To Desh, Innovation by itself is not enough - it needs to be relevant to the context, and also must lead to a compounded impact - and this is the essence of any Innovation Ecosystem.

The Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation(http://web.mit.edu/deshpandecenter) was set up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2002 to accelerate the impact of technological innovation at MIT. Innovation by its very nature cannot be mandated. Every innovator has no lack of desire to change the world with his/her new idea. However, for the innovation to have an impact, it has to solve a burning problem in the world. The innovator is usually not the person in touch with the market place to know the most relevant problem to solve. The Deshpande Center has methodically created an ecosystem to connect the innovators at MIT to the market place. Desh will talk about the activity of this center for the last six years and how it has lead to several startup companies and technology licenses to large companies.

The Deshpande Foundation set up an Innovation Ecosystem for the NGOs in India in Hubli (http://www.deshpandefoundation.org/sandbox.html). The Deshpande Foundation Sandbox is a geographically defined area of Northwestern Karnataka that centers on the sister cities of Hubli-Dharwad. The foundation currently funds over 50 non-profit organizations. By creating a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth, the Deshpande Foundation believes that it will embed a lasting culture of transformation in the non-profit sector. The innovation is brought to the region by leading corporations in India and a Global Exchange program. In June 2008, The Deshpande Foundation welcomed the first team of 10 Fellows to the Sandbox, with Fellows from both the US and the UK.

By helping create an Innovation Ecosystem that develops, fine-tunes and refines the innovations, the Foundation believes that they can be fully optimized and then scaled up to other parts of India and the world. Akshaya Patra is the first example of such a program. In the last six years it has scaled to feeding mid-day lunches to one Million school children. Desh will discuss how we can create new ecosystems that can serve millions of under-served population, by combining the for-profit practices with the passion of non-profit organizations.

Bridging the digital divide requires significant innovations across the ecosystem to bring locally relevant information online, overcome access barriers and provide contextually meaningful internet applications. As part of the computer science and software development fraternity in India, we are uniquely positioned to be inspired by the opportunities and challenges in our country and develop global solutions strategic to India. By innovating in all aspects of the ecosystem - content, access, applications, the Indian IT community has an opportunity to bring the benefits of the Internet to our nation and at the same time make significant contributions to the rest of the emerging users globally.

This talk will first argue that digital divide is not because of the lack of affordability of PCs and broadband, but because of the missing ecosystem - lack of online content, significant barriers to access and absence of relevant applications. We will then look at some examples of how Google inspired by India has been innovating across these elements of the ecosystem to build global products that overcome the digital divide.

So how exactly is a good innovation ecosystem created?
To be able to create innovation ecosystems there are the essentials and the desirables -

Essentials:

• There has to be a lead innovation (which is revolutionary and compelling) happening in the socio-cultural space, or geographically within close vicinity. This is the 'epicenter'.
• It must be quickly followed by a set of other innovations of similar kind either in support of the lead innovation, or independent of it. This creates a catalytic impact on the creation of the ecosystem.
• The nature of innovation needs to be 'pioneering' within its industry/activity space. This would mean a powerful epicenter from where movement would generate.
• The presence of diverse entities in the landscape, creating a pool of possible interrelationships. This is fertile ground for the ecosystem to emerge from.
• The innovator must be willing and open to share the learnings and travails of the innovation experience. This creates partnerships and collaborations with different entities, and the willingness to explore new relationships.
• The diversity of life/cultural experiences would be encouraged. These are potential 'hooks' for the ecosystem to build upon.

Desirables:

• Supportive environment, like availability of financial resources and talent.
• A prominent and inspirational local leadership.
• Legal frameworks - enabling and assuring
• A larger and varied expertise available for collaboration.

In addition, innovation ecosystems could also be MICRO and MACRO ? Micro would normally be localized in its impact and scale. It would exploit current frameworks - both legal and regulatory - to facilitate flourishing of innovations within that framework. It would use up current capabilities/ resources and talent.
The macro ecosystem would have larger impact points and would force setting up of newer regulatory and legal frameworks. It would create scope for new capabilities and talent to emerge.

Innovation ecosystems in both the cases mentioned above could be either revolutionary OR evolutionary. The ones which are revolutionary are triggered either by a setback both emotional and physical in that system/society, or infectious aspirations of the collective mass in that area. The ones that are evolutionary are triggered by the need to do the "right things" to do " good". They evolve gradually and take longer to create.

It is somewhat like launching a satellite into its next orbit ? the basic innovation, its 'rocket' (the trigger), and the launch pad paraphernalia, which sustains the efforts.

It is also like a movement, with an individual at the helm with her/ his ideology, an event that triggers off this ideology, and the organically growing base of supporters that stems from this.

Our work focuses on the large number of innovators whose innovative products and services can change the life of the rural poor. Hence for us the innovation ecosystem we work within, must begin with this as the focal point. The different entities in our ecosystem are the innovators, designers, distributors/ marketers, government, private sector, educational institutions and their students, researchers at a global level, and so many more emerging ones as we progress.

