Gates inaugurates IIT's golden jubilee celebrations

Bill Gates,  inaugurated the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at the Flint Center in Cupertino,
CA. The Golden Jubilee celebrations recognize the accomplishments of IIT
and its alumni. Alumni, Vinod Khosla and Avi Nash also announced
significant donations to their respective alma maters. 

Over 2,300 IIT alumni from all over the US, Europe and from India came to
the Flint Center and heard Gates speak about "The next wave and
opportunities for IITs." Amongst the many high profile alumni in
attendance were Rajat Gupta (Managing Director, McKinsey & Company),
Victor Menezes (Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup), Arun Sarin (CEO-
designate of Vodafone), and Narayana Murthy (Founder and Chairman of
Infosys).

"The IIT alumni community has come together in an unprecedented
manner to establish a strong and cohesive force to help their alma mater
and their fellow alumni," said Monishi Sanyal, Chairman of the IIT50
Organizing Committee. "Having exploded out of the starting block, we
are confident that

we can build a powerful and sustainable IIT alumni organization, building
upon the success of this event," he added.

 Vinod Khosla,
General Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and co-founder of
Sun Microsystems announced a $ 5 million donation to his alma mater,
IIT Delhi.

The gift is the largest by a single individual in the history of IIT
Delhi, and would help maintain and enhance the excellence of the school.
Avi Nash, Advisory Director, Goldman Sachs, announced a $ 1 million
donation to the Chemical Engineering Department at IIT Mumbai for research
laboratories, endowments for Chair Professorships and awards for faculty
and student excellence.  

Over the past few years, several IIT alumni have been active in
"giving back" to their alma mater, and have helped fund new
schools and infrastructure projects to maintain the excellence of the
system.

The schedule for the two-day event included several keynote speeches and
panel discussions on "Business Innovation: Building on stellar
analytical skills," "Leadership: Turning Ideas into
Results" and "Strengthening Communities through Value
Creation." Besides Gates, the keynote speakers
included John Hennessy, President, Stanford University; and Robert
Blackwill, United States Ambassador to India.