Inaugural Address

GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT

PVSM,UYSM,AVSM,YSM,SM,VSM,ADC

CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF

Ministry of Defence, India

General Bipin Rawat is an alumnus of St Edward's School, Shimla and the National Defence Academy. He was commissioned on 16 Dec 1978 into the Fifth Battalion of the Eleventh Gorkha Rifles of the Infantry, the Battalion which was Commanded by his father. While graduating from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he was awarded the coveted 'Sword of Honour'.

The General has a vast operational experience, having served across a wide spectrum of combat and conflict situations. He has commanded an Infantry Battalion along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector and a Rashtriya Rifles Sector in the Kashmir Valley. Soon thereafter, he went on to Command a Multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was assigned to Command an Infantry Division along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and was Corps Commander in the North-East. As an Army Commander, he was responsible to oversee operations in the Desert sector, along the Western front.

General Rawat has held several important instructional and staff appointments. These include instructional tenures at the Indian Military Academy (Dehradun) and at the Junior Command Wing as the Senior Instructor. He was the General Staff Officer at Military Operations Directorate, the Colonel and later Deputy Military Secretary in the Military Secretary's Branch, the Major General General Staff of the Eastern Theatre and was also the Vice Chief of the Army Staff. The General was the Chief of the Army Staff from 31 Dec 2016 to 31 Dec 2019.

A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (Wellington) and the Command and General Staff Course, Fort Leavenworth (USA). He has attended the Higher Command Course at Mhow and is a graduate of the National Defence College, New Delhi. Academically inclined, the General has authored several articles on National Security and Military Leadership which have been published in various Journals and Publications. He also holds two diplomas in Management and in Computer Studies. The General was awarded the 'Doctorate of Philosophy' (Ph.D) for his research on 'Military Media Strategic Studies' by the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.

For the distinguished service rendered and valour displayed over the span of over 42 years of his entire service career, General Bipin Rawat has been conferred several Presidential Awards which include the PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM and the VSM. Besides these, he has been awarded the Chief of Army Staff Commendation on two occasions as also the Army Commander's Commendation. While serving with the UN in Congo, he was twice awarded the Force Commander's Commendation.

General Bipin Rawat was appointed India's first Chief of Defence Staff on 31 Dec 2019.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti

Head of cyber Security

United Arab Emirates Government

Dr. Al Kuwaiti is the head of cyber security for the UAE Government as well as currently holding the position of the Managing Director of the National Data Centre under the Supreme Council for National Security. He is also working as Assistant Professor (Adjunct) of Homeland Security Program at Rabdan Academy.

In his current role Dr. Al Kuwaiti aims to create a fully governed approach to data privacy, sharing and processing as well as the unification and connectivity of government systems and digitization towards a smart government

In 2013, Dr. Al Kuwaiti joined the National Electronic Security Authority and held He held various positions. As the Executive Director of Government Operations, where he managed the National and International government relations. Executive Director of Operations Analysis and Cyber Security.

In 2011, Dr. Al Kuwaiti was the Chief Technical Analyst at Ministry of Interior where he directed and managed various technical and administrative tasks. He also held other positions, such as Operations Director and CTO of the Counter Terrorism Center. He was also stationed as a Defense, Air, and Naval Military Attaché at the Embassy of The United Arab Emirates in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Al-Kuwaiti has published numerous studies and lectured at many conferences such as IEEE, RSA, Cyber Warfare Europe, Tele Strategies, ISS World MEA, IDEX, International Anti-Cyber Crimes Conference, Future War Summit etc., Dr. Al-Kuwaiti presented the UAE Cyber Security Framework at INTERPOL in Singapore. He also organized various events such as National Cyber Security Exercise and Cyber Quest.

His interests are consulting on detecting, monitoring and responding to cyber warfare, Network Forensics, Corporate Governance & Process, and national cyber policy. He is an honorable member of Society of Engineers – UAE, IEEE Society, Golden Key National Honor Society and Computer Society. He is a visiting lecturer on Cyber Security at few universities such as Khalifa University and National Defense College in Abu Dhabi.

With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Al-Kuwaiti holds a Doctorate in Computer Engineering and Network Security from George Washington University in the USA and a M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications and Computer Networks. He also holds a M.A. degree in International and Civil Security. Dr. Al-Kuwaiti has won various awards such as Best Lecturer, Dean honors list, leadership Awards, best Design Projects.

