CEO, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission(KDEM)
Session 3
Karnataka Elevating India & The World
14:00 - 14:15
Fire Side Chat
Head of Solution Consulting (India), Planview
A key NASSCOM leader offering an industry-wide view of GCC trends, talent needs, and India’s evolving capability landscape.
VP-Membership, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
VP-Corporate Relations. PMI Bangalore India Chapter
Secretary and Treasurer, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
VP – Partnership and Academic Alliances, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
VP – Technology and Marcom, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
VP-Special Programs, Outreach and Social Impact, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
President, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
VP- Volunteering, PMI Bangalore India Chapter
Kum. Harshitha Rajendra embarked on her Bharatanatyam journey at
the tender age of eight, dedicating herself to mastering the art with
unwavering passion. Since 2012, she has been refining her skills under the expert guidance of Natyacharya Sri Mithun Shyam at the renowned institute Vaishnavi Natyashala, where she continues to grow as a dancer. She is currently both a student and a faculty member at Vaishnavi Natyashala.
She successfully completed her Prathama Pravesha in 2016 and her
Arangetram in February 2024, earning the title of “Vaishnavi Rathna,”
marking a significant milestone in her Bharatanatyam journey.
She has completed the Junior Dance Exam, securing 94.25% conducted by the Karnataka Secondary Examination Board.S he is a recipient of the prestigious Karnataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy Scholarship for the year 2024-25.
A neurosurgeon with 30 years of professional experience. Performed more than 15000 neurosurgical procedures including neuro interventions. Vascular & Endovascular neurosurgery is my main interest. Associated with the DNB neurosurgery program since 1994 and has several publications in national and international journals.
Presently working as Lead Consultant Neurosurgeon at Aster Hospital Whitefield, Bangalore, INDIA
Licensure :
General Medical Council (UK) Temporary 1996-1998.
Karnataka Medical Council (Permanent) KMC 27283
Abhishek Kotecha is the Founder & CEO of Datavtar AI, building an AI execution platform that transforms how businesses deliver value. With 14+ years in IT and over a decade specializing in AI/ML, he previously served as Business Technology Manager at Accenture AI and Senior Consultant at PwC Advisory, where he led large-scale digital transformation programs for Fortune 500 clients across the US, UK, and India.
His work on Smart City Ahmedabad’s “One Nation, One Card” payment initiative was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He holds certifications including Google Gen AI Expert, SAFe Product Manager, AWS Solutions Architect, and SCRUM Product Owner.
Abhishek is currently focused on eliminating the vision-execution gap in enterprises through AI-powered delivery acceleration.
Abhishek Kateliya is Head of Strategy at Nexstem, a Bengaluru-based neurotech company building brain–computer interface solutions that turn cutting-edge biosignal science into real-world products.
An engineer by training, he has spent more than eight years across MNCs, AI-powered startups in fintech and blockchain, and founding his own ventures before moving into deeptech strategy, giving him an end-to-end view from R&D to market for technology-heavy businesses. At Nexstem, he works on what he calls “capitalistic science” – designing business models, go-to-market strategies, and partnerships that make long-horizon R&D commercially viable.
Beyond operations, Abhishek actively writes and speaks on deeptech, funding, product strategy, and the healthcare and regulatory landscape in India, aiming to make the realities of building world-class technology more accessible to founders, operators, and policy shapers.
Nexstem develops non-invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) solutions, including hardware like the Instinct headset and a software ecosystem, to allow direct communication between the human brain and external devices. Their technology, which uses AI to analyze biosignals like EEG, is intended to empower researchers and developers to create new applications in areas like healthcare, gaming, and consumer wearables. Nexstem offers development kits and licenses its technology to help others build BCI use cases.
Tharun Kumar serves as the Founder & CEO of ECOSTP Technologies.
He and his team have pioneered a distinctive biomimicry based Net Zero sewage treatment technology, mirroring the digestive system of a cow. He was recently featured by BBC. Tharun brings a wealth of experience, having previously held key technical and business leadership roles at Sutherland, ICICI, Cable & Wireless, Hughes, and Motorola.
