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UIBS/GA Tech Global Business Forum looks at Israel, India, and the USA

(Photos: Moonlight Media)

The 9th USA India Business Summit conjoined with 24th Georgia Tech Global Business Forum has become annual landmark event for all parties interested in the rapid growth of advanced industries in the United States and India. It was held on August 28-29, 2018 at The Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech in Midtown Atlanta. Because of its unique role in promoting innovation, economic growth, and job creation both in emerging and advanced markets, organizers added Israel as another country focus. The rapidly-changing economic environment of the United States, India, and Israel economies are creating an interesting landscape and some best practices worthy of recognition and emulation.

Event co-chairs, Ani Agnihotri and Dr. John McIntyre of Georgia Tech, think that we are on the brink of a technological revolution which will transform the way we work, how we conduct our lives, manufacture, distribute, create well-being, and relate to one another in the public spaces of the smart cities of the world. The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution has the clear potential of raising global income levels, improving the quality of life for large swaths of the population around the world while implementing key components of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In responding to the opportunities but also perhaps to the threats posed by this shift, all economic and societal actors are called upon to work cooperatively and create public-private partnerships to ride this new wave. In this regard the role of private sector enterprises and innovation-driven entrepreneurs is central.

The United Sates is one of the leading innovation nations, taking into account its size, not only technologically but also in addressing socio-economic issues, while India is transforming its own economy through advanced technologies, bridging development gaps at an increasing speed, as the U.S. and Israel continue on their well-established path in the creation and diffusion of disruptive technologies impacting world trade and investment. In the wake of the last visit of Prime Minister Modi to the United States in June 2017 and Israel‘s Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit of March 2018, the interdependencies and complementarities of these three countries were further underlined. Israel is often described as the “start-up” nation while the United States is considered the leading global economy fostering systemic Industry 4.0 innovation, as India remains an established global leader in the information technologies that have transformed work and made dematerialization possible. These three economies, coming in at different sizes and each facing different challenges and opportunities, are each unique successful models for handling the disruptive modalities of the twenty-first century, as clearly recognized in the Global Innovation Index of 2018. It is the reason why the organizing committee has selected them as magnifying lenses through which to consider the transforming technologies of the internet of things (IoT), advanced manufacturing, robotics, and smart cities, all of which respond to the global challenges clearly laid out at the most recent Davos, Switzerland, World Economic Forum.

It is precisely in this spirit of this conference, “Engage, Leverage, and Accelerate: Business to Business Connection and Innovations,” that leaders of the three countries have called for a more transparent playing field and that Christine Lagarde of the IMF, Jim Yong Ki of the World Bank, and Roberto Zevedo of the World Trade Organization have called for “open markets for a sustained global recovery and equity for years to come.”

For last nine years, UIBS has been successful in inviting a bevy of distinguished business leaders and officials to their event, and this year was no exception. Some of the notable speakers were Hon. Takashi Shinozuka, Consul General of Japan; Mr. Richard M. Rossow, Senior Adviser and the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Dr. Shreyes N. Melkote, Morris M. Bryan Jr. Professor of Mechanical Engg. for Advanced Manufacturing Systems, Ga Tech; Mr. William (Bill) L. Strang, President Operations/eCommerce, TOTO USA; Mr. Riyaz Muhammad, New Business Realizations, Murata Electronics; Mr. Ankur Jindal, VP and Head Corporate Venturing and Innovation, Tata Communications; Mr. Scott Ellyson, Co-Founder and CEO, East West Manufacturing; Dr. Jagdish Sheth from Emory University; Mr. Anil Khatod, Managing Director, Argonaut Private Equity; Dr. John Crittenden, Director, Hightower Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Environmental Technologies, Georgia Tech; and Mr. Izik Kirshenbaum, Co-Founder, Chairman & President, Siklu Inc.

UIBS organizers with chief guests and keynote speakers.

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