The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with National Institute for Smart Government and Centre for Development of Excellence organized the “2nd International Conference on Engineering for Humanity” on August 20 and 21, 2015 at Williamson Magor Hall, The Chamber Premises. The theme of the conference was “Innovation and Technology to Make Our Living Smarter”. The second in series, ICEH-2015 provided a platform to Professionals, Engineers, Doctors, Government Officials, Consultants and Social Workers from various regions to discuss and network with like-minded people from various walks of life. The conference was uniquely crafted for Government Departments and Social Sector Organizations to showcase citizen-centric initiatives and for private companies to present their solutions to achieve a common goal of making our living more comfortable, easy, efficient, or in one word ‘smart’.
Key sessions at this conference were Citizen Centric Health Solution – Need of the Day, Improving Knowledge and Ability of Next Generation, Innovative Use of Technology for Smart City Initiatives, Special Session on Green Supply Chain, Does Smart City Enable Smart Living?, Improvement of Livelihood of Citizens through Technology, Innovation and Technology for Improvement of Healthcare Service Delivery, Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development – A Focused Approach, Use of Technology to make our Planet more Livable, and Development of Skilled Resources through Vocational Courses.
Dr. Alok Roy, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals started the conference with his welcome address.
Speakers at this conference included Shri Bhudeb Chakravarti, Associate Vice President, NISG; Shri Nedyumna Gujarathi, Vice President, Manorama Info Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Kolhapur, Maharashtra; Dr. Manish Mukul Ghosh, Managing Director – MRM Technologies Pvt Ltd & Specialty Medical Group Pvt Ltd.; Shri Ashok Ranjan Thakur, Former Vice Chancellor, Technology University; Shri Lux Rao, CTO, HP India; Shri Raja Guha, Sales Manager for East, Tyco Security Products; Shri Vijay Kumar, Vice President & Head Technology, ESRI India; Prof. Debabrata Ghosh, IIM Kolkata; Shri Upender Jit Singh, Managing Director, Webel, Kolkata; Shri Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO - IIMC Innovation Park on 20th August 2015 and Ms. Neeti Nayak, BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore; Shri Debashis Bose, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal; Ms. Neha Goswami, Program Manager - PMU, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad; Shri T.S.Y. Aravindakshan, National Manager – Healthcare, Microsoft; Shri Arpan Pal, Head Innovation Lab, Tata Consultancy Services; Ms. Nilanjana Chaudhury, CEO, Peers Symantech, Kolkata; Dr. Pradip Kumar Mazumdar, Agricultural Advisor to Chief Minister, Govt. of West Bengal; Dr. Madhumita Mukherjee, Addl. Director - Fisheries & Technical Advisor - Benfish, Government of West Bengal; Shri Ranadeep Das, Ingress, Shri Debashis Sen, IAS, Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Government of West Bengal; Dr. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, Honorary Jt. Treasurer, Centre for Development of Excellence, Hyderabad; Prof. Tarun Kanti Bhattacharyya, E&ECE & ATDC, IIT Kharagpur; Dr Santanu Sen, Principal, Guru Nanak Institute of Technology; Mr. Deepak Bhattacharjee, Past District Governor, District 316C, Lions Clubs International.
A cultural program, Kathak Dance Recital – Panchabhoota (Five Basic Elements of Universe) was also organized on 20th August 2015 at 6.30 pm by Guru Sanjay Kumar Joshi and his team.
All the speakers were of the opinion that technology has become the primary driver of our daily life, which holds tremendous potential for uplifting the quality of our living. But it has also affected our daily life adversely due to increased pollution. It is thus our duty to spread awareness about the humanitarian side of technology and identify various options that can be used to make our living less stressful and safe. With this concept in mind, Centre for Development of Excellence (CDE) had started the International Conference on Engineering for Humanity (ICEH) in 2013, which showcases the humanitarian use of engineering and technology. The primary focus of ICEH is to identify how engineering advances can contribute towards improving the lives of ordinary citizens whether it is in the sphere of healthcare, citizen service delivery, social upliftment, education, agriculture or in a single term, Smart Living.