InDialogues: innovators panel discussion during the world economic forum

image © INDIA future of change

InDialogues luncheon panel session: design and innovation enablers of india’s urban future thursday, january 26th, 2012 kirchner museum, davos switzerland

INDIA future of change hosted the second installation of InDialogues on january 26th, 2012. in this segment, a luncheon panel discussion was conducted by a collection of world leaders from various fields during the world economic forum at the kirchner museum in davos, switzerland. INDIA future of change’s five-year initiative aspires to emphasize the nation’s role as a catalyst for global change and is sponsored by the government of india’s public diplomacy division ministry of external affairs. the organization hopes to harness the intellectual power of india and combine their creative thinking with world-wide collaborative efforts in order to engage the nation with the task of bettering of the world’s future.

‘the importance of creative thinking [will] soon overpower raw economic might. money without ideas is just a stale proposition. as countries from across the world integrate financially and culturally, as ‘needs’ from one corner of the globe seek to be addressed by the another, it is of utmost importance for places and nations to brand themselves as creative problem solvers to attract more resources and retain talent. in this game, the change masters, who identify and grab this opportunity early on stand to gain immense headway over the way farers who are to follow. india is not just a country of a billion needs and problems, but also a country with a billion dreams and solutions. as the world looks forward to new ideas to drive the globalized economy, india seems to be an inspiring story. this initiative would be a platform for all public and private partners and stakeholders of brand india to unite and build bridges with the rest of the world.’ -INDIA future of change

contributors to the luncheon dialogue regarding design and innovation for india’s urban future included alex ‘sandy’ pentland, asha jaeda, chris luebkeman, john kao, soumitra dutta, and tim brown.

industrial designer by education, tim brown is the CEO & president of IDEO, and is known for his appreciation of design thinking and innovation for business leaders and designers on a global scale.

the toshiba professor and director of media arts and sciences and media lab entrepreneurship program and media lab participant at MIT, sandy pentland, spoke to his research in mobile information systems which would help india to better manage the flow of information within the nation.

soumitra dutta is the roland berger chaired professor in business and technology at INSEAD, founding director of INSEAD eLab and dean of cornell university samuel curtis johnson graduate school. his research in technology strategy and innovation have been employed in both governmental and business organizations.

director of global foresight, innovation and incubation, chris luebkeman, draws from his background in structural engineering, architecture and geology to speak to the forward-oriented perspective of indian urban development.

john kao, named ‘mr. creativity’ by the economist, is the founder and chairman of the institute for large scale innovation based in san francisco, USA. kao joins the panel as a specialist in large scale innovation found in governmental policy generation.

asha jaeda is the founder of dot edu ventures and a great investor in emerging technology. her experience in civil engineering in combination with her business and financial endeavors make her an outstanding edition to the panel discussion.

as a media partner to INDIA future of change, designboom will be reporting on the events of the five-year initiative. in november of 2011, we revealed the winners of the ‘INDIA future of change’s ‘compete/collaborate/co-create the future‘ competition, a design contest at the ‘InDialogues 2011’ conference, held from the 19th –  20th of the month.