ECOSTP’s moonshot mission is to naturally reclaim every drop of wastewater, and they have already successfully reclaimed over 7 billion liters of sewage with 350+ clients in 24 states.Tharun’s exceptional contributions have earned him global recognition, including the ‘Startup Entrepreneur of the Year’ Award from the Economic Times Leaders of Tomorrow, and he holds a patent in the field of bioengineering for sewage treatment.
Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta is the CEO of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), an initiative by the Government of Karnataka (GoK) to accelerate the growth of the state’s digital economy. Under his leadership, KDEM is driving efforts to ensure Karnataka contributes the largest share towards the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of a USD 1 trillion digital economy.
With over 27 years of diverse experience, Mr. Gupta has served as an administrator, entrepreneur, business leader, mentor, and key enabler of India’s IT growth. He is actively leading strategic initiatives
in Global Capability Centres (GCCs), IT/ITES, Innovation C Startups, ESDM, Beyond Bengaluru, and Talent Acceleration.
Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed is the CEO and Director of C-CAMP from 2009 till present. His initial training has been in neurosciences, where he received his PhD from Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany from 2002-2006 and followed it up by postdoctoral training at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) from 2006-2009. At the same time, he also underwent training in management for Biotech and Innovation from QB3 at UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco from 2007-2009. He has also completed a biotech management program for biotech executives at Wharton School of Management in the year 2012. In the Bay area, he served as a Management Consultant with QB3 New Biotech Venture Consulting and in an individual capacity, he also consulted for many biotech firms in the US.
Dr. Saiyed is an Adjunct Faculty at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and also Amrita Institute – School of Biotechnology since 2015. He also heads the Discovery to Innovation Accelerator program at C-CAMP. He is actively involved in promoting innovation
in lifescience / healthcare by supporting translation of discoveries to application, entrepreneurship and technology development.
Dr. Saiyed is also Co-chair of India AMR Innovation Hub (IAIH), a National Level Initiative anchored at the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser, Govt. of India
Satyakam is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Wyser. Wyser is a VC fund focused on accelerating entrepreneurial success of Agentic AI first enterprise/B2B startups at pre-seed/seed stage of their journeys.
He has been a successful entrepreneur and corporate leader with more than 22 years of business experience in global companies as General Electric, Genpact, and LTI Mindtree. Satyakam has domain expertise in the field of Insights, Analytics & Artificial Intelligence. He holds a patent (UK) in AI application in Analytics & Insights
Having served in various leadership positions at GE, Genpact including establishing the insights practice from scratch, in 2012, Satyakam successfully founded Lymbyc, one of India’s first AI product companies. Lymbyc was one of the founding organizations of a new enterprise software category globally, called Decision Intelligence. In 2019, LTI (now LTIMindtree) acquired Lymbyc and post a successful exit, Satyakam founded Fosfor, the Data Products division of and for LTIMindtree.
Satyakam is a sought after speaker in the AI Leadership & Startup communities. He is co-author of ‘Wiley Innovation Black Book Enterprise 4.0’, a jury member on various start-up communities including Elevate of KDEM, Government of Karnataka, and has sat on the academic advisory board of 2 leading universities in India. He was bestowed the honor of MSME Business Owner of year in 2018 by Business World, and Lymbyc was picked by the Government of Canada as one of the 5 top startups across all categories in India to be part of their accelerator program in Canada.
Shri. Arup Kumar Mallick, is General Manager (HMA). Prior he was GM(CS & QA), at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., India. He has completed Bachelor of Engineering (Metallurgy) from Jadavpur University of Kolkata and PG Diploma in Marketing Management & an IPMA Level C certificate holder.
He took over as GM (CS& QA) at Corporate Office HAL w.e.f July 2024. Prior to this, he was GM(Marketing). He has an immense expertise and domain knowledge on Aerospace Marketing both at domestic & international level. He brings in an experience of more than 15 years in Aerospace & Defence related business.
Prior to joining HAL, Mr. Arup Kumar Mallick has worked at many levels across various industries in multiple capacities including Engineering, Project Management and International Marketing.
