The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the immensely successful Business Analytics Innovation Summit @ Bengal on 10th December 2014 at Taj Bengal, Kolkata.
This Summit was not only a signature programme of the Chamber but it was also a landmark event of the city. The Inaugural Session was graced by Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Minister-in-Charge, Finance and Excise, Commerce and Industries, Information Technology and Electronics and Industrial Reconstruction, Government of West Bengal. The Valedictory Session had the august presence of Janab Firhad Hakim, Hon’ble Minister-in-Charge, Municipal Affairs, Urban Development and Town and Country Planning, Government of West Bengal. Shri Debashis Sen, IAS, Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Town and Country Planning, Government of West Bengal & Chairman, WBHIDCO Ltd was also present with Janab Hakim.
The Summit brought together the Thought Leaders in IT and Analytics. Mr. Chandrashekar Kakal,Chief Operating Officer and Member of Board, L&T Infotech; Mr. Sudipta K. Sen, Regional Director-South East Asia, Vice Chairman & Board Member – India, SAS Institute (India) Pvt. Ltd and Mr. Aparup Sengupta, Executive Chairman and Board Member, The Minacs Group graced the Inaugural Session and delivered Leadership Addresses.
The idea germinated during the last Business IT Conclave that the Chamber had held in July this year. The Chamber envisioned positioning Kolkata as a “niche city” specializing in IT applications rather than only a traditional IT hub. A niche city would mean promoting a select skill-set, just as Silicon Valley in the USA is known to be the home of technology companies and start-ups. West Bengal may take advantage of the most happening of businesses all around the globe – Analytics. Kolkata can ideally leverage its advantage of being home to intellectual manpower which is its unique attribute backed by premier higher education institutions like IIT, ISI, IIEST, JU, IIM and others.
It was a first-of-its-kind concept in this part of the world. The concept Knowledge City – Ideopolis was launched at the Conclave. The Chamber is aiming to build this city, which is planned to be located in Kalyani, as an Analytics Hub. The City has been conceptualized by Mr. Dulal Mukherjee, renowned Architect and Managing Committee Member of the Chamber. The torch bearers in Analytics who were present in the Summit applauded the Chamber for this initiative.
Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, President Designate, The Bengal Chamber and Partner and Head Management Consulting and Eastern Regional Leader, KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. who masterminded the programme delivered the Theme Address. The programme included Discussion Forums – “India Unfolding: Analytics in Demographics and Interests”; “The Opportunities and Innovations in Analytics” and “Role of Institutions – The Key Partners”.
The first Discussion Forum was addressed by Dr. Chandan Chowdhury, Managing Director, Dassault Systemes and Prof. Pulak Ghosh, Quantitative Methods, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) & Advisor on high level Big Data Analytics, United Nations Secretary General, UN Global Pulse. Mr. Rajarshi Sengupta, Senior Director, Deloitte & Touche Consulting India Pvt. Ltd shared his perspectives and moderated the Forum.
The second Forum featured Mr. Anil Modi, Co-Founder, Ananto; Mr. Malay Baral, Global MDM Lead & Business Information Lead for Kolkata, Capgemini; Mr. Kaushik Dey, General Manager-CSI Global Services-/Analytics, Big Data and BI Practice Leader/BUGS GSI BSS Competence Mgmt, Ericsson; Mr. Souvik Das, Associate Partner - Strategy & Analytics Centre of Competency, IBM India; Mr. C N Raghupathi, Vice President & Head – India Business, Infosys; Mr. Amit Khanna, Partner, KPMG and Mr. Arnab Basu, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. Dr. Prithwis Mukerjee, Professor, Praxis Business School moderated the Forum.
The third Forum was joined by Dr. A. S. Ramasastri, Director, IDRBT and Prof. Pulak Ghosh, Quantitative Methods, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) & Advisor on high level Big Data Analytics, United Nations Secretary General, UN Global Pulse along with Dr. Prithwis Mukerjee who shared his perspective as well moderated the Forum.
Ms. Kasturi Bhattacharjee, Director-Industry and Society Head, Ericsson India Global Services Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. B P Mukherjee, CEO - APAC Operations, Edgesoft Inc. made presentations on Smart City, the topics being “Smart Cities Fuelling Analytics” and “Enabling the Foundation for Data – Smart City” respectively. Mr. Debdas Sen, CEO of the technology ventures, The Chatterjee Group addressed a special Session sharing his perspective on “Kolkata as Analytics Destination”.