IMT Ghaziabad Organises Conference on Smart Knowledge Habitats, Endeavours to Address the Challenges of Inclusive Growth

 
Ghaziabad: IMT Ghaziabad (IMTG), India’s premier management school with a distinct focus on grooming Leadership through Innovation, Execution and Social Responsibility, organised a Conference on Smart Knowledge Habitats on September 21 & 22, 2017 at New Delhi. Deliberating on the issues of adopting technology to design living places offer a better, environmentally sustainable quality of life, and avenues for economic value generation, the Conference also discussed the development of smart knowledge habitats as a means to address the challenges of inclusive growth.
The inaugural session of the Conference was unveiled with the traditional way of the lighting of the lamp, followed by the Director, IMTG, Dr Atish Chattopadhyay setting the tone of the conference. Dr Chattopadhyay, in his inaugural address, said, “ At the outset, the Conference is a testimony to the interdisciplinary nature of research being conducted by IMTG. We take pride in being known as a research-driven institution which institutionalises research as important deliverables, in addition to developing excellence in new pedagogies. In addition, IMTG also emphasises sustainability and social responsibility as key pillars of its vision and mission. The Conference through its scope of study incorporates sustainability as an important dimension of knowledge-based development”.
Dr Surinder Batra, Professor, IMT Ghaziabad, and convenor of the Conference, in his address, emphasised that true development is one that encourages inclusive growth. He said, “the term “Smart Knowledge Habitats”, coined by IMT Ghaziabad, recognises the complementary nature of knowledge and smartness (achieved through technology) in making cities even better places to live. At the same time, it also makes a point that while urbanisation is an inevitable fast-paced phenomenon, large segments of the population, especially in the developing countries, will continue to live in the rural areas for a long time. The smart knowledge habitat encompasses both the urban and the rural segments of the population as targets of smart knowledge-based development”.
Head ICT and e-Government, World Bank, Dr Shashank Ojha, in his address talked about how to move from Smart Cities to Smart Green Cities. He elaborated on the various initiatives taken by the World Bank to support this pursuit through E-Government projects, Green City Strategy and Citizen Engagement. The Founder, Kalam Centre, Mr Srijan Pal Singh, addressed on making Smart Habitations, people and happiness centric than technology and productivity centric. He said that the goal of any habitation should be sustainable human happiness and smart cities must facilitate families where parents can converse with their children and understand their issues. He further added that smart city is incomplete without smart villages. Mr Singh also stressed in integrating economic planning with housing.
A Research Monograph on “Frameworks for Knowledge-Based Development” and publication on “Smart Knowledge Habitats: Emerging Perspectives”, was released in the inaugural session of the Conference.
The first day of the conference was devoted to panel discussions on diverse themes, namely, designing, developing and implementing smart knowledge habitats, environment sustainability and livability challenges, people dimension of smart cities and knowledge-based development of smart knowledge habitats. Panelists on day 1 included MD, GCS Consulting, Wing Cdr Pradeep Valsangkar; Vice President, AP Urban Asset Management Corporation, Mr Nilesh Purey; Head, IOT/M2M vertical, Radius Synergies International, Dr Bharat Bhushan; IA&AS (Retired), Mr Dhirendra Krishna; Manchester Knowledge Capital, Dr Cathy Garner, Former Chief Executive;COO, Bharti Foundation Ms Mamta Saikia; Founder, Sankalp Taru Foundation, Mr Apurva Bhandari; Director (POM), Rail Tel Corporation of India Ltd.,Mr Ashutosh Vasant; Brillio Technologies, Mr Abhishek Ranjan; Co-founder, “The New Club of Paris”, Germany, Dr Guenter Koch; Founder & CEO, Knowledge Management Austria, Mr Andreas Brandner; and, President World Capital Institute, Mexico, Dr F J Carrillo.
The second day of the Conference, had paper presentations on emerging perspectives of smart knowledge habitats by senior professors and faculty members, from IMT and other business schools.