TEDxHyderabadSalon On Technology And Innovation

tech_01

“In the 21st century, you have to use technology as one of the tools in the toolkit to bring about social change” ~ Beth Simone Noveck

It was the 5th of June,a flawless Sunday and our attendees were in for quite a ride aboard the ‘X’ bus for TEDxHyderabad’sThird Salon on Technology and Innovation.Starting at T-Hub –India’s biggest startup incubator situated in the beautiful IIIT-H campus, each of the attendee was given a personalised badge as they walked in and led to the cafetaria where biting through delectable sandwiches by Wich Please introductions and interesting conversations sprouted up.

All the attendees were then lead to the presentation room where our thought leaders Ramesh Loganathan and Srinivas Kollipara introduce themselves and got the event rolling.

tech_06

Thought leader Ramesh Loganathan talked about how the salons are a great way of engaging with the community all year round.Also how salons are a great format to explore social issues and form intiatives by giving examples of theSave10kBores initiative born out of the 1st salon this year which was on civic responsibility, an intiative for creating a first response team in collaboration with EMRI born out of the second salon on healthcare and how he feels today’s salon will be a genesis of another noble idea.

tech_07

Our Thought leader Srinivas Kollipara (COO,THub) talked about T-hub being much more than a building and more of a community also how it has been an extensive but rewarding endeavour getting everything together and how he has tried to change “Indians don’t talk to each other hence limit collaboration ” ideology by creating a welcoming environment.He also stresses on how creating clusters of excellence(corporates,entrepreneurs and research institutes) by bringing in corporates to bridge the builder/marketer divide by making it a win-win environment for everyone foesters innovation at T-Hub which currently houses over 220 startups.

tech_08

Two TED talks reminiscing of past predictions that are true today were played and enjoyed by the attendees: first one by Nirmalaya Kumar on India’s Invisible Innovations which talks about India’s distinctive style of Innovation and another by Charles Leadbeater on the Era of Open Innovation which talks about consumer driven innovation.

It was now time to hit the road in the world’s first ever “X” bus!

..Not before a mandatory group selfie ofcourse!

tech_16

Captivating TED talks by Kevin Kelly on How technology Evolves and by Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of Sixth Sense Technology are played as the bus heads to IIT-Hyderabad.

tech_17

Aboard the bus disscussion ensues about the social impact of technology ensues where ideas like women safety wearbles like the iron man project and solutions for making technology more accesible to NGOs are brought out and a few action points are decided.

Two actionables come to forefront: A centralised hub for NGOs enabling a network of NGOs to collaborate with ease,and to also have a sort of Zomato for NGOs part of this hub where the corporates via CSR and general public  can show support for a cause. Secondly, a Technology for NGOs 101 infographic/document which can act as a resource to any NGO starting to get tech incorporated into their NGO.

The bus Reaches IIT-Hyderabad where Dr.Shiva Banjari enlightened the attendees about the research taking place at IIT-Hyderabad like an differently built ultrasonic transducer, cost effective air pollution control, an IoT enabled Smart power monitor, a social study on high risk pregnancies  on to name a few.

The Attendees get back on the bus heading to the final leg of the Salon at Microsoft and along the journey two TED talks played: The Techology of the heart by His Holiness the Karmapa and inside the mind of a procrastinator by Tim Urban which leaves the attendees thinking about the power of determined action.

tech_27At Microsoft, Thought leader Anil Bhansali ( from Microsoft) addressed the attendees and tells them how Microsoft is staying true to its motive of enabling people by intelligent cloud and big data technologies the attendees and tells them how staying  true to microsoft’s motto to enable everyone on the planet by using its intelligent cloud and big data technologies. He talked about work happening to solve problems in areas of education,healthcare and agriculture with student dropout prediction for efficient guiding of govt resources,geographic mapping of eye diseases in collaboration with LVPIE  and Intelligent Sowing project in collaboration with ICRISAT as some intiatives where technology is helping making a social impact.

The TED talks that follow – Design at the intersection of Technology and Biology by Neri Oxman and A futuristic vision of the age of holograms by Alex Kipman from TED 2016 leave the audience in awe of what technology has become and the exciting possibilites that lie ahead.

After a long day on the road, the attendees were treated with mouth-watering food!

The attendees head back to T-Hub with a smile on their lips and a sparkle in their eyes having had an insightful Sunday meeting interesting people and discussing disruptive ideas!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *