A Glimpse of BengaluruITE.BIZ 2016: A Deep Dive into India’s Aviation and Defense Industry
The 19th edition of the annual ITE.Biz, jointly organized by Dept. of IT & BT, Govt. of Karnataka and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Bengaluru, was recently held in Bengaluru from November 28th-30th, 2016. The Melting Pot for industry associations across sectors, the event saw various industries coming together and working closely with the government aimed at delivering a unique experience. The three-day event witnessed attendance of several C-Level Executives, Young Innovators, Technocrats, Investors, Policy Makers, Scientists, Social Entrepreneurs, Students and Media from India and Overseas.
The theme for this year’s BengaluruITE.biz was ‘DEFINE THE NEXT.’ Bengaluru has emerged as the technology capital of India holding a leadership position in not just Information Technology but also in Biotechnology, animation, innovation, etc. Keeping that in perspective, the event majorly focussed on Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Robotics, Big Data, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), Electronics System Design, Animation, Visual Effects and Gaming, Apps Development, Startups, Entrepreneurship Development, etc. during its 3 days run. The event witnessed keynote sessions by Mr. Bhaskar Ghosh, Group Chief Executive, Accenture Technology Services, Mr. Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India and Mr. Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO, FreeCharge.
The three-day event began on 28th November with panel discussions hosted by NASSCOM with an international perspective from Germany, Netherlands, Korea, Japan and Israel followed by several panel discussions focusing on themes such as aerospace & defense, futuristic technologies and translating Digital India to reality. Leading on from there, sessions on entrepreneur skills, investor funding and creativity world forum became the highlights of the final day.
Dassault Systemes partnered with the event as the Aerospace and Defence partner this year in line with the company’s portfolio in the industry. The second day of the event witnessed a panel discussion on the sidelines of aviation and defense industry. Based around the theme- Building Innovation Ecosystem to excel in Aerospace & Defence, the session was moderated by Mr. C.G Krishnadas Nair, Hon. President, SIATI, Former Chairman, HAL. The panel discussion was chaired by Mr. Philippe Forestier, Executive Vice President, Global Affairs, and Communities along with Shri Priyank Kharge, Karnataka IT Minister, CD Balaji, DDistinguished Scientist, Director at Aeronautical Development Agency, Mr. Anup Vittal, Managing Director (Directeur Général) and Member of the Board at Safran and Mr. Seetharama Bhat, Sr. Professor, Indian Institute of Science as the other panelists.
The panel discussion focussed on how the aviation and defense ecosystem in India has evolved in the last decade with the entry of some key private and foreign players at the offset of national campaigns such as Make in India. The industry experts expressed that the aviation and defense industry has seen tremendous improvement in the last decade and how the ease of managing business across locations in real time with the help of collaborative technology has been a boon for the industry.
Adding to the experts’ opinion, Mr. Forestier said, “I think we are moving to an economy which is becoming an experience economy where the final consumer is becoming more critical owing to the digital continuity. This is creating an impact on the aerospace and defense ecosystem. It is not only the engineers who are making the best products possible it’s also the full ecosystem of the people around because, at the end of the day when we put the product on the market whether we talk about an airplane or any other product, we need to make sure that the product fits. One of the issues that we are facing is a lack of communication in the industry. We have silos of communications and even in aerospace these silos between engineering and manufacturing still exist; this is an issue, and we need to fight against this making sure of all of those people working in collaboration on same projects have the right tools to talk to each other. Now when you design an airplane, you design an airplane with all the constraints involved in manufacturing and production. The remarkable change in the aviation and defense ecosystem in India can be attributed to the growth of IT industries. I think people are moving towards manufacturing sector. The new government is supporting the manufacturing sector with initiatives like Make in India.”
The opinions were resonated by what the other panelists have to say at the panel discussion stressing on their individual contribution to the industry. The presence of IT ministry representative at the event and the panel discussion emphasized on the objective and vision for the country in this particular industry. The sponsorship by Dassault Systemes was a key integrator of the company’s ideas into the functioning of various sectors interlinked with aerospace and defense along with other business verticals Dassault Systemes operates in.
Dassault Systemes also had an experienced booth at the forum where virtual reality products in the aerospace and defense space were showcased. Several customers and media visited the booth.
Philippe Forestier in conversation with a leading mainline and a vertical magazine highlighted the significant role played by Dassault Systemes solutions for key players in aviation and defense industry.