While innovators have great passion in their idea, many do not know how to take it to its destination. We look at the needs of the innovator from multiple perspectives and help them meet these needs via the larger landscape through various initiatives. In doing so, the entire ecosystem keeps growing organically.

For example, the entire journey from an idea to the market needs many kinds of inputs both in terms of knowledge and skills. We at RIN meet them by creating knowledge sharing programs. Such programs bring together many stakeholders in the ecosystem like patent attorneys, successful innovators/ entrepreneurs, investors etc and share knowledge, skills and networks. Also, experts in the ecosystem are connected with the innovator to offer mentoring throughout their innovation journey. We also partner with Innocentive, a global community of researchers who as solvers address specific technical monitoring needs of the innovators.

Similar things are done for funding needs, especially patient seed capital. We create an innovative partnership with Angel investors to help meet this need, and also build a program fund that offers seed funding.

So as we go about putting the innovators' needs as our prime focus, the ecosystem keeps growing too, and new solutions keep emerging routinely. Each of these pieces is critical in connecting innovators who can positively impact the rural poor. We now see the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and try to solve it as we create and innovate our specific ecosystem.

There are challenges as we move forward, and I will be talking about some of these in the session -

Innovators - Difficulty in Discovering Informal Innovators as they are scattered and unorganized ? awards program using the mass media for reach-out, business plan competitions, networks with patent attorneys, referral programs

Designers - Low knowledge and skills in Design & Product Development for affordability and impact ? create a designer network and product development centre

Distributors/ Marketers/ Enterprises - Poor Distribution channels to reach to the poor ? other social enterprises such as SELCO&TIDE (energy), IDEI (water), Tata Kisan Sansars (Agri), Samruddhi, leverage more micro-finance channels, Creation of an InnoBridge that connects innovators with the industry and could potentially lead to tech transfers

Employees - Weak infusion of Professional Talent in social enterprises ? Fellowship program

Influencers - The weak education system and therefore low exposure to the poor as markets ? My Idea program, proposed course on innovation & social entrepreneurship, student internships, knowledge management program that we propose to launch shortly

Procter & Gamble's "connect and develop" approach to innovation is a good illustration of this new approach to distributed innovation. P&G recognized that there were scientists or engineers elsewhere in the world whose talents it could potentially use. The company has created an extended R&D organization connecting its own 7500 researchers and engineers with this vast external pool through a permeable boundary. Thanks to its innovation ecosystem, the firm's R&D productivity is estimated to have improved nearly 60 per cent, and its innovation success rate has more than doubled. It has been able to do all this while simultaneously lowering its R&D costs. Others like Eli Lilly have also championed a similar "discovery without walls" approach to innovation.

Innovation ecosystems range along a spectrum where a firm has dominant to marginal influence on the innovation agenda, and exclusive to no special rights to the fruits of the innovation. At one end is an innovation ecosystem driven for example by the telecom giant Cisco. The firm out-sources some of its product development to partner companies. However, it always retains control, including the right to acquire its partners at a future date. The ecosystem is centered on Cisco, the nodal firm. At the other end of the spectrum is an ecosystem like the Internet. There is no single nodal organization that influences the resulting innovations. The innovations that result are not entirely predictable but are widely shared. Competitive advantage accrues to a member firm from speedily leveraging these open source innovations to further its own cause.

Between these two extremes are innovation ecosystems where the firm seeks to influence the innovation agenda but does not have the resources to be the dominant node. This is the type that I would like to focus on in this panel. I will draw upon the experiences of Dr. Reddy's in developing the poly pill to prevent cardiac related deaths among the poor. The success of this project requires the firm to maintain the cooperation of multiple actors, both domestic and foreign, while at the same time shaping the innovation to be commercially attractive to the firm.

Social Entrepreneurs themselves are living examples of how borders between sectors are dissolving. Firstly, the composition of a social entrepreneur as Ashoka defines it is to take the best from the two apparently divergent world of entrepreneurship and social change and create a hybrid entity ? a social entrepreneur. A Social Entrepreneur addresses the most crucial problems of society - education, environment, human rights, health and just like an entrepreneur, brings about a radically new solution with the potential to revolutionize a whole sector. She or he has an entrepreneur's qualities like vision, pragmatism, determination but does not use economic profit as the most significant measure of social impact (though frequently depending on it to balance the budget). And they create a whole ecosystem of change around them.

Take the example of Ashoka Fellow Brij Kothari from India, who discovered that even after years of running literacy programs in India, the number of non-literates in our country remains at an overwhelming 444 million. Having diagnosed this problem, Brij set out to marry the two most popular things in Indian society ? Hindi film songs and television to come to the aid of non and neo-literates. His Same Language Subtitling (SLS) program subtitles film song programs, in the same language as the audio. Thus, Hindi programs are subtitled in Hindi and likewise with all the regional language programs in the country. The basic idea is, what you see (text) is what you hear (audio). The audio track is reproduced verbatim in a synchronized manner.

