Our events and conferences bring together some of the brightest minds from the world of entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, business, art and culture. Our gatherings have inspired new ideas and have helped showcase extraordinary talent across generations and disciplines.
Ajith Mohan Karimpana is the Founder and CEO of Furlenco, India’s fastest growing furniture and home living Subscription Company. He is a versatile entrepreneur with a great knack for spotting transformational business opportunities, a trait that also led him to establish Furlenco. Ajith’s vision for Furlenco was based on two key 21st-century trends: rising disposable incomes; and a preference for experiential lifestyle among millennials. He decided to cater to this dynamic market using his core competencies and technology with Furlenco. Ajith has focused on creating award-winning designs that give Furlenco’s customers the best of aesthetics and utility. Under his leadership, Furlenco has grown at a CAGR of 130% year-on-year. Ajith is a BTech graduate in Industrial Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar. He has an MS in Computer and Information Science from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Apart from being a successful and inspirational business leader, Ajith is a voracious reader and has a penchant for languages. He also loves watching Bollywood movies.
Albert Yu-Min Lin is an award winning scientist, technologist, explorer and adventurer with a knack for storytelling both on stage and on the big screen. From his award winning effort to search for the tomb of Genghis Khan in Mongolia to his recent efforts redefining human bionic capabilities with float tanks and plant medicines, Dr. Lin has made headlines around the world. His innovations and passion for science have led to requested briefings from the Pentagon, multiple tech startups, an invitation to serve as an advisor to the Harvard Business School, and requests by both the National Geographic and the US Department of State to represent science and innovation to foreign nations through global speaking tours. His on-screen presence is diverse, with an Emmy award winning promotional campaign (National Geographic’s Next Generation Explorer), numerous digital spotlights, and explorer/host/narrative roles in major documentary films with National Geographic and the BBC. As an avid outdoorsman, he scaled “The Nose” on Yosemite’s El Cap, backpacked across the globe and surfs wherever there are waves. With a middle name that literally translates to ‘Citizen of the Universe,’ Lin is at home anywhere
Alexander Bard is a Swedish cyber-philosopher, music producer, television star, and sought- after international speaker. He has given lectures on the philosophical, sociological, and economic implications of the digital revolution since the late 1990s, and been a fundamental force in creating the Swedish music export sensation. As a social entrepreneur, Bard is deeply involved in a series a highly successful technology companies as well as spiritual and political projects. Bard studied Economic Geography at The Stockholm School of Economics in the 1980s while building a highly successful international career as a songwriter and record producer. In 1992 he co-founded Stockholm Records, which quickly achieved global success – with bands like The Cardigans, A-Teens, and Bard’s own Army of Lovers – and in 1998 was sold to and integrated with Universal Music. Even as he was occupied with cyber-philosophy and political activism to find the time for any more song-writing, Bard hit No. 1 on records in Europe, Asia, and North America as recently as 2013. He is, perhaps unsurprisingly, also a television celebrity in Scandinavia, as the tough judge on the talent shows Swedish Idol and Sweden’s Got Talent. Bard has written five books together with media theorist Jan Söderqvist. The first three titles – The Netocrats, The Global Empire and The Body Machines – have been released together as The Futurica Trilogy and translated into over 20 languages. A fourth book, Syntheism – Creating God in The Internet Age, released in 2014 and a fifth title, Digital Libido – Sex, Power and Violence in The Network Society, released in 2018. In all the books, Bard & Söderqvist construct a brand new metaphysical system for the digital age, covering everything from the inner existential truths of the new physics to the radical utopian potential of participatory culture.
Alok Medikepura Anil is Founder & Director of Next Big Innovation Labs (NBIL) and Member of World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and Global Shapers Community. Alok is passionate about using 4TH Industrial Revolution technologies such as 3D Printing, to create large scale societal impact. Team NBIL have been successful in their mission to bring Made-In-India bioprinting technology to the labs of large global conglomerates such as the Merck Group in Germany. NBIL is working towards its vision of developing novel 3D Bioprinted solutions to revolutionise the fields of personalised testing and precision medicine. NBIL through its patented technology and proprietary 3D Bioprinting platform, has already developed products such as InnoSkin (3D Bioprinted Skin), to be used across industries developing skin products and applications, as an alternative to animal testing.
