VGSoM HR Conclave

Times of India

In the age of Artificial Intelligence and Industry 4.0, while many business functions are undergoing momentous changes, the human resource is emerging as the most critical area of management functions considering the not-so-futuristic alarming trends. The Vinod Gupta School of Management organized an HR Conclave this weekend addressing new avenues in Human Resource Management through HR Innovation and Upskilling.

A panel of India’s top HR experts who attended the Conclave at the IIT Kharagpur campus debated on the impact of technological innovation on HRM. Satyajit Mohanty, CHRO, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals opined that despite the improvement in technology through offline management and the automation of HR Processes, there hasn’t been a proportionate improvement in employee experience. Sonia Sahgal, Director of University Recruiting, Microsoft India, furthered the point with an emphasis on the human element being fundamental to organizational success. She substantiated her claim by providing the example of decreased synergy in the workplace despite the provisions afforded by modern technology. The panel deliberated further on the importance of upskilling to increase employee engagement with Sonali Misra, Head-HR, Bain & Company (India) speaking about the holistic aspect of upskilling and how it can be leveraged to value addition of industry professionals.

Vivek Vyas, Country Head, Employee Relations, Royal Bank of Scotland focused on the point of employee-driven organizational growth which was further elaborated by Yamini Krishnan, Director – HR, IQVIA who advocated upskilling as the only method in case organizations want more innovative solutions. The panel on Rethinking people management to propel organizational growth was moderated by Hetal Sonpal, a TEDx speaker, Angel Investor and a Mentor of Change at Atal Innovation Mission.

Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya, Officiating Director of IIT Kharagpur, keeping in mind the ever-changing market demands said, “In this day and age, the dynamic paradigm of Industry 4.0 demands constant upskilling by employees who wish to stay relevant.”

In the recent years, Vinod Gupta School of Management has emerged among India’s top-ranking management schools within 25 years of its establishment by QS and MHRD’s NIRF rankings. With its unique mix of management programmes backed by the interdisciplinary engineering, science and mathematics platforms of IIT Kharagpur, the School presents a unique opportunity to its students to pursue electives in various subjects other than Management.

The School, which was seed funded by IIT Kharagpur alumnus Vinod Gupta, focuses in several multidisciplinary areas of research and development in the Institute as well as collaborative projects.

Green Horns to offer Industrial Solutions at SIH2019

Times of India     India Today   Business Standard   Zee Business

IIT Kharagpur is hosting the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2019, Software Edition on March 2-3, 2019. This year 186 students from various colleges including 6 from IIT Kharagpur will be participating in the event. Another 36 students from the Institute will be participating at other editions of SIH2019 hosted by ISRO, Adani group etc.

Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resources Development will announce the start of the Smart India Hackathon 2019 on March 2. A live interaction session with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has been scheduled later in the day.

SIH is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development to provide students with a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving. The last edition of the hackathon saw over 5 million+ students from various engineering colleges compete for the top prize at 35+ locations.

SIH 2019 includes themes such as Smart Communication, Smart Vehicles, Agriculture & Rural Development, Food Technology, Healthcare & Biomedical Devices, Clean Water, Waste Management, Renewable Energy, Robotics and Drones, Security & Surveillance, technology ideas in tertiary sectors like Hospitality, Financial Services, Entertainment, Tourism and Retail.

While the students will compete for a marathon coding event to develop unique solutions in the thematic areas, they will be mentored by professionals from the Ministry.

The participating students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world-class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the industries hire the best minds from across the nation.

Student participants can further apply for research internship opportunities at IIT Kharagpur confirmed the program coordinator.

“Smart India Hackathon with its massive scale, reach, mentorship and follow up are building a new culture of innovation in our higher education system which will have far-reaching effects on the future generations. IIT Kharagpur is extremely happy and privileged to be involved in this new paradigm of at all levels from Coordinating the programme in the last two years and hosting the Grand Finale events,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Chairman of the event.

Incubation facility could be offered to form startups based on the technological and economic feasibility and market acceptance.