Minister Babul Supriyo gives away One Globe Awards 2016, conference inaugurated by Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore

Winners include Amitabh Kant for transforming governance, Lord Loomba for social impact, Ashok Trivedi for entrepreneurship, Jaipur Development Authority for smart cities, Madhya Pradesh for smart state, Uber for digital economy and KPIT Technologies for R&D

Minister of State for Urban Development, Shri Babul Supriyo gave away the One Globe Awards at the fifth edition of the two-day One Globe: Uniting Knowledge Communities Conference being held in the capital. The awards recognize and honor individuals as well as domestic and international companies for their contributions in building a 21st century knowledge economy through their initiatives in digital economy, R&D, smart cities, entrepreneurship and social impact. The conference was inaugurated by India’s Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Shri Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore with Member of Parliament & Chairman of India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, Shri Anurag Thakur; Chairman of the Global Advisory Board for Smart Cities Expo World Congress, Jerry MacArthur Hultin; Senior Advisor, Forum of Federations, Canada, and Chairman, One Globe Conference, Major Dalbir Singh; and, Harjiv Singh, Convener of the One Globe Conference and Founder & CEO of Salwan Media Ventures.

Commissioner Shikhar Agrawal received the award on behalf of Jaipur Development Authority for Excellence in Building Smart Cities for its efforts in making the city of Jaipur smarter by enabling citizens’ access to information technology and creating infrastructure that promotes innovation, efficiency and safety. Madhya Pradesh won the Award for Excellence in Enabling a Smart State. Ujjain Municipal Corporation’s Commissioner Shri Avinash Lavania received the award on behalf of the state.

Sh. Amitabh Kant, the CEO of NITI Aayog was conferred the Award for Leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century for his spectacular leadership in government spanning a long career and leading the creation and execution of flagship programmes like “Incredible India” and “Make in India” that showcase the excellence of government officials.

The Award for Excellence in Research & Development was bagged by KPIT Technologies Ltd. for its innovative development of its Smart Electric Bus technology, which will enable state transport utilities to function more efficiently and benefit the masses. KPIT’s Co-founder, Chairman and Group CEO Mr. Ravi Pandit received the award on behalf of the company.

Mr. Ashok Trivedi was conferred the Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship for building the IT services company IGATE Corporation from scratch, which he had originally co-founded as Mastech in 1986 with his personal savings. He sold IGATE for over $4 billion in 2015.

Lord Raj Loomba received the Award for Excellence in Creating Social Impact for helping provide global recognition to the cause of over 258 million widows and their 585 million children worldwide and for his efforts to get it included in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Prime Minister Modi recently supported The Loomba Foundation’s project to provide dignified livelihood to 5000 widows of Varanasi through skills training and sewing machines.

Uber India President Amit Jain received the Award on behalf of his company for Excellence in Enabling a 21st Century Digital Economy. The award recognizes Uber for developing technology that has revolutionized urban transport and helped create livelihoods for thousands of drivers worldwide. Uber Inc.’s Chief Advisor David Plouffe also addressed the speakers of One Globe conference on the role of technology in driving the U.S.-India relationship at an event co-hosted by Salwan Media Ventures and the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC).

Congratulating the winners, Harjiv Singh, Convener of the One Globe Conference and Founder & CEO of Salwan Media Ventures, said, “If India has to truly become a 21st century knowledge economy, then all the elements have to come together including education, skills, entrepreneurship, technology, infrastructure and urban planning, manufacturing and innovation. We salute these stalwarts for helping contribute their bit in transforming India into a 21st century knowledge economy. With the support of these and many other unsung heroes, we can enable Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Digital India, Make In India, Smart Cities and Start-up India.”

Some of the speakers at the One Globe 2016 conference include Dr. Bibek Debroy, Fulltime Member, NITI Aayog; Sameer Sharma, Additional Secretary – Smart Cities, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India; Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Managing Director of the MP Road Development Corporation; Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of India; Som Mittal, Former President, NASSCOM; Purushottam Kaushik, MD Sales, CISCO India & SAARC; Rahul Gupta, Managing Director, GE Global Growth; Jayant Kohale, Head, Smart Cities, L&T; Sofia Eriksson, Head of Communications, Ericsson India Global Services; Nandita Parker Agarwal, Managing Partner, Karma Capital Management LLC; Yatish Rajawat, Chief Strategy Officer, Local Circles; Ashok Atluri, Chairman & MD, Zen Technologies; General Deepak Kapoor, former Chief of Army Staff and former Chief of Staff’s Committee (COSC); Dr. Shailaja Fennell, University of Cambridge; Archana Jahagirdar, COO, Indian Angels Network; Ashok Trivedi, Managing Partner, SWAT Capital; Amit Srivastav, President, Infinite Computer Solutions; Ashish Kalra, Chairman, Cambridge Technology Enterprises; Prof. Siddharth Shanker Saxena, Chairman, Cambridge Central Asia Forum; Ji Mi Choi, Associate Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Programs, Arizona State University; Diana Drake, Managing Editor, Knowledge@Wharton High School; Dr. Timothy Fryer, Secondary School Principal, The British School; Vikram Chachra, CEO and MD, Eight Capital LLC; Anisha Singh, Founder & CEO, mydala; Sanjeev Mohanty, CEO, Jabong; Varun Sood, CEO, Healthfore Technologies; Felix Ortiz III, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Virdis Learning; Anurag Dandia, Founder & CEO, Anthros; Chokan Laumulin, Research Fellow, Central Asian Forum; Prachi Jain Windlass, Director, India Education- MSDF; Prasad Vanga, Founder & Speed Scaler, Anthill Ventures; William Kooser, Associate Dean for Global Outreach at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business ; Kunal Nandwani, Founder & CEO, uTrade Solutions; Dr. Siddharth Saxena, Chairperson, Cambridge Central Asia Forum; Makarand H. Chiplakatti, MD, Dr. Chips Consulting, LLC; and, Nitin Gokhale, Bharatshakti.

The One Globe conference is India's leading conference that brings together global thought leaders to discuss how we build a 21st century knowledge economy in India and South Asia. It explores the intersection of technology, innovation, smart cities, skills, regional collaboration and education. This 5th annual edition of the One Globe Conference: Uniting Knowledge Communities conference will specifically focus on ideas, issues and impact of the Indian government's ambitious agenda to transform India into a 21st century knowledge economy through its initiatives like "Digital India", "Make in India", "Smart Cities" and “Entrepreneurship”.