With an industrial experience spanning over 33 years across Private & Public sector, Mr. Arup Kumar Mallick brings in immense knowledge and expertise related to Metallurgical engineering as well as Marketing and programme /project Management across spectrum of industries.
Niranjan Hegde hails from a culturally rich place called Manchikeri, a small hamlet tucked away in the greeneries of the Western Ghat region in the Uttara Kannada district.
Manchikeri has gifted many well-known artistes like Pt. Ganapathi Bhat, Hasanagi, Pt Shripad Hegde Kampli, and Pt Nagaraj Hegde Shirnala to the music world. Now Niranjan is showing all
signs of a very promising budding flautist.
Born on 24th March 1992 to Shri Raghupati Hegde and Shrimati Mahadevi Hegde, Niranjan grew up listening to the sound of music that was in the air all the time at his birth place. People in and
around Manchikeri get to enjoy music in a range of forms, from Yakshagana shows to Hindustani Classical Music concerts.
Niranjan’s parents supported his interest and his training in flute in Hindustani music commenced in the Gurukul tradition under the able guidance of Pt Nagaraj Hegde (one of the senior most
disciples of Pt Venkatesh Godkhindi) at Gokula Bansuri Gurukula, Shirnala.
Under his Guru Nagaraj Hegde, Niranjan has been training for the past fifteen years in Gurushishya parampara
Performances and Achievements:
Niranjan Hegde has grabbed first place in state level youth festival.He is B high grade artist of Akashvani and Doordarshan .
He has given solo performances on various platforms, including Pt. Vinayak Torvi Music Foundation, Bangalore, Oudumbar, Sangli, Maharashtra and Drupad festival at valley school Bangalore, Girinagar Sangeeth sabha and many more in and out side the Karnataka.
He has also accompanied his Guru on various stages in and outside Karnataka. And the sound of his flute reverberated in innumerable events in and around his native place in
the past few years. As a Guru/Tutor he has been teaching to many students in his house and also via online. He also Kala Acharya at
Vidyakshetra Gurukulam
Sharad Sharma co-founded iSPIRT Foundation, a non-profit technology think tank that has conceptualized India Stack, Health Stack, and other digital public goods. Sharad co-founded Teltier Technologies, a wireless infrastructure startup now part of CISCO. An active angel investor with over two dozen investments, he was also instrumental in the success of India’s first IP-focused fund, the India Innovation Fund. Sharad is a National Startup Advisory Council member and SEBI’s Financial and Regulatory Technology Committee member. He Chairs the IFSCA’s Expert Committee on Asset Tokenization and is a UN’s AI Advisory Body member. An alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, he previously held R&D leadership positions at Yahoo, VERITAS, Symantec, Lucent, and AT&T.
Group Captain Angad Pratap joined the National Defence Academy in Dec 2000 and got commissioned as a Fighter Pilot in Dec 2004.
In his operational career he has flown the Mig-21 Bison and the Sukhoi-30 MKI* aircraft. He became a Qualified Flying Instructor in 2014 and an Experimental Test Pilot in 2017. In Dec 2017, he was a part of the first launch of the Brahmos-Air Version Missile from Sukhoi aircraft and in Jan 2019, he test fired India’s first Anti-Radiation Missile, the Rudram-1 or NGARM from the Sukhoi aircraft.
He has a total of 2300 hours across 19 different types of aircraft including fighters and transport class. He has completed 6 different types of survival trainings in both India and abroad.
He has a keen interest in Physics & Aerodynamics. He is an “IRONMAN”, having completed the Full Ironman Triathlon 2023 at Subic Bay, Philippines completing a continuous 4 km swim in the ocean followed by a 180 km cycle followed by a full 42 km Marathon run. He is a trained skydiver, a certified Level-4 Scuba Diver, has completed a 100 km Ultra Marathon and has a 7 km non-stop swim to his credit. He is an advanced level mountaineer and has climbed an 18,000ft peak in Sikkim. Gp Capt Angad is presently pursuing an M Tech (by research) from IISc, Bengaluru.
Shreya is the Director & Head at Nasscom Deeptech, leading the organization’s vision for India’s technology future with over 15 years of experience.
