Former Indian President and Afghanistan President as Keynote Speakers at Techfest, IIT Bombay

Mumbai: Techfest of IIT Bombay is well-established today as Asia’s largest annual science and technology festival. It receives patronage from Make In India, UNESCO, SAYEN, Digital India and CEE with a footfall of more than 1,60,000 people comprising mainly of youth from across the nation. It has an outreach of over 2,500 colleges across India and over 500 overseas. This year, the 21st edition of the festival will be held from December 29 to 31, 2017. The themes of the festival are digitalization, sustainability and biotechnology.

With great pride, Techfest of IIT Bombay launches the Leadership Summit with the keynote address by the 13th President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee and former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai. Other speakers of the Summit include Manohar Parrikar, former Defense Minister and current Chief Minister of Goa along with Jayant Sinha, current Minister of State for Civil Aviation. The Summit is being aided by the #AskTheLeader Campaign that will allow the youth to interact with these leaders.

 Shri Pranab Mukherjee: The former President of India, who has also held the Finance, Defense and External Affairs ministry before, will deliver his address and interact with the youth of the nation at 2 pm on December 29, 2017. He will discuss Digital India and the role of engineers in bringing India to the forefront of the race to become a digital economy.
Venue: Convocation Hall, IIT Bombay

 Hamid Karzai: The former President of Afghanistan, a true reformer and an eloquent speaker will deliver the keynote on the lines of Sustainable Development: Harnessing natural resources at optimum level by conserving them and the future of earth by 2022 at 2 pm on December 31, 2017. He will express his views on various sustainable development policies that have been adopted in Afghanistan and his idea of the same for India and the rest of the world.
Venue: Convocation Hall, IIT Bombay
 Shri Manohar Parrikar: The former Defense Minister of India and the current chief minister of Goa, an IIT Bombay alumni will inaugurate the DRDO exhibitions and the International exhibitions. He will speak about “Make in India in Defense sector”. India is amongst the largest importers of defense equipment in the world. He will also discuss establishment of ‘Smart Cities and the role of engineers in it’ at 11 am on December 29, 2017.
Venue: Convocation Hall, IIT Bombay

 Shri Jayant Sinha: The Minister of State for Civil Aviation will be a part of the summit to discuss “Opportunities and challenges for youth in the Indian Economy”. He will speak on importance of Sustainable Development at 4 pm on December 29, 2017.
Venue: Convocation Hall, IIT Bombay