| In 2003, the PAN IIT Alumni movement (http://www.paniitalumni.org) was created and registered as a non-profit organization in India, the United Kingdom and the United States. Today, PAN IIT represents over 80,000 Alumni of the Seven IITs. In its Executive Council, it has two representatives from each of the IIT which provides a strong link to the IIT Administration. PanIIT has two key objectives:
• It is forging a strong link with the Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India and is playing a vital role in formulations of Technical, Vocational and Research related policies. • It has a systematic approach towards fulfilling its Nation Building objectives and is presently pursuing several projects to this end. The PAN IIT 2008 event is scheduled to be held at IIT-Madras, Chennai during 19 – 21 December (http://www.paniit2008.org), and 3000+ IIT Alumni comprising Policy Makers, leading Academicians, Industry Captains and Researchers from across the globe are expected to participate. The PanIIT-2008 Global Conference has chosen the Theme: ‘Inspire, Innovate and Transform’ with the objective to generate Ideas and concrete action plans through six thematic tracks constructed around Nation Building, Education, Research & Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Infrastructure, and Rural Transformation. Each track will have three sessions spread over the first two days, followed by a knowledge-capture plenary session on Day 3. A galaxy of plenary speakers has been assembled: P Chidambaram, LN Mittal, Bob McDonald, Amartya Sen, Stephen Cohen, Jean-Lou Chameau, CK Prahlad, Raghuram Rajan, and many more. Every track-session has its own collection of “stars”— for example, R Chidambaram in “Research”, Kris Gopalakrishnan in “Entrepreneurship”, Bombay Jeyashree and TM Krishna in “Innovation”, MS Swaminathan in “Rural Transformation”, Nandan Nilekani in “Infrastructure”, Krishna Vedula in “Education”—as well as a group of knowledgeable panelists. High-voltage entertainment will be offered on three evenings, supplemented by ongoing cultural events during the day. Networking opportunities will abound. An Exhibit Hall will display the achievements of IITs and IITians. There will be on-campus and off-campus programs for spouses and children. There will be many associated events—a PanIIT Research Symposium, an “IIT Leadership in Research” competition, Business Plan & Design competitions, a Golf Tournament, a VC workshop, an IIT Idol event, a Soap-box forum, etc. The IIT Madras campus will come alive during PanIIT 2008. |