Who are the most likely partners for Brij to spread this message ? the national television company? Yes in terms of reach and spread into every remote rural area in the country. Google? Yes, in terms of scaling up and out into other countries, other languages. Star TV? Yes, India's most popular private television channel to popularize this among urban neo-literates! Brij is exploring every one of them to find a sustainable model for his idea and to scale up considerably. Here you have an ecosystem that is dissolving the borders between government, private sector and a change-maker, to create an ecosystem where everyone has the opportunity and freedom of being a change-maker.

# 2 Insight: It requires one entrepreneur to create an ecosystem of change
A Social Entrepreneur's idea very often disrupts old patterns of action and perception. Where others see barriers they delight in finding solutions and then turning them into society's new and concrete patterns. Accompanying this disruption of old patterns of action and perception is another contribution by every entrepreneur: the idea of catalyzing new local changemakers. Unless the entrepreneur can get someone in one community after another to step forward and seize his or her idea, the entrepreneur will never achieve the spread that is essential to his or her life success.

As the field of social entrepreneurship has grown and multiplied and wired itself together across the globe over the last 25 years, the rate of this plowing and seeding at the local level has accelerated dramatically. Ten years ago, the probability of an idea from Bangladesh affecting a community in Brazil, Poland, or the U.S. was very limited. Now it is common (the best-known example being Muhammad Yunus's impact on the global spread of microcredit) and becoming more common every year.

This whole process is enormously contagious. As the number of large-scale entrepreneurs and local changemakers multiplies, so does the number of support institutions, and the resultant ecosystem makes both entrepreneurship and change-making easier.

Ashoka's role in this transformation can provide a lot of learning for anyone wanting to create a similar ecosystem. We have been engaged in learning from and serving this historical movement across the globe for 25 years. As the largest association of leading social entrepreneurs in the world, we are in a unique position to communicate the significance and relevance of this historical transformation so individuals, organizations, governments, and businesses can understand how this transformation is relevant to them and how they might contribute to it and benefit.

# 3 Insight: Values and complementarities are important ingredients
The third dimension of creating an ecosystem that Ashoka has demonstrated is building up an integrated yet decentralized global community, comprising, at its core, two allied constituencies:

• Social entrepreneurs, focused on systems change-the heartbeat of the community;
• Business-Social entrepreneurs who have made a strong commitment to create social value by merging both worlds - the most important emerging collaborators, who bring respect, empathy and a commitment to congruence

Ashoka's community-building role has been to provide the historical perspective, the vision, and the means to collaborate and share. And important to our process is creating bridges between these two sectors to maximize the flow of expertise and talent. And our experience has been that successful engagement across sectors requires trust, mutual respect and highly valued complementarities.

Based on these values, some of our successes have been ?

• The Ashoka-Deshpande Sandbox Partnership has been able to create an ecosystem where innovation and inter-organizational collaboration rule as modes of creating sustainable change. By also involving local governance, this partnership has also been able to create a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth that we believe, will lead to a lasting culture of transformation within Northwest Karnataka.
• Several CSR programs are now looking into the Sandbox model as a way that multiple corporations could pool resources around a specific geographic area for social good. Ashoka is about to partner with B.K.Jhawar of Usha Martin to begin a similar project for the Jharkhand-Bihar area.
• The Ashoka Support Network or ASN, which is creating a social eco-system of changemakers ASN is a vibrant community of business entrepreneurs and professionals around the globe who learn from and share with our rapidly expanding network of over 2000 social entrepreneurs and each other to achieve social impact. This is really an ecosystem in progress where borders between sectors are porous enough for ideas to freely flow from one to the other.

It is in defining its objectives that ABLE is an ecosystem in progress. It is creating relationships with different entities (researchers, government, biotech industry, bodies representing Indian industry, entrepreneurs, students, investors, media etc.) to fulfill different sub-needs which together will meet the above key need. And in doing so, it is trying out new things, new relationships, some of which may be very successful, and some may struggle. For example, creating the ABLE Bioinvest and other conferences, participating in International trade shows to project the Indian Biotechnology industry, partnering with the different agencies of the Government, like the Department of Biotechnology to create the BIRAP (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Program) which created a breakthrough result in granting more funds for the industry, etc. But the ecosystem moves on, growing and creating new partnerships, strengthening each relationship further, innovating at each level, and learning from the failures.

For some, the expression 'innovation ecosystem' is a subset or synonym of 'innovation system'. Others separate between the expressions, using the expression "innovation system" for labeling a planned innovation environment, and "innovation ecosystem" for an ecological innovation environment.

Innovation begins with ideas, but ideas need to be transformed into useful commercial and social outcomes. A highly evolved innovation ecosystem enables participants to work across enterprise boundaries, focus on customer value creation, respond quickly to shifts in market demand, accelerate the transition from research to production and be more adaptive to change. Innovation ecosystems build a collaborative advantage-a strategic asset for growth and profitability in the years ahead.

The entire spectrum of industries from manufacturing, services, to even public services, is up for transformation. The unprecedented pace of change, disruptive technologies and the massive entry of foreign competition are changing the nature of innovation and the basis of competitive advantage. A new model for innovation is required to compete in the globally networked and knowledge intense economy.

