The forces reshaping engineering are unlike anything we've seen before. As AI accelerates product development and global value chains evolve, where does India's engineering industry go from here? This keynote offers a reality check on the opportunities, risks, and strategic choices that will define the future.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 9:20am - 9:35am IST Scarlet I&II
As the drivers of economic growth shift from labour and capital to technology, intelligence, and industrial capability, organisations and nations must rethink how they compete. This session explores the forces redefining global leadership and where India's greatest opportunities lie.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 9:35am - 10:00am IST Scarlet I&II
As industries are fundamentally reconfigured, competitive advantage will depend less on reacting to change and more on investing ahead of it. This session explores where leaders should place their biggest bets, from future-ready talent and organisational capabilities to innovation, resilience, and long-term investment, to build businesses that remain relevant, competitive, and positioned for sustained growth.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 10:00am - 10:15am IST Scarlet I&II
The near future of engineering will be defined not by scale alone, but by the ability to build at the frontier, faster, smarter, and with greater ownership. As technology cycles compress and competitive advantage shifts to deep capability, this address explores what it will take to lead: from AI-native engineering and system-level thinking to talent, IP, resilience, and execution at global scale.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 10:15am - 10:50am IST Scarlet I&II
India stands at a defining moment in its semiconductor journey. The challenge is not simply to build fabs, but to determine where India can create enduring value across the global semiconductor ecosystem. Should the focus be on manufacturing, design, advanced packaging, equipment, or strategic partnerships? Bringing together diverse perspectives, this debate explores the long-term choices that will shape India's competitiveness, resilience, and leadership in the global chips economy.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 11:25am - 11:50am IST Scarlet I&II
Great products don't happen by accident. They are built through relentless engineering, where every invisible decision, from system architecture to customer experience, shapes performance, reliability, and trust. Discover what it takes to engineer an electric vehicle that feels effortless, because the best engineering is the kind you never notice.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 11:50am - 12:10pm IST Scarlet I&II
As AI commoditises capabilities and lowers barriers to innovation, it is also becoming a powerful enabler of entirely new customer experiences, products, and business models. The competitive advantage will lie not in using AI, but in how organisations harness it to rethink customer value, product strategy, and engineering to build enduring relationships and lasting differentiation.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 12:10pm - 12:45pm IST Scarlet I&II
India's ability to do more with less has powered decades of innovation and growth. But in a world driven by AI, deep tech, and global competition, is frugality still a competitive advantage, or is it limiting ambition? Two industry leaders debate whether the mindset that built India's success is the same one that will define its future.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:00pm - 2:20pm IST Scarlet II
Space is rapidly becoming one of the world's fastest-growing technology markets. With reusable launch systems, private launch providers, advanced propulsion, and small satellites transforming the economics of access to space, India has an opportunity to become a global launch and innovation hub. This session explores how engineering innovation is reshaping the commercial space industry.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:00pm - 2:20pm IST Zinnia
Physical AI is moving intelligence from prediction to action. From autonomous factories to intelligent operations, organisations are deploying AI to transform how machines operate, optimise, and make decisions. Hear from both technology providers and industry leaders on what it takes to scale Physical AI and deliver measurable business outcomes.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:00pm - 2:25pm IST Scarlet I
The future of manufacturing will be won as much on the factory floor as in the design studio. As AI-powered operations, autonomous production, and real-time intelligence reshape manufacturing, organisations are creating factories that are more agile, resilient, and capable of responding instantly to changing demand. This session explores how next-generation manufacturing is becoming a decisive source of competitive advantage.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:25pm - 2:50pm IST Scarlet I
Strategic independence is no longer defined by self-reliance alone. It is about making deliberate choices on technology, talent, infrastructure, and global partnerships. As India builds capabilities across AI, semiconductors, and digital infrastructure, this session brings together diverse perspectives on how to balance sovereignty with openness to create lasting economic and technological advantage.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:25pm - 2:50pm IST Scarlet II