Anand is a filmmaker, playwright and artist, deeply interested in philosophy, evolutionary psychology and sci-fi. His first feature film, Ship of Theseus, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was touted as the ‘hidden gem of the year’. It has since gone on to win accolades worldwide – the only contemporary Indian film to be short-listed by the Critic’s Circle (UK) as one of 15 life-changing films of all time. Besides making films, Anand illustrates, writes songs, plays chess and dabbles in magic.
Anurag is a Delhi based musician and social worker singing verses of Kabir and Gandhi in folk fusion form for last 10 years. Anurag is one of the co-founders of a Delhi based choir band and non-profit Manzil Mystics. Manzil Mystics as a band write and compose songs based ideas of Kabir poetry and as a non-profit they setup music classrooms in government and low-income schools to create demand of music in education setting. Manzil Mystics believes that music creates a happy and safe space for everyone specially children in learning setting. Music is not just a piece of entertainment.
Anusha Ravi is the CEO of Park Group of Institutions, Coimbatore and Chennai. Prior to this she worked with Onair communications (an Airbus subsidiary), and Annheuser Busch, USA. Anusha is an active Rotarian, and is also the president elect for 2010-11 for the all-women Rotary Club AAKRUTHI of Coimbatore. She is the trustee of ‘Aravanaippu’ which helps motherless or fatherless children with school and college fees. Till date 1000 children have benefited. The goal is to have 25,000 children benefit over next five to 10 years. She is also a member of the TED community, actively spreading new ideas to the world. She is also an organizing committee member of ASTIA.org which is a US-based organization entering India for facilitating venture capitalists for women entrepreneurs.
Atul Jalan is the founder-CEO of Manthan and permanently, an entrepreneur. Manthan, his fourth successful technology venture, creates pioneering AI solutions for the world’s leading retailers and consumer connect businesses. Atul is a sought-after voice to understand how technology is transforming man and the institutions he has created, changing how we do things and reshaping us as humans. And this is the perspective on technology that he usually speaks and writes about – not as an application of science but as a way of life. As an entrepreneur, as a futurist and as a thought leader, Atul is always on the lookout for the story that will develop next. His latest book, Where Will Man Take Us? is a bestseller on Amazon and on the shelves and deals with the intersections of biology and technology and the probable outcomes. He is an incurable traveler and persistent amateur poet and can always be counted on to recite a few verses when camaraderie sets in.
As Chief of Commercial Officer at EOS Energy Storage Balki Iyer puts his passion for renewable energy into action, affecting millions of LIVES every day.
He is a leading advocate of renewable energy and has run several organizations and promoted the use of wind and solar panels in India which has resulted in the lighting up of millions of homes across the length and breadth of India.
Deepthi Sasidharan is an art historian, curator and founder Director at Eka Archiving, a cultural advisory and works on heritage and museum projects across India with the government, private and corporate clients. Deepthi has led Eka projects have been path-breaking in India, including setting up museums, seminal exhibitions and the creation of archives like those for Kalakshetra at Chennai, City Palace at Udaipur, Mumbai Police and Tata Trusts, Mumbai.
Originally from a small farming village outside of Detroit, Michigan, Sarah now calls Chennai home. Her professional career includes extensive experience as a teacher and administrator in various international settings – most notably as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia, travelling school teacher/administrator with Ringling Bros. Circus, director of an English school in Vietnam, primary school curriculum reformer in Qatar, and an English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State. Most recently, Sarah was the Director for Professional Learning & Research at TESOL International Association, the premier education association for EAL teachers. She has an MA in ESOL Leadership, as well as a Doctorate in Education Administration and Policy. Her research interests include online communities of practice/professional learning networks, teacher self-efficacy, and combating teacher isolation. She is a certified ashtanga yoga instructor, an avid reader, and a novice runner. Sarah has an amazing husband and dutiful cat who, thankfully, follow her around the world.
