Sponsor Panel Discussion

Venue: R103, IIIT-Bangalore

Time: Dec 13, 2023, 11:30 to 13:00 IST

Dr. Bharat Lohani, a Geomatics professor at IIT Kanpur and co-founder of Geokno India Pvt. Ltd., brings unique expertise in the geospatial domain. His extensive experience includes seamless collaboration across academia, government, and industry. Specializing in Lidar technology, Professor Lohani has spearheaded efforts in India to leverage Lidar data for innovative problem-solving applications. His multifaceted approach contributes to advancements in geospatial research and industry practices.

Mr. Shubham Sharma is serving as Head of Data at GalaxEye Space, Bengaluru, India. His experience consists of serving as Remote Sensing and Data Scientist at Geospoc-OLA and Hexagon Geosystems and he has worked on utilisation of Python for satellite image processing applications specifically in Radar Remote Sensing and served as a Research Fellow on related projects with renowned space organisations such as ISRO. He has also presented at leading Python conferences such as Pycon India and has mentored at conferences such as SciPy. Further, he has also served as Technical reviewer of books on Python and has taken workshops related to Python programming for Satellite image processing. He enjoys programming and strongly advocates outreach of Open-Source technologies in the Geospatial Sector.

Ms. Divya is a seasoned technology & innovation leader with 15+ years of diverse industry experience in technology. Currently, Divya leads the data science and machine learning department at SatSure to create products that enable decision intelligence for the enterprises in Agriculture, Infrastructure and Energy sectors by leveraging the power of AI/ML and Data Science on geospatial data. Divya and her team are currently solving complex data science problems like Crop Classification, Yield Estimation to name a few, to build products targeting sustainability challenges like farmer financial inclusion, sustainable agriculture, and climate action. Also, they have created innovative data models like optical image reconstruction with SAR data and super resolution for the EO data challenges of cloud cover and high costs of high-res image.

Mr. Thomas Risch, with 20 years of experience in the geospatial industry, leads GALG International. Established in Germany, GALG has been operational for six years, focusing on supporting the geospatial industry in waterborne and airborne operations in Central Europe, the Baltic regions, South-West Asia, and recently in India as HALG. Risch’s expertise and leadership have distinguished him as a visionary in airborne operations and a respected figure in the geospatial community.

Dr. S. Rajagopalan received his Bachelor of Technology degree (Chemical Engineering) from IIT Delhi, Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Bangalore and Ph.D from IIT Kanpur. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology from 1982 to 1993 and was involved managing innovations that addressed the problems of Karnataka. In 1993 he and his colleagues founded Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE), a non-profit development society which focused on developing and disseminating technologies that were economically attractive, environmentally sustainable, and socially acceptable in rural areas of Karnataka. He was its chairman till 2007. For his work in TIDE (www.tide-india.org), he was awarded the Ashoka Fellow (1994), TIDE was awarded the International Green Oscar – the Ashden Award in 2008. Dr. Rajagopalan joined the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore as a Professor in July 2008. His areas of interest include innovation dissemination, Geographical Information systems, and urban mobility. He was a founder Director of the IIITB Innovation Centre, which aimed at incubating and promoting innovations in the area of Information and Communication Technologies. He retired from the services of the Institute in June 2020 and continues to be an honorary visiting faculty. He leads the MOSIP (Modular Open-Source Identity Platform) project since 2018. This platform which helps countries to establish their digital identity programmes is now being adopted by 11 countries.  Since April 2023, he is also the chair of the Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure at the Institute. This Centre focuses on empowering counties with knowledge, skills and tools required to design, architect, and implement their DPI journeys.

Dr. T K Srikanth is a Professor in Computer Science at IIIT Bangalore. His research interests are in systems for the management and analysis of healthcare data, data privacy, geometric modelling, and computer graphics. He is a co-convenor of the E-Health Research Center at IIITB and is actively involved in multiple collaborative research projects in healthcare. Prior to joining IIITB, he had extensive experience in the software industry, in India and in the US, in mobile and multimedia technologies and in geometric modelling for geophysical applications. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University and a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras.

Varadarajan Krishna (Varad) is a global serial techpreneur and angel investor with over 30 years of experience in building and scaling technology ventures across various domains, such as embedded software, BPM, telecom, and cleantech. He has been deeply involved in the global GNSS and PNT ecosystem for the past 32 years through various initiatives and programs. Some of the notable ones include the GNSS.asia – a platform to promote EU based GNSS industry in Asia and the rest of the world as well as S-booster which is a Program promoted by the Japanese cabinet office. He has been through five exits, including two IPOs, and has developed multiple patents and IP assets. He is a Stanford Executive Program graduate and holds a postgraduate degree in computer technology. Varad is currently a Senior Investment Advisor at Discovery Nxt Family Office, where he helps identify and evaluate emerging opportunities in the deep technology sector for high-net-worth individuals and families. He is also a Senior Advisor Innovation & Entrepreneurship at IIT Tirupati Navavishkar I-Hub Foundation, where he supports the incubation and acceleration of innovative startups and research projects. Additionally, he is the cofounder of 100 Open Startups, a not-for-profit initiative that connects startups, entrepreneurs, and scientists with the innovation challenges of global corporations. Varad is passionate about fostering open innovation ecosystems and mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.