Nuclear energy is moving beyond its traditional role in power generation to become a cornerstone of the next industrial era. From Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and AI infrastructure to clean hydrogen production, energy-intensive manufacturing, and resilient grids, nuclear is unlocking new possibilities for economic growth and technological leadership. This session explores where the greatest opportunities lie and how engineering innovation can accelerate the next chapter of nuclear energy.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:25pm - 2:50pm IST Zinnia
Autonomous systems are becoming the operating model for the physical world. As AI, robotics, sensing, and software converge, organisations are building systems that can think, adapt, and act with minimal human intervention. This session explores the intelligence driving that transformation, and the competitive advantage it creates.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:50pm - 3:15pm IST Scarlet I
Sustainability is becoming a business imperative, but the economics remain contested. As customers demand greener products, industries face a critical question: who pays for the transition? This debate brings together diverse perspectives on whether sustainable engineering is the next source of competitive advantage, or a cost that businesses can no longer afford to absorb.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:50pm - 3:15pm IST Scarlet II
The battery is no longer just an energy source, it's becoming a software-defined platform that powers intelligent mobility, resilient infrastructure, and new business models. As energy storage turns into a strategic differentiator, how will engineers design the next generation of connected, autonomous energy systems?
Tuesday September 1, 2026 2:50pm - 3:15pm IST Zinnia
The true test of innovation is adoption, scale, and impact. As technologies mature faster than ever, this conversation examines what it takes to transform bold ideas into commercially successful products, competitive advantage, and long-term value.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 4:05pm - 4:20pm IST Scarlet I&II
Every major technological breakthrough, from AI and semiconductors to advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure, depends on one critical enabler: energy. As demand for compute and electrification accelerates, energy is emerging as a strategic driver of innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth. This session explores how India can build intelligent, resilient, and future-ready energy systems that power the next generation of engineering and industry
Tuesday September 1, 2026 4:20pm - 4:45pm IST Scarlet I&II
The next challenge in AI is paying for it. As enterprises move from pilots to production, token costs are rapidly becoming one of the largest drivers of AI economics, influencing everything from customer experience to profitability. This session explores how token economics is reshaping enterprise AI and why organisations that master token efficiency will deliver smarter, more scalable, and commercially sustainable AI.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 4:45pm - 5:05pm IST Scarlet I&II
Breakthrough industries are created when frontier science meets bold engineering and relentless execution. From electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and autonomous aerial mobility to entirely new transportation ecosystems, this session explores what it takes to transform deep-tech innovation into globally competitive products, industries, and economic value.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 5:05pm - 5:20pm IST Scarlet I&II
AI leadership will be defined not just by breakthrough models, but by the infrastructure that powers them. As enterprises and governments accelerate AI adoption, sovereign AI infrastructure is becoming the foundation for trust, resilience, security, and innovation. This session explores how India's AI stack, from compute and cloud to data and platforms must evolve to enable scalable AI, strengthen digital sovereignty, and power the next decade of economic growth.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 5:20pm - 5:40pm IST Scarlet I&II
When existing technology falls short, the answer isn't always to look elsewhere. Sometimes, it is to rethink the problem, develop new science and engineer an entirely new solution. Through its work across advanced systems, materials, electronics, autonomy and emerging technologies, DRDO offers a unique perspective on how ideas move from a difficult requirement to a working capability. This conversation explores the mindset, persistence and engineering ingenuity required to build what the world hasn't built before.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 5:40pm - 6:05pm IST Scarlet I&II
The future will be built on a new layer of infrastructure, AI factories, hyperscale data centres, high-performance compute, intelligent networks, advanced semiconductors, and resilient energy systems. As India accelerates investments across digital infrastructure and AI capabilities, the opportunity is no longer just to support the world's technology ambitions, but to help power them. This session explores how engineering, capital, and ecosystem partnerships can position India at the centre of the next global infrastructure race.
Tuesday September 1, 2026 6:05pm - 6:30pm IST Scarlet I&II