Innovation ecosystems are possibly the new model - collaborative arrangements through which firms combine their individual offers into a coherent, customer-facing solution. When they work, innovation ecosystems allow companies to create value that no one firm could have created alone. The benefits of these systems are real.

There are 3 fundamental types of risks an organisation has to take into account while creating an innovation ecosystem: initiative risks-the familiar uncertainties of managing a project; interdependence risks-the uncertainties of coordinating with complementary innovators; and integration risks-the uncertainties presented by the adoption process across the value chain. Companies that can manage these 3 well, will reap the benefits much better.

So the key question is: How can large companies, SMEs, academia, non-profits, public authorities, governments, and financial institutions come together in a dynamic and symbiotic relationship, in specific areas or application domains, to create environments that are particularly favorable to innovation and growth? It requires a complete change in the way we are used to thinking about innovation so far.

"How we feel about the evolving future tells us who we are as individuals and as a civilization. Do we search for stasis - a regulated, engineered world? Or do we embrace dynamism - a world of constant creation, discovery and competition? Do we value stability and control, or evolution and learning? Do we think progress requires a central blueprint, or do we see it as a decentralized, evolutionary process? Do we consider mistakes permanent disasters, or the correctable by-products of experimentation? Do we crave predictability, or relish surprise?"

- Virginia Postrel, from The Future & Its Enemies

His current appointments include an Adjunct Professorship at the Department of Biotechnology at IIT Madras, with research interests in Bioprocess technology and Biofuels, and a visiting faculty at the Department for Molecular Medicine at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, with research interests in Diabetes and Inflammation. He is a also a Technical Advisor to the Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India in its various programs. In addition he is a member of the scientific board for Biocon Limited, a leading biotechnology company based out of India.

After finishing his undergraduate studies in Chemical engineering from IIT Madras, Shrikumar specialized in Biochemical engineering at IIT Delhi, following which he joined Biocon Limited in Bangalore in 1984 to startup their R&D division. During the 23+ years he spent at Biocon, the company grew from a small company manufacturing industrial enzymes to a specialized Biopharmaceutical company with market capitalization in excess of a billion dollars. In October 2007, he stepped down from his role of Biocon's President of R&D to pursue his personal interests and to contribute his experience to the development of Biotechnology and Biosciences research & education in India.

With a career extending over two decades, Jayashri is today among the most sought after Carnatic musicians. The myriad aficionados, spanning generations, that throng her concerts would bear ample testimony to this. Her work has won her the acclaim of prestigious institutions in the form of prestigious awards such as the Sangeetha Choodamani and Nadabhooshanam.

Jayashri's repertoire of meditative music and rare poetry are best experienced through her compositions in her albums. She has also composed music for dance ballets and documentaries. In this manner, Jayashri has deployed the essence of the classical idiom most effectively in her search for avenues beyond the concert format. More recently she has harnessed her skills towards composing music as a powerful catalyst in promoting our rich legacy in literature and other art forms which opens up new vistas for exploring her creative instincts. Her recent composition for the operatic ballet based on the Tamil Epic - 'Silapadhikaaram' is an example of this.

In her voyage as a cultural ambassador of India's rich heritage, Jayashri has performed extensively in India and abroad in the most prestigious fora, drawing critical acclaim wherever she performed. Jayashri has the rare privilege of being the first Carnatic classical performer in the Opera House in Durban and the Russian Opera House in Helsinki, Finland. To say that her music is global would indeed be a truism. Her training in Hindustani Classical system has further helped her in this musical odyssey. Her researches into music are unending, and besides her musical performances, she continues to deliver workshops all over the world on the subject of World Music. Her contribution and involvement with schools where she has conducted workshops and interactive sessions to kindle interest amongst school children into our rich tradition of music is her way of giving back something of what she has gained. Her very limited foray into film music has won her the Filmfare award for the popular 'Vaseegara' that has drawn a new class of listeners into the world of classical music.

Jayashri represents the model emerging new generation musician India is proud of. A skillful blend of uncompromising adherence to the core tradition of classical carnatic music as well as a ceaseless quest for quality music in any form would best personify Jayashri.

Some of his awards include Title Yuva Kala Bharathi - Bharath Kalachar – 1997, Title Sangeetha Kala Bharathi – 2000, Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar Award – Sangeet Natak Akademi -2006 etc.

Krishna has released over 30 albums, including live concerts and thematic albums from leading labels like HMV, Music Today, Inreco, Charsur, and Rajalakshmi Audio. Some of the most notable are listed on his website.

His resonant and mellifluous voice and strict adherence to classicism have enriched his art. His music is marked with a very high level of aesthetics in conception and execution. He is known for his tremendous manodharma (imagination) and sampradaya (traditional) sangeetha (music). His complete involvement and his ability to unfold ragas with ease have left many listeners lost in his music. His renditions of vilamba kalam (slow tempo) compositions, soaked with bhakthi (devotion) and bhava (emotion), are a treat to every listener.

