PanIIT 2008 global meet in December

CHENNAI, INDIA: PanIIT, a not-for-profit global association formed by IIT alumni in 2002, announced that the annual IIT global conference - PanIIT 2008 will be held between December 19 and 21 at IIT Madras campus, Chennai.

This global conference will bring together IIT alumni comprising policy makers, leading academicians, thought leaders, industry captains and more from across the world to discuss and debate ideas, issues and find solutions to create a better India for tomorrow.

Last year’s conference held in the US was addressed by renowned figures like Senator Hilary Clinton, Jeff Immelt (CEO, GE) and Arun Sarin (CEO, Vodafone).

Ashank Desai, (Founder, Mastek Ltd), chairman, PanIIT India said: "PanIIT was formed to showcase the impact of the IITs and its alumni in driving innovation, creating new enterprise and enabling social transformation in both India and around the world. Some of the finest brains in the world will be getting together to look hard at the future, explore the frontiers of new thought and technology, and identify the next big forces and trends that will sweep across the world."

B Santhanam, (Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Glass India), chairperson, PanIIT 2008 said: "We have defined six thematic tracks: research & technology, entrepreneurship, rural transformation, infrastructure, innovation and education. The interactions, ideas and concrete action will revolve around these thematic tracks."

PanIIT said in a release that it believes in repaying the society which has helped them reach great heights.

Five nation-building projects are now being pursuid such as IITians for ITI, which provides technical/ vocational education by creating institutions; Indo-US collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE), which seeks to create an engineering faculty institute for fostering curriculum collaboration; Parikrma, which aims to transform lives of under-served children; Reach 4 India, which helps rural people to gain employment; and SEED (Stimulating Education & Enhancing Development), which provides e-learning to stimulate economic development.