The TiE Global Summit

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region. There are currently 13,000 members, including over 2,500 charter members in 61 chapters across 18 countries. As part of its global events, TiE Global Summit 2016 was held at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi on 16th and 17th December.

The registrations started at 8 A.M. The participants consisted of Company professionals, industrialists, investors, and students. Apart from the talks by the global leaders, the other objective of the event was networking (to sell your idea!).

The first person I met was Mr.Gaurav Trivedi from a Startup: Lithium Cabs. This company happens to be the first one to provide an electric cab service. “With Over 200 cabs running more than 60,000 km daily, the cars are completely Hydrocarbon free emitters.” as Gaurav pointed out.

Speakers and entrepreneurs from many continents addressed the opportunities and latest trends in the industry. A few of them were Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive officer of NITI Aayog, Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary of Ministry of Electronics and IT, Travis Kalanick (co-founder of UBER ), Sanjay Mehrotra (co-founder of SanDisk ) & Divyank Turakhia, people who have changed the business dimensions.

The event started with a discussion with Travis about his entrepreneurial journey and setting up Uber and Scoush. This was followed by another panel discussion on “Make in India” powered by Westbridge Capital with speakers Mr.Sandeep Singhal (Westbridge Capital ), and Mr. JuliusAmrit (Director of Team Indus ).

• The program further featured Mr. Raman Abhishek, representative of the Dept. of industrial policy and promotion. His talk was focused on the initiatives taken by DIPP to provide the structure for developing the startup ecosystem in the country. He shared various information on centers set by the govt. for patent facilitation, tinkering labs, and incubation centers.

• One of the key orators was Mr.Julius from Team Indus. Team Indus is currently in the beta- phase of building the first-ever private spacecraft to land on the moon. Rahul (co-founder) and his team started Team Indus back in 2010 and it’s the only Indian team to win a milestone fund of $1 million (Rs. 6.15 Crore) from Google Lunar Xprize, which supports many privately funded space flight teams to launch a robotic lunar lander-rover by December 2017.

Few startups founders I got to interact with:

1. 8D Quantum: Designs smart gadgets, a product design and development firm specializing in loT and consumer goods, industrial products, and medical devices.

2. Grassroot sales: A startup that trains people in sales (especially in the solar sector) online for a year.

3. Immi Life: Links patients with imminent heart attacks to specialist cardiologists, and ensures effective stabilization prior to transfer to tertiary care units within 10 mins of the attack.

4. Legend technologies: Provides solutions for the design and fabrication of aerospace assembly jigs, aerospace structures, and high-precision slip rings.

5. Clumpling: Provides Consultancy services to startups.

6. NodeXperts: A Web development company.

The event was intrinsically motivating and the summit provided a unique opportunity to network with industry leaders who demonstrated fearlessness and innovation.

I feel privileged that I got a chance to represent Entrepreneurship & Innovation Cell, IISER Pune at such a global event.