As a teacher Krishna has music students from India, North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. He is known for his strict adherence to traditional values of the music system and has very high expectations of his students. A firm believer in traditional learning techniques, Krishna gives much importance to a firm grounding in fundamentals and expects dedicated practice of his students. Today, many of his students are competing in top music competitions and a few can even be found on the concert platform.

As a researcher he is deeply involved in research in the field of Carnatic music. He has given numerous lecture demonstrations on various facets of Carnatic music and its history at important institutions. He is presently working on audio archiving the Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini, a musical treatise of very great importance and significance in relation to development of Carnatic music.

As a composer Krishna assisted his guru Sri Seetharama Sharma in many of his composing projects, including musical operas like The Ramayana (presented in The Reunion Islands in 1993), orchestra presentations and choir presentations. He has set music to a number of lyrics and compositions. Krishna also toured Singapore in 2001 to compose and conduct the orchestra of the Singapore Fine Arts Society supported by a grant from the National Arts Council of Singapore. This program was titled "On a Classical Trail."

In 2007, Krishna coauthored the first coffee table book on Carnatic music, Voices Within. The book was written as a salute to 7 great musicians who had a seminal influence in shaping the Carnatic music system, and depicted the life and times of each musician while highlighting relevant social, political, and cultural movements of that time.

In 2001, along with musicians Bombay Jayashree and Sanjay Subramanian, Krishna authored a book on Professor Sambamoorthy, an Indian musicologist of great international repute, to commemorate his birth centenary. This is a publication of the Music Academy, Chennai.

In 1998, along with musicians Vijay Siva and Dr Sunder, Krishna authored the first ever Carnatic music appreciation album titled "Learning to Appreciate Carnatic Music." This album, till date, is one of its kinds and has achieved record sales.

Krishna continues to contribute many articles to various publications and internet sites regarding art, culture, and socio-political issues as well as to his own website. He is the cofounder of Matrka, an organization established to create a new platform to present Carnatic music so that this art may extend and reach lovers of music in various ways. (www.matrka.org) Matrka published Voices Within, the first ever coffee table book on Carnatic music in 2007.

Along with Innovation Coach and Partner of IDEAS-RS, R. Sridhar, Matrka conducted its first business creativity workshop. The workshop studies the 7 musicians depicted in Voices Within, and examines their techniques for innovation in a highly tradition bound and conventional form of music for application in business in a fast changing world, where the biggest barrier to progress and growth is 'the traditional mind set'.

He is also the cofounder of Jnanarnava Trust, an organization devoted to the research, documentation and archival of the ancient traditions in Carnatic music. (www.jnanarnava.org) In 2006, the trust launched its Audio Archival Project of the Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini, an expansive text containing fully notated compositions that provide insights to Carnatic music from nearly 150 years ago. The first Audio Book containing renderings of 10 compositions from the text was released.

Cofounder of Sumanasa Foundation, an organization to promote Carnatic music and musicians in and around rural areas by sponsoring upcoming musicians. This organization also actively works to identify talented, underprivileged youngsters and provides them an opportunity to further develop their skills by providing them with the necessary assistance.

To celebrate the new millennium, as the president of YACM, Krishna organized the biggest musical extravaganza that Carnatic music has ever seen featuring musicians of seven generations (over 100 musicians) and 600 children. It included live performances and audiovisual presentations. Served as president of the Youth Association for Classical Music (YACM) from 1996-1999 during which time he organized many lecture-demonstrations in over 100 schools (100,000 children between ages of 12 and 17) in Chennai, India, amongst other innovative and far-reaching projects. Organized, along with two other musicians, a day-long Carnatic music workshop for company executives, CEOs, CFOs, and engineers using multimedia presentations.

Kanniks - based in Cincinnati Ohio, hails from Chennai India. He graduated with a Bachelors degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, and then later on acquired advanced degrees in Engineering and Business in the United States. He is a senior consultant in the field of Information Technology with particular emphasis on Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing.

All of Kanniks' projects are consistent with his vision of building community through the celebration of threads of commonality between diverse peoples and cultures.

His recent presentation on the Western Airs of Muthusvami Dikshitar featuring the interaction between the 19th century composer and Celtic tunes of the period, at the 81st Annual Conference of the Music Academy, Madras won him awards. His recent CD recording 'Vismaya - An Indo Celtic Musical Journey' featuring the first ever compilation of the 39 compositions of Dikshitar in this genre, has earned wide acclaim. Dr. Pappu Venugopala Rao of the American Institute of Indian Studies has described this album as 'a marvelous effort and a recording to be owned and cherished by every musician.'.

Kanniks' magnum opus 'Shanti A Journey of Peace' a musical theater production and a choral symphony of ragas made history by bringing together a community choir of over 150 singers of both Indian and western origin in the Cincinnati community, in a spectacular performance at the prestigious Aronoff Center for the Arts.

The magic of Shanti was re-created at Lehigh valley when Shanti was performed by the newly formed Lehigh valley Indian community choir and singers from local choirs along with guest singers from the Martin Luther King coalition chorale who were inspired to drive up to Bethlehem PA from Cincinnati OH to participate in this grand venture. Shanti was performed in 2006 and again in October 2008 in the Lehigh valley.

