CII organises conference on sustainability in a knowledge economy

said Dr Devinder Kumar Banwet, Professor & Group Chair Operations, Project & Supply Chain Management, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi at the Conference on International Science Technology and Management (CISTM) held at IIT Delhi on July 31, 2008. The Conference is jointly organized by Confederation of Indian Industry, Information Technology Leadership Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University and IIT, New Delhi focusing on a theme of Transitioning to a Knowledge Economy. CISTM 2008 is the sixth in the series of conferences with previous events organized in Cape Town, South Africa; Alexandria, Egypt; New Delhi; Chandigarh and Hyderabad, India.

While deliberating on the theme, Mr S K Bijlani, Past Chairman, CII Northern Region mentioned that Information Technology (IT) has emerged as the most powerful tool of all round development in the world today and has been recognised as the driving force for the next century. The field of Information Communication is rapidly evolving through the innovative research and development and upgrading of current technology, creating new industries and services that are rapidly changing our socio economic activities.

During his address, Mr P R Sinha, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, 9.9 Media, said that the role of technology is very crucial in the present scenario and are interpreted in 3 ways, viz., impact of technology on relationships, role of IT into better management of assets and better usage of information.

Mr Sinha further mentioned that, Suppliers, vendors and customers have become the part of the innovation supply chain and are the key players in transferring the technology. He also quoted several examples on the usage of technology and knowledge playing a vital role in our day today lives.

Focusing on the theme General Chair of the conference, Dr Gurpreet Dhillon, Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA, suggested that proper capability needs to be built in order to harness the opportunities in the knowledge economy. Dr Sanjay Goel, Professor, SUNY Albany, USA and Dr Rahul Singh, Professor, University of North Carolina Greensboro, USAstressed on the need for the collaborative approach of Academia and industry to disseminate and manage knowledge. They also shared the overview of the 3 day Conference during the Inaugural Session.

The 3 day Conference would focus on the challenges faced in the present scenario for the searching, storing and the securing the information and the ways or solutions to manage it in an focused and appropriate way.
The first day of the Conference was well attended over 100 participants comprising of high-level International Researchers, Practitioners, Senior Industry representatives and Students from all across the globe.