IoT India Congress 2017 wraps up with a promising 10-15 million job openings

BENGALURU: The IoT India Congress 2017 concluded its two-day session with a series of panel discussions, key note addresses, Healthcare Live exhibition along with the addition of a specially designed session, Argonaut.

Deva P Seetharam, Founder, DataGlen, Mrinmoy Purkayastha, VP & Head, Alten Calsoft Labs and Bahubali Shete, Founder & CEO, IOT Pot India Private Limited were recognized for their excellence and leadership in IoT space.

The start-ups Flutura Business Solutions, Swajal Water, TrakItNow Technologies were awarded for their work in the IoT domain.

As part of this year’s initiative, the IoT India Congress introduced the Argonaut session that provided a platform for startups to interface with angel investors.

Twelve of India’s leading angel investors including Ajeet Khurana & VC Karthic committed Rs. 14.4 million of investment to Intelitaap and Swajal.

The two-day conference was inaugurated by Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, and had keynote sessions by N Sivasailam, Additonal Secretary, Department of Telecommunication, Government of India among others. It witnessed engaging participation from over 320 delegates, IoT enthusiast and thought leaders across industries.

As part of her keynote address, Aruna highlighted the work done by the government to incentivize new investment in related sectors, which will be unveiled in the New Telecom Policy in 2018. She spoke about IoT generating 10-15 million jobs in India through adoption of IoT in the next few years and expressed government’s activeness on the issue of 5G.

N Sivasailam talked about the opportunities for gram panchayat outreach and pressed on the need to increase the number of Indian satellites to satisfy increasing demands. He said, India will cover 100,000 gram panchayats with broadband by later this year.

Elated about the session, Apurva Damani, Director, Artha India Ventures said, “The platform was very useful for the young and blooming entrepreneurs who are in need of grooming, mentoring and validation of their ideas. It is heartening for me to see the B2B space taking off”.

The Congress hosted multiple tracks on impact of IoT in Healthcare, Telecommunication, Standards, Digital Payments, Ganga Rejuvenation, Manufacturing, Smart Living and Emerging Technologies with participation from industry leaders like TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum, Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, CTO, TATA Group, Srinivas Prasad, CEO, Phillips Innovation Campus, Juergen Hase, CEO, Unlimit powered by Reliance to name a few.

The Congress witnessed launch of three whitepapers during the course of two days around adoption and growth of IoT in various sectors.

Speaking on the side lines of the Congress, Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, Chairman of the IET India IoT Panel said, “The environment this year was brimming with excitement and the 2nd edition of the IoT India Congress was a great success witnessing more participation as compared to last year. With the palpable drive of the thought leaders and the insight in the innovative business models of the start-ups, it is evident that India is in the right path.  We are happy that the IoT India Congress is working to influence the future of IoT and is a platform to create future engagement and progress in an IoT enabled India.”

“The internet of things is going to change the way we interact and do business.  It is great to see the progress in the IoT space and we believe that such efforts, initiatives and talent is being acknowledged and encouraged. With more start-ups foraying into the IoT space, it is an opportunity to identify young companies and thought leaders with breakthrough innovation in IoT that are progressing the IoT movement in India,” said Shekhar Sanyal, Director and Country Head of the IET.