Shanti won accolades from critics and community leaders at large both in Ohio and in the Lehigh area. In addition it received a glowing tribute from the well known writer Sujata in the tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan.

Shanti left participants and audiences moved. The entire series of rehearsals and workshops leading upto the performance constitute a transformative experience building communities between diverse groups such as the Martin Luther King coalition choir, singers from the Indian diaspora spanning a diverse range of ages from 21 through 80 covering a range of languages, professions and more. The Cincinnati Indian community choir founded by Kanniks boasts of participants speaking a range of languages from Assamese to Malayalam.

Kanniks ceaselessly inspires people through his passion for music and his commitment to empower individuals and societies through music. He stands for the possibility of bringing widespread awareness of the depth and breadth and the non-denominational spiritual core of Indian music and culture amongst the Indian diaspora. His vision of a pan-Indian music Raaga Vidya (that he passionately teaches) builds upon the core of commonality of various Indian music forms and appeals to practitioners and connoisseurs of Karnatic and Hindustani music alike.

Kanniks' Raaga Vidya workshops where he powerfully shares the wealth of Indian music through pattern recognition exercises as well as examples from contemporary music are a great draw amongst the diaspora especially amongst children of Indian origin. He worked with the children of the community for a 9 month period on 'Beyond Seasons' a project that brought the raagas of the seasons through a series of workshops spanning the four seasons. This workshop series culminated in The Sound of Seasons, a grand concert that brought together the Greater Cincinnati Indian Children's Choir (students from the workshop series), the Cincinnati Children's choir and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. This work represents the first time that the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra played Raaga based music.

In Chitram - another multimedia theater production, Kanniks explores the diversity and plurality inherent in the very nature of Indian culture, through music, dance and a journey through the multi-faceted aspects of India. Chitram was performed at Wright State University in Spring 2005 and was hailed as an extraordinarily educative program created with the finest sense of aesthetics. Kanniks' production. Chitram received attention from scholars such as Solomon Pappaiah when it was performed at the Tamilnadu Foundation in Detroit. Chitram made its first corporate debut in 2006 when it was performed for the Asia Pacific American Forum at General Electric Corporation, Cincinnati OH.

As a musician, Kanniks has collaborated with leading artistes from around the world. His work The Snake Concerto was performed by the prestigious Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, conducted by John Morris Russell. His score for Jeevan Taal (produced by Mallika Sarabhai - for Mahotsav 1999), based on several Indian folk music traditions was choreographed by Mrinalini Sarabhai, one of the foremost exponents of classical and modern Indian dance, and has received wide acclaim from the Indian press.

Kanniks has collaborated with Lakshmi Shankar (featured in the Academy Award winning score of Gandhi) one of the foremost classical musicians of India and with celebrated conductor Catherine Roma on several occasions.

In 1998, Kanniks composed The Cosmic Dance Halls, a musical feature celebrating the five revered Dance Hall temples of Shiva Nataraja. This work weaves the legends around the five dance halls in a musical framework based on south indian classical music, and it draws selectively from the tamil hymns of the Nayanmar saints of the 1st millennium CE. The Cosmic Dance Halls was choreographed by Kalaimamani Saraswathi Sundaresan and was performed at the Patteeswarar temple at Coimbatore during the Natyanjali festival in 1998 and has been featured several times on the state owned television network Doordarshan. Kanniks' album Tiruvarangam (1992) explores the Prabandam hymns of the Alwars of the 1st millennium CE (celebrating the glory of Srirangam in Tamilnadu) in a contemporary idiom, and has been acclaimed widely. His current release Tamil Marai (2006) is a compilation of his recordings where he has set ancient Tamil verses to contemporary music accessible to children.

His recording Banaras, released under his ASIA label presents his own compositions as well as his rendition of the kritis of Muthuswamy Dikshitar in his own unique style of rendition.

In 1996, Kanniks composed and directed The Blue Jewel, a musical salutation to the planet Earth, bringing together a wide range of artistes to celebrate the message of interconnectedness of life on earth. The Blue Jewel received acclaim from critics and community leaders alike in Cincinnati, and was performed again in 1997 and in 1999. It was performed again in November 2008.

Kanniks has lectured extensively on Indian culture and has offered music workshops and diversity training at several educational institutions, corporations and cultural organizations nationwide. Kanniks' workshops have been hailed as being very informative and comprehensive and have earned tremendous praise from diverse audiences.

Kanniks has been receiving support for his creative work in the form of several grants from the City of Cincinnati, the Ohio Arts Council and the Fine Arts Fund, since 1996.

Kanniks is the force behind the Greater Cincinnati Indian community choir that he founded to explore polyphonic avenues in raaga based music.

Kanniks is unconditionally committed to spreading awareness of the unique cultural wealth of India and his website Templenet, that he has single handedly authored and published has been the authoritative source of information on the temples of India on the internet for the last 10 years.

Kanniks is a passionate educator and he teaches Indian Music at the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. He also regularly conducts music workshops and classes for children as well as adult learners at various venues in the United States.