Keynote Speaker

H.E.Tomasz Zaleski

Chairman

Royal office of HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin

Faisal Al Qassimi, UAE

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Kailasavadivoo Sivan

Chairman

Indian Space Research Organisation

Secretary DOS

Dr. Kailasavadivoo Sivan, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission has relentlessly worked in the field of Aeronautical engineering, specifically in the area of Launch Vehicle technology for the past 37 years to make India selfreliant in assured access to Space.
Born on 14th April, 1957 in a farmer family in Sarakkalvilai village of Kanyakumari District, he completed his primary education in Tamil medium school. After completing BSc Mathematics from Madurai University, He joined Madras Institute of Technology to pursue Btech., Aeronautics. Thereafter, he completed his M.E. in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and PhD in Aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
He joined, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre on 29 October 1982 and since then has played a key role in the design and development of ISRO’s launch vehicle programme. His major contributions are in reviving GSLV programme after back-to-back failure and leading the Flight testing of SCRAMJET engine as well as technology demonstration flight of re-usable launch vehicle (RLV-TD).
He is the chief architect of 6D trajectory simulation software SITARA and Day of LaunchWind Biasing (DOL-WB) strategy for ISRO’s launch vehicles which are used in all ISRO's launch vehicle missions.
The Gaganyaan Programme was approved under his leadership. A new vertical on Human Spaceflight was added into ISRO’s scope of activities and a new Human Spaceflight centre was established at Bangalore for managing human spaceflight programme.
He strongly believes that technology leaders of tomorrow have to be motivated and trained today. Yuvika summer vacation training programme targeting high school students was initiated to motivate students to take up science as a career option. In addition, he regularly interacts with student community for improving the awareness on space programme as well as motivating students for taking up career in R&D for National development.
Dr. K Sivan is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Systems Society of India (SSI) and Indian Systems Society for Science and Engineering (ISSE), Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) and Indian National Science Academy.
He has received numerous awards in recognition of his contributions. Some of the major awards are ISRO award for outstanding achievement for the year 2016, Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research award for the year 1999, ISRO merit award for the year 2007, Dr. Biren Roy Space science award for the year 2011, The Distinguished Alumnus Award 2013 from MIT Alumni Association, Chennai and The Distinguished Alumnus Award 2017 from IIT-B, Mumbai and IISc Distinguished Alumnus Award 2018. Besides this he has been conferred with Honaris Causa from many prestigious universities. Received Lokmanya Tilak Award-2018 from Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Trust, Pune. “Nav Yug Chanakya Puruskar” from Hindu Economic Forum, Kochi and ‘Vigyan Ratna Award’ from Panjab University in 2019.
Dr. Sivan has received international accolades for his contribution in space technology viz IEEE Simon Ramo Medal from IEEE; 2020 Allan D. Emil Memorial Award by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and 2020 Von Karman Award of International Academy of Astronautics.

Keynote Speaker

CP GURNANI

Managing Director

and Chief Executive Officer

Tech Mahindra

CP Gurnani (popularly known as ‘CP’ within his peer group), is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tech Mahindra - a USD 5.2 billion digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions provider with 124,250+ professionals across 90 countries, helping 988 global customers including Fortune 500 companies.

An accomplished business leader with extensive experience in international business development, start-ups and turnarounds, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, CP played a pivotal role in Tech Mahindra's transformation journey, and one of the biggest turnarounds of Indian Corporate History - the acquisition and merger of Satyam.

Living by the credo, ‘don’t work hard, work smart’, CP brings an inimitable leadership style combined with a laser-sharp focus on customer experience, which has helped Tech Mahindra emerge as one of the leading global digital transformation providers.

He strongly believes that one just cannot ride the growth path with resources that are out of sync with market dynamics. One of his many noticeable achievements in the past year has been an ambitious, company-wide initiative aimed at retraining Tech Mahindra employees to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to remain competitive and survive the age of digital transformation.

In a career spanning 40+ years, CP has held several leading positions with Hewlett Packard Ltd, Perot Systems (India) Ltd. and HCL Corporation Ltd. CP has also served as a Chairman of NASSCOM for the year 2016-2017.

He is an ardent supporter of Individual Social Responsibility, and often prods people to invest their time towards betterment of humanity and society, at large. He is on the Board of Tech Mahindra Foundation that was launched in 2007 to help the underprivileged children. He also founded ‘Titliyan’, a NGO that spearheads spreading quality education and developing life and social skills of more than 240 under privileged children.

A chemical engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, he is a distinguished and active alumnus of the Institute. CP has also been felicitated with an honorary Doctorate degree by Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology and Sharda University. He is on the Board of Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, a promoter of Tech Mahindra Limited. His passion for education is resonated in the various honorary positions he holds - He is on the board of Mahindra Educational Institutions (MEI) & a member of the Board of Management of Mahindra University, a private university promoted by MEI to educate future citizens for and of a better world. He is also the Chairman of IIM Nagpur and the Founding Trustee of Plaksha University.

CP Gurnani has also been featured in a Harvard Case Study on ‘Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers’.

He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including:

• Technology Icon of India 2020 recognition by VARINDIA Brandbook


• Business Today ‘Best CEO’ Awards 2019 (IT & ITES category)


• ‘Corporate Leader of the Year’ Award - 14th (I-ACE) Awards 2018.


• Gold Winner in the ‘CEO of the Year’ for his organization’s wide reskilling initiative


• Asia One Global Indian of the Year - Technology’ in 2016


• Listed among the top 100 global CEOs as part of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council 2016


• ‘Best CEO of the Year’ at the Forbes India Leadership Awards in 2015


• Business Standard ‘CEO of the Year’ in 2014


• CNBC Asia’s India Business Leader of the Year in 2014


• Dataquest ‘IT person of the Year’ in 2013


• The Ernst and Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013

Celebrity Guest

Jeff Jarrett

WWE Hall of Famer

& Professional Wrestling Promoter

/ Executive