For the past six years, Shreya has been instrumental in shaping the Deeptech ecosystem. In her current capacity, she drives Deeptech & Startups initiatives, advancing national IP strategies, and building a stronger foundation for India’s technology-led future. Her commitment is focused on ecosystem building, fostering innovation, nurturing entrepreneurship, and championing diversity in tech. She also established and scaled major Nasscom programs, including Emerge50, Product Skills, and the Nasscom Women Product Champions (NWPC).
Shreya’s leadership is grounded in a strong scientific foundation. Her career began following an MSc in Biotechnology with a pivotal decade spent in the pharmaceutical industry. This early experience provided her with crucial, disciplined insight into research and innovation within regulated sectors, which she now applies to championing entrepreneurship and diversity in the Deeptech landscape.
Srivardhini K. Jha is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Chairperson of NSRCEL, IIMB’s startup incubator. Her research and teaching interest is in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the emerging country context. She has published extensively in top-tier international journals, written books, and authored several reports, white papers and thought leadership articles. She has also contributed to policy formulation on innovation and entrepreneurship at both the State and National levels. In recognition of her teaching excellence and her contributions to shaping India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, she was conferred the National Teachers’ Award in 2025.
Srivardhini holds a Ph.D. in Corporate Strategy and Policy from IIMB, an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a BS is Information Science and Engineering from VTU. Prior to entering academia, she held senior managerial positions at Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Infosys.
Dr. R. Balasubramaniam is a development scholar, public policy advocate, and leadership educator with over four decades of grassroots experience. He is the founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), a development organization working at the intersection of health, education, and community empowerment in India. A physician by training and a Harvard-educated public leader and former faculty at Cornell University, Dr. Balu brings a unique blend of experiential knowledge and academic insight. He is also the founder of GRAAM, a public policy think tank.
His work spans advising governments on governance reforms, strengthening democratic institutions, and building state capacity. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including i, the citizen, Leadership Lessons for Daily Living and Power Within: The Leadership Legacy of Narendra Modi, reflecting his ability to bridge spiritual wisdom, public policy, and leadership practice. His current writing explores leadership lessons from the Bhagavad Gita, integrating Indian philosophical thought with contemporary leadership theory.
He is currently the Member-HR in the Capacity Building Commission of the Government of India. He is also the Chairperson of the Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee of SEBI.
Alina Alam started MITTI CAFE at the age of 23, with the dream of showing the world the magic of abilities. MITTI CAFEs work towards economic independence and dignity for persons with disabilities. The organization’s outreach initiative helps create awareness about inclusion and disability rights.
Alina is a 4 time TEDx speaker and has been featured in the Forbes list of 30 under 30 Asia.
In 2024, Alina received the National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the President of India. She is also a Commonwealth Youth Awardee and has received the Niti Ayog-Women Transforming India Award, Helen Keller Award, and United Nations Intercultural Innovation Award.
Also, she has received Future Female Icon Awards from CNBC, Times of India-She Unlimited Award, Rotary Exemplar Award, and Tiecon Young Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award, amongst the others.
Alina’s journey with Mitti Café began with a dream to showcase the abilities of individuals with disabilities and a belief in equal opportunities for all. At 23, with no startup capital and facing countless rejections, she relied on community support to bring her vision to life. From donated equipment to a simple table under an umbrella, her initiative grew into the world’s largest chain of cafés run entirely by persons with disabilities.
Today, Mitti Café operates in nearly 50 locations across India, including prestigious sites like the Supreme Court, Rashtrapati Bhawan, and major airports. Leaders such as Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, President Droupadi Murmu, and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy have lauded her efforts, with the Defence Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker inaugurating Mitti Cafés, sending a powerful message of inclusion. In 2024, Alina received the National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the President of India. She has also been listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and has received national and international recognition from the United Nations, Commonwealth, NITI Aayog, UNESCO, Rotary, and TieCon for her impactful work.
Under her leadership, Mitti Café has created over 6,000 livelihoods, served 11 million meals, and provided 6 million “Karuna Meals” to vulnerable communities. For Alina, Mitti Café is not just a café—it’s a global movement for dignity, empowerment, and inclusion, aiming to transform a billion lives.