Dr. Nagarajan had maintained his technical vitality during his IBM career (and naturally, prior-to and since). In 1990, he was given the "Outstanding Younger Member Award" by the Institute of Environmental Sciences & Technology, and in 2007, received the Maurice Simpson Technical Editors' Award from the same Institute for best Journal paper in Contamination Control. He has more than 100 publications, presentations and patents to his credit, accumulated over a 20-year professional career. He has participated in contamination-related Standards Committees and Working Groups, with three published industry standards to his credit (IDEMA Microcontamination Standards M5-98, M9-98, and SEMATECH Standard 94052358A). He has taught tutorials, in solo-mode as well as with colleagues, on contamination control to worldwide audiences. He is the Principal Coordinator for L-RAMP (Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Program) at IIT Madras, an innovation-incubation initiative.

Dr. Nagarajan obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Yale University in 1986. and a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering in 1981 from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

New Media & Documentation In an era of accelerating change and against a backdrop of globalization and rapid urbanization, Sacred World works with the world's spiritual cultures to develop new forms of media and documentation so that perennial wisdom can be captured and made accessible to all. The documentation of traditional cultures is not just a passive exercise of 'Scanning in Culture'! Instead, Sacred World's work has shown and continues to show that engagement with culture provokes a fundamental re-questioning of the form of computer user interfaces; hence, such engagement with culture is a valuable process to spark off technological innovation.

Enlightenment Here & Now! Sacred World's content work demonstrates a commitment to the idealistic notion that the human being is an emblem of perfection and capable of achieving enlightenment within one's lifetime. Given the divisions between the sacred and the spiritual that exist in modern life, Sacred World's products bridge the gap and allow people to interact with meaningful tools and media, experience self-realization, reconnect with Nature and remember higher ideals. Any technology that promotes the remembrance of nature and crate well-being will naturally represent innovation. Innovation is naturally framed in the context of the spiritual and environmental challenges facing contemporary society today.

Developing Nations As Centers Of Innovation The Sacred World's research laboratories are located in South and South East Asia, in developing nations and emerging economies. Its projects show that developing nations can become centres of innovation, create their own insights into technology interface design, culturally reflective computing and culture-conscious product design. In the past, design artifacts have been situated in a seamless interface between mythology, ritual, form and function, and designs have been inspired by commitments to Nature and are rooted in village contexts. With increased urbanisation, there exists displacement and modern computing hasn't addressed the personal identity needs of Asian cultures. In addition the rural urban divide has resulted in inequity with a lack of presence of the traditional aesthetics and values in Modern design. Mirroring Gandhian writings on the need to incorporate village development, Sacred World's projects explore possible scenarios of creatively engaging the creativity of village aesthetics in Modern technology and design. Correspondingly the works inspired by village aesthetics can provide a richer sensual experience with modern media.

Models Of Development Sacred World's works put forth a model of development in which commitment to technological innovation and cultural worldview goes hand in hand. Through direct engagement with traditional arts, the Sacred World develops a voice for the preservation of hand skills and 'heart' based creativity, which is the substratum of traditional arts and crafts. The works of the Sacred World illustrate valuable bridges between traditional arts, contemporary design and information technology.

Technology & Identity Within this theme, Sacred World seeks to build culturally-reflective technology that can serve as a vehicle for preserving and expressing community identity. In the context of developing nations, Sacred World pursues a model of development in which the introduction of techno-culture in developing nations will not wipe out traditional communities but will, instead, preserve tradition, reintegrating skills and traditional aesthetics in the design of new tools. As computing technology proliferates in developing nations, Sacred World's projects explore alternatives to the Graphic User Interface (GUI) including computing that responds to the sense of touch, texture and palpability. The digital divide is a chasm created by factors that include economic and cultural. While economic factors make products unaffordable, cultural factors can result in products designed with a Western or 'literate' worldview or products being neither usable nor useful to people living in traditional cultures.

Technology is not just seen as 'technology', but as an extension and expression of a community's identity. Technology itself can become a 'cultural bridge'.

Prior to his current position, he spent 17 years at the prestigious Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where Ranjit pioneered explorations in computer-aided design and Active Learning, which have been consistently years ahead of the field.

Ranjit's work on the provocative intersection of culture and technology has been shown in museums across the world: In 1989, The Electronic Sketchbook of Tibetan Thangka Painting was displayed in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. In 1998, he led the PARC-IGNCA collaboration in India to develop the Gita-Govinda Multimedia Experience, a pioneering demonstration of a complex physical-virtual multimedia document based on the poet Jayadeva's 12th century love poem, the Gita-Govinda. In 1998-2002 he conceived and directed The Crossing Project: Living, Dying, and Transformation in Banaras, which developed a panorama of digital information access technologies, personalized by the cultural traditions of Banaras, as well as demonstrated the world's pioneering examples of tactile, physical computing, and mobile and wearable computing.

During 2002-05, Ranjit visualised and directed the Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum in New Delhi, one of the world's first digital multimedia museums. Located at the site where Mahatma Gandhi attained martyrdom, the museum preserves the historical events of Gandhiji's life in digital form but also presents a spectrum of information technology visions inspired by Gandhian thought.

