID) and Samir Barua of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, more than 11 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials in the state government besides several who are working and managing special economic zones (SEZs), and public sector undertakings (PSUs).

State Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas is also an IIT Bombay alumnus