Over 2000 IITians to unleash skilled India through PanIIT

More than 2000 IITians are expected to attend the largest entrepreneurship conference of PanIIT, to be held in Chicago from October 9 to October 11, 2009. PanIIT aims to be a platform to provide networking opportunities for IITians, contribute proactively to nation building and enhance the IIT brand.

The importance of PAN IIT, which represents alumni from all IIT campuses, in the U.S. can be seen as around 60 percent of Silicon Valley startups have at least one IIT graduate in the founder's rank. "In 2007, CBS 60 minutes brought the IIT brand front and center, and in 2005, the U.S. Congress had honoured the alumni for their contributions to the U.S. economy," says Piyush Agrawal, Spokesperson, PanIIT.

The worthy names of the industry will gather at this conference to discuss the different issues, the world is facing today. To add value to the conference and reflecting IIT's status across the world, former U.S. President Bill Clinton will join the IITians to share his views. The former president will address the gathering about challenges and opportunities in today's key global issues such as public health, education, and climate change with a focus on transforming ideas into action.

This seventh Global Alumni conference of PanIIT, will acknowledge the importance of 'Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Global Economy'. The event will see business leaders from leading corporations delivering their experiences in the line of entrepreneurship. The Indian origin, U.S. Federal Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Aneesh Chopra, will deliver the keynote address at the conference which will be opened by India's Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal. The other keynote speakers will include Nathan Myhrvold, CEO, Intellectual Ventures and Founder of Microsoft Research, Carl Schramm, President and CEO, Kauffman Foundation, Jim Owens, Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar and Jim Rogers, Chairman and CEO, Duke Energy.

The winners of 2009 PanIIT award have been selected from over 200 nominees by a panel of luminary judges. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to Dr. (Late) Rajeev Motwani, who was an advisor to Google founders Sergery Brin, Larry Page and many more. The Academic Excellence Award will be given to Dr. Pradeep Khosla, Dean, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, the Corporate Excellence Award to Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco. Dr. Suhas Patil, Chairman, Emeritus Cirrus Logicand Chairman, Digite and Cradle Technologies will be awarded the Entrepreneurial Achievement Award and the Technology Leadership Award will be given to Dr. Ravi Sethi, President, Avaya Labs. "These individuals have helped to make the IITs in India one of the most elite educational institutions in the world today," said Umang Gupta, Co-Chairman, Board of Directors, PanIIT and CEO, Keynote Systems.