Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, President, The Institution of Engineering and Technology

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, a leading global engineering body, successfully concluded its presidential address event on “Charting the Course for Engineers in India: AI for a Resilient Future”. The event featured a roundtable discussion on new energies by eminent industry experts, the announcement of the winners of the IET India Awards and the IET Scholarship Award, and the presidential address by Dr, Gopichand Katragadda, tech veteran and Founder of Myelin Foundry. Dr. Katragadda is the first Indian president of the global engineering body.

During the address, Dr. Katragadda highlighted that AI jobs should be India’s focus. According to him, AI will create 100 million jobs, of which 70% will be in data creation and annotation, 20% in application development and 10% globally leading algorithms. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “The engineering ecosystem in India is undergoing a dramatic transformation leveraging and driving AI based outcomes. As one of the largest engineering bodies in the world, the IET holds immense responsibility to mobilize the members of the engineering community towards driving AI use for social good. I am looking forward to leading this initiative and contributing towards the IET’s journey towards inspiring and influencing the global engineering community.”

The event also featured a roundtable discussion on the theme “New Energies for a New India”. The discussion focussed on cutting-edge solutions for renewable energy generation, harnessing the potential of wastewater, the role of hydrogen in energy transition, renewable energy for mobility, and leveraging artificial intelligence for enhanced efficiency in energy generation, distribution, and utilization.

Discussing India’s technology potential in the global context, Mr. Shekhar Sanyal, Country Head and Director – IET India said, “With a skilled talent pool and constant innovation, India is well-positioned to redefine global technology standards. I envision a future where India creates products for the whole world, designed to solve some of the biggest challenges that various industries have faced for decades. In this context, the IET, led by Dr. Katragadda, will serve as an important guiding force, facilitating crucial conversations to create a roadmap for responsible, inclusive, and ethical technology implementation.”

Ed Almond, Chief Executive and Secretary, The IET (Global) adds, “Today, the global technology ecosystem is witnessing an exciting era of international collaboration and knowledge sharing. The future of engineering rests on the shoulders of a skilled talent pool. In this context, India holds an immensely important role as a key global talent hub. Today, one of the biggest challenges faced by the industry is a widening industry-academia skills gap, and concerted collaboration efforts are key to bridging the same. Engineers across the world must converge to deliberate, innovate, and chart solutions to the pressing challenges of our times, and the IET plays an important role in leading this.”

The event also featured an Awards Night to facilitate the winners of the IET India Awards and the IET Scholarship Award. success. Through these awards, the IET aims to recognise exceptional contributions to India’s engineering ecosystem and encourage young engineering talent to effectively utlise emerging technologies to solve pressing social challenges.

About The IET

The IET is one of the world’s largest engineering institutions with over 168,000 members in 150 countries. It is also the most multidisciplinary – to reflect the increasingly diverse nature of engineering in the 21st century. The IET is working to engineer a better world by inspiring, informing and influencing our members, engineers and technicians and all those who are touched by or touch the work of engineers.

Institution of Engineering and Technology – India

The IET office started operations in India in 2006, in Bangalore. Today, it has over 13,000 members and has the largest membership base for the IET outside of the UK. Given the increasing global importance of India as an engineering hub their aim is to make an impact that has relevance both locally and internationally. The strategy is to make a meaningful impact on the overall competency and skill levels within the Indian engineering community and play an influencing role with industry in relation to technology innovation and solving problems of public importance. IET does this by working in partnership with industry, academia and government, focusing on the application of practical skills within both learning & career lifecycles, driving innovation and thought leadership through high impact sectors.

For more details, please visit www.theiet.in.

For details on the IET India Scholarship Awards, please visit www.scholarships.theiet.in.