Cruising through the endless flux of changes that have flooded the world in the past 20 months, the Indian Institute of Management, Nagpur, in order to persevere and adapt through this period of transition, conducted the 6th iteration of the annual industryacademia interaction summit, Illume 6.0. At the inaugural ceremony Dr. Bhimraya Metri Director, IIM Nagpur said “The primary motif of the event is ‘Innovating Today to Revolutionize Tomorrow – Disruptive Trends of the Future’ with the intention to sow the seeds of innovation in the minds of future leaders with assistance from some of the best minds in the industry”. Dr. Metri also mentioned “This is a golden opportunity for the students to interact and learn from more than 12 industry stalwarts at illumn 6.0. The daylong virtual conference is the student driven initiative and I must acknowledge the efforts taken by organizing team for success of the event”.
The day-long event included panel discussions on the theme of disruptive innovations in various areas of management such as Strategy, Technology and Marketing. The chief guest of the event was Mr. B. Ashok, CEO, Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., a Joint Venture Company of India’s three major Oil Marketing Companies. The decades of rich experience in the Petroleum and Energy Industry of Mr. B. Ashok was apparent from his deep insights about the PM Ujwala Yojana that intends to transform the lives of millions of women residing in the rural parts of the country by laying down paths through which efficient and safe fuels like LPG can reach them.
Following the Inaugural address, Eques – The Strategy and Consulting Club and E-Cell – The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIM Nagpur delivered informative presentations covering disruptive concepts like Circular Supply Chain and its implications on the overall industry as well as upcoming industry trends like Fintech which has the potency to drive novel business models when employed in tandem with Block-Chain and AI/ML.
Further, the event was graced by an ensemble of experts from the best of industries in the country. The first panel discussion of the event was in the strategy area and hosted industry paragons like Mr. Gunjan Shah, the CEO of Bata India, Mr. Shailesh Kekre, Ex Managing Partner at McKinsey and Co, presently working with visionary founders of B2B SaaS StartUps, Mr. Krishna Gopal, Global Head of Sales Enablement at Tech Mahindra and Mr. Sangram Singh, Head of Commercial Banking, Axis Bank, moderated by Prof. Atul Pathak, IIM Nagpur. The guests explored how the innovation-focused strategies are a valuable deviation from ordinary practice. A lot of emphasis was placed on inculcating and retaining human values in a world spinning towards technology, stepping out of comfort zones in order to make discoveries, and keeping the spirit of curiosity alive.
The second panel discussion, centered on technology, was decorated by presence of Ms. Seema Kumar, CTO Global Partner solution at Microsoft India, Ms. Anita Guha, Chief Information Officer Talent Advisor, IBM, Mr. Amrinder Singh, Executive Vice President & Head of Europe at Hexaware Technologies and Mr. Anshuman Vatsyayan, Director, NCR Corporation moderated by Prof. Gunjan Tomer, IIM Nagpur. The conversational context was set by OpeX – The Operations Club and PrediXion – The Analytics Club at IIM Nagpur who gave a comprehensive presentation on the fourth industrial revolution and how it is already transforming the manufacturing industry. The discussion accentuated the importance of up skilling and reskilling in a changing world and how the future businesses will demand ‘Comb Shaped’ competencies surpassing the prevalent ‘T Shaped’ competency Model.
For the third panel discussion in the Marketing domain, the event took a detour towards the role of human sentiments in building a brand in the contemporary world. MarX – The Marketing Club and Athena – The Economics and Public Policy Club at IIM Nagpur started off the session with a presentation on “Giving a face to a Brand”, how technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, are used to create an unbiased persona for the brand.
Thereafter, a stimulating conversation took place between two industry veterans that can be easily deemed as the harbingers of disruptions in their respective industries – Mr. Neeraj Kakkar, Co-founder and CEO of Hector Beverages and Mr. Subramanyeswar S, Chief Strategy officer – Asia Pacific Region at MullenLowe Group. The collaboration of these two minds is responsible for the creation and promulgation of widely acclaimed range of beverages – Paper Boat. The conversation ventured into both theoretical and sentimental aspects of marketing and brand management with particular focus on preserving the heritage for authenticity and building a brand inspired by a purpose.
The event concluded with the valedictory ceremony in presence of Ms. Rekha Sethi, Director General of All India Management Association, the Apex Body of Management in India. Through the collective efforts of the students at IIM Nagpur, illume 6.0 culminated successfully, fulfilling the intended purpose of giving the management students an opportunity to peek through the veil of time through the eyes of accomplished individuals who not only envisioned a better future, but also realized those dreams.