Some 120,000 alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) scattered worldwide, at least a third of whom are in the US and enjoy enormous economic clout, are organising a three-day conference in Washington DC in May.
The theme of their second annual conference will be "Technology without Borders".
Sudhakar Shenoy, an IIT alumnus himself and well-known technology entrepreneur who is going to chair the event, said the conference will aim to consolidate the gains made by IIT graduates worldwide and create a movement to help not just India but other countries as well.
Hiten Ghosh, vice president of Hughes Network Systems and IIT- Kharagpur graduate of the 1958 batch, said there were some 40,000 IIT alumni in the US and at least 160 of them were CEOs of companies. Together they controlled over $30 billion dollars in overall wealth.
During their first annual conference in 2003 in San Jose the alumni had decided to create an international network. As part of that there are already seven chapters in place in the US and five more are coming up in Europe and elsewhere.
This year's conference will feature major names as speakers including Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, Larry Summers, president of Harvard University, C.K. Prahalad, well known management guru and professor at University of Michigan, Ramani Ayer, CEO, the Hartford Financial services Group, Bob brown, provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all seven IIT directors, India's Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh and Kapil Sibal, science and technology minister.
{{/usCountry}}This year's conference will feature major names as speakers including Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, Larry Summers, president of Harvard University, C.K. Prahalad, well known management guru and professor at University of Michigan, Ramani Ayer, CEO, the Hartford Financial services Group, Bob brown, provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all seven IIT directors, India's Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh and Kapil Sibal, science and technology minister.
{{/usCountry}}The tiny US state of Maryland, which is the hub of all major research in the US, is aggressively courting IITians by being the major sponsor of the conference.
Chris Foster, Maryland chief scientist and deputy secretary, who has for the past two years worked closely with the IIT alumni, said the institutes had emerged as a major force worldwide.
In recognition of that the state of Maryland had signed memoranda of understanding for exchange of faculty and students with IITs in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.
Maryland Governor Robert I. Ehrlich has issued a proclamation declaring May, 2005, as "Global IIT-India American Heritage Month" in the state.