The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the 11th edition of Annual Business IT Conclave on 27th November and 4th December 2020. The theme this year was “Technology for Humans”.

The endeavour was to expand our horizons to reach out to experts and leaders globally for understanding the technology landscape worldwide and also to connect with them showcasing the potential of Bengal in emerging technologies with availability of intellectual resources and promising start ups. 

Professors, technocrats, business leaders, startups, investors joined from six countries (Bahrain, France, Israel, Switzerland, UK and USA) besides India. The Chamber is taking an initiative of connecting with some of them to engage more closely.

A start-up from Bengal on Health Tech was promoted. This start-up is also an incubatee at Webel-BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre.

Success story of an Indian start-up in ed-tech was also promoted. The Chamber is exploring to connect them as well with Bengal.

Feedback from a global investor on investment opportunities in Bengal was part of the discourse.

Focus included the significant areas of human needs which may be addressed by technology-food security, education and learning, health, energy besides dynamics of digital economy including security and emerging technologies like block chain. 

Employment opportunities for IT professionals through Karma Bhumi portal developed by Department of Information Technology and Electronics, Government of West Bengal came to light during the Conclave.

Indian American International Chamber of Commerce based out of DC was our Outreach Partner. Their Members participated in the Conclave as audience besides their President and another member joining as Speakers. IAICC, being an MoU Partner of The Bengal Chamber, it was also an initiative to strengthen the connect.

Day 1: 27th November 2020, featured:

• The Opening 
• Business Leaders’ Forum – Tech For Good 
• Insights on Karmo Bhumi- a Government of West Bengal initiative to collaborate between Job Seekers and Employers in IT/ITeS sector 
• Technology in the realm of Food Security 

The Opening Session included formal Welcome Address by Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the agenda was set by Mr. Arnab Basu, Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Managing Partner - East; Technology Consulting Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Sudhir Kothari, Founder and CEO, Director, Embee Software Pvt. Ltd. addressed “Technology for human: Entrepreneur’s Perspectives”. Mr. KV Kumar, President and CEO, Indian American International Chamber of Commerce, Inc and Chairman, KMF Investment Group, LLC. spoke on “Partner’s Speech and Investors’ Perspectives”. Mr. Ravindra Chamaria, Group Chairman, Infinity Infotech Parks Limited shared his insights on “Promoting Start Ups and Accelerators”. 

A presentation on Karmo Bhumi- a Government of West Bengal initiative to collaborate between Job Seekers and Employers in IT/ITeS sector, was made by Mr. Sanjay Das, Joint Secretary, IT&E Department, Government of West Bengal.

The Session - Business Leaders’ Forum – Tech For Good highlighted the perspectives of the leading entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs on Tech For Good. The Session was moderated by Mr. Chiranjib Bhattacharya, Co-Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chief Executive Officer, Wizertech Informatics Pvt. Ltd. The Panelists included: Mr. Kinesh Doshi, Founding CEO, Accion Labs, USA; Mr. Nicolas Quairel, Partner, Head Technology and Digital Solution, Mazars Group, France; Mr. Sudhir Kothari, Founder and CEO, Director, Embee Software Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Sujit Baksi,  Sales and Solutions – Bangalore, NxtGen Infinite Datacentre. 

The Session on Technology in the realm of Food Security was moderated by Mr. Jayanta Chakraborty, Chairperson, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Senior General Manager, Indofil Industries Limited. The Panelists included: Mr. Hemendra Mathur, Venture Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund; Ms. Vedika Kapoor, Head, Government & Industry Affairs- India, Corteva Agriscience; Mr. Subrata Rana, Managing Director and CEO, EcoDev Solutions; Mr. Avner Barazani, Vice President- Business Development & Strategy, Grace Breeding Ltd., and Mr. Amit Avidov, CTO, Head-R&D, Grace Breeding Ltd., Israel 

Day 2: 4th December 2020 featured:

• Technologies for Future Capacity Building 
• Digital Economy and its dynamics  
• Health Tech  
• Technologies for Power to make it more abundant, efficient, and eco-friendly 

The Session - Technologies for Future Capacity Building highlighted emerging technologies in learning including newer opportunities for students in the new age by Mr. Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder & CEO, Leverage Edu; How technology has transformed research by Dr. Emmanuelle Savarit, User Research & Digital, Strategy Director •Analyse-Concept Ltd, UK and ed-tech in future capacity building by Mr. Simarpreet Singh, Co Chairperson , Education Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Director, JIS Group. The Session was moderated by Mr. Sanjoy Sen, Co- Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Senior Vice President, ITC Infotech India Limited.  

The Session on Digital Economy and its dynamics was moderated by Mr. Arnab Basu, Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Managing Partner - East; Technology Consulting Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. It was an International Session including Dr. Anindya Ghose, Heinz Riehl Professor of Business, Professor-Information, Operations and Management Sciences and Professor of Marketing; Academic Director, MS in Business Analytics Programme, Co-Director, MS in Business Analytics Capstone Program, NYU Stern, USA addressing Leveraging Mobile Apps, Wearable Devices, and Digital Technologies for Consumer Health; Security for the Consumers in the age of Data Explosion by Mr. Charly Graf, Managing Partner, Defendeer – Data Centric Security and Mr. Konstantin Stassinakis, Senior Partner, Defendeer – Data Centric Security, Switzerland ; Blockchain in Digital Economy by Mr. Fawaz Shakralla, Head of IT , BIPD and Founder, Btech Blockchain Group, Bahrain. Mr. Sanjay Puri, Chairman and Founder, US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), USA shared his views as investor in digital innovations. 

The Health Tech session was chaired by Dr. Alok Roy, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals. The Session brought in different perspectives on Health Tech. The Speakers included Mr. Mukesh Rathi, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited sharing insights on PharmaTech – Disruptions and Future; Ms. Anita Tripathy, Head of Data Sciences, Safety & Regulatory, Asia, IQVIA addressing Technologies in Clinical Research – Next Opportunities; Dr. Jamie Unwin, Vice President and Head, Global Business Intelligence and Analytics, Biocon Biologics, UK sharing perspectives on Strategies for patient-centric innovation in the biosimilar industry and Mr. Partha Pratim Das Mahapatra, Founder & CEO, EzeRx Health Tech Pvt. Ltd. addressing start-up Story in Non Invasive Diagnosis. 

The concluding session was Technologies for Power to make it more abundant, efficient, and eco-friendly, moderated by Mr. Gautam Ray, Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG; Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee and Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Speakers were: Mr. Robert Baldwin, PwC US Energy, Utilities, and Mining Leader and Mr. Nubeel Ansari, Director and Industry Value Advisor, SAP India Pvt Ltd.