Currently, Ranjit is developing the Magic Strings of Saraswati, re-establishing the important value of music and spirituality in contemporary life.

He is the author of two books, and the recipient of the Mahavir Mahatma award for the propagation of peace in 2007, a three times recipient of the ID Magazine awards in Design, as well the Ars Electronica Award for Interactive art, and the Asian Cultural Council fellowship.

In parallel with his career in Design and Technology, he is an active sitar performer, and has performed at the world's greatest learning centers and concert halls, including the Festival of Asia in Spain in 2007.

Together, the proficiency in multimedia technology as well as traditional knowledge systems allows Ranjit to bridge multiple worlds, between technology and culture, techno-Man and traditional Man, and between developed and developing worlds.

She attributes her success and achievements till today to these individuals and to the bountiful blessings of her beloved Ambal, the Goddess Kamakshi of Kanchipuram.

In addition to being an accomplished musician, Sowmya also has excellent academic credentials. She is a double postgraduate (Master's in Chemistry as well as Indian Music) and was a top-ranked scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) and the University of Madras. Discontinuing her doctoral research program at IIT to concentrate on her music, she is now a widely traveled, popular vocalist who strives to adhere to the strict classical values imbibed from her gurus Dr. Ramanathan and Smt. Mukta.

Her work has won her the acclaim of prestigious institutions in the form of prestigious awards Yuva Kala Bharathi, Nada Bhushanam, Sangeetha Saptha Sagara.

Travelling around the world she has performed in USA, UK, France, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Oman (for concerts, lecture-demonstrations, workshops and teaching assignments).

She has authored Nadanubhava, the world's first encyclopedic CD-ROM on Carnatic Music. Created "Nadopasana - My Own Carnatic Tutor", the world's first self-help Carnatic music guru based on Video CD & Karaoke format. She is the first Carnatic musician to make a Video CD album (Live concert of Mahakavi Bharatiyar songs).Sowmya conducted lecture-demonstrations and workshops for SPIC-MACAY, YACM (Chennai) and various universities worldwide. She performed the Main concert at the Radio Sangeet Sammelan, New Delhi, 1999 and also in the World Tamil Conference, Tanjore, 1995.

Her achievements include being Artiste of Choice - Tamil Isai Nataka Mandram, Chennai, for concerts at selected centres in Tamil Nadu in the year 1988. Also she has been associated with Associated since childhood, with Ramalingar Pani Mandram, Chennai to propagate Ramalingar's "Arutpa"). The desire to propagate the traditions of South Indian music worldwide led her to associate with her friend and vocalist Shashikiran, to establish Carnatica, an institution dedicated to music & dance instruction, archival, talent search and other related activities. Carnatica's web portal is now a popular online destination for music-related information, products, courses and discussions.

Alka is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, and has work experience in the diverse areas of project management, sales & marketing, creative consulting, Innovation Consulting and facilitation. Currently she works out of Singapore as a professional in the area of Innovation and Creative Thinking, as an Associate Consultant with Erehwon Innovation Consulting. The focus area now is orbit shift innovation with organisations across industries and geographies - developing breakthrough insights, unearthing mindset gravity and facilitating mindset shifts, and helping individuals/ teams unleash the power of orbit shift innovation.

Her latest passion is taking innovation and creativity to the 'social sector' and it excites her to see the enormous leveraging power of innovation in this space. Her dream is to be able to merge the principles of success in the for,profit space, with the passion in the non,profit space, and really scale up the efforts with the power of innovative thinking.

Prior to joining Google, Raj was Vice President of Engineering at Ketera Technologies, a KPCB funded start-up. Ketera Technologies is the leading provider of on-demand spend management and eprocurement solutions. Raj was also responsible for the creation and oversight of Ketera's Indian subsidiary in Bangalore which provides development, product management, marketing, support and client services to the parent company.

Prior to Ketera, Raj was founder and CEO of 123Signup, a leading provider of on-demand event registration and membership management services. Raj continues to be Chairman of the Board of 123Signup.

In 1994 Raj created and managed Informix India Development Center. He pioneered the Build-Operate-Transfer model for this operation.

Raj was also VP of Engineering at Independence Technologies. This company brought Tuxedo out of (then) Bell labs and made it a commercial product. The Company was successfully sold to BEA.

He has worked in various leadership roles at GRiD Systems and Intel.

Raj holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay and a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is continuing his education in leadership at the Aji Network.

Raj is an active charter member of TiE, and has served on many committees. He is serving as Director on TiE's Silicon Valley's Board for the 2007-2008 term, and was convener for TiEcon 2007. Raj is also active in Pan IIT Alumni affairs. He has been recently appointed as Trustee for Foundation for Excellence - Gujarat. He was a member of the Alliance of Chief Executive and a Charter Member of the World Entrepreneurs Organization Silicon Valley Chapter. In past Raj has served on executive committees of the Jain Center and Chinmaya Mission San Jose.

Raj is also active in Pan IIT Alumni affairs, and served on the board of Pan IIT Alumni Association (US) in 2002-2003.