Bengaluru, Apr 06: UPES, a leading multidisciplinary and research university, hosted the Bengaluru edition of DrishtiKone, its curated, invitation-only leadership dialogue platform designed to encourage meaningful engagement on emerging ideas, business shifts and the evolving role of higher education in preparing talent for a rapidly changing world, between academia and industry. The latest edition brought together, thought leaders and senior industry voices to deliberate on the theme ‘Ecosystem Convergence: Industry, Innovation, Integrity’, with conversations centered on the intersection of DeepTech, start-up acceleration and GCC transformation, and how these convergences are reshaping competitive advantage, industrial resilience and future-ready capability building.
The Bengaluru edition explored two central conversation tracks; Innovation & Design – reflecting on how design shapes meaningful human experiences; and Technology & Talent – how innovation drives enterprise transformation. The sessions focused on how academia and industry must work together to build skills and learning models for the future.
A defining highlight of the evening was the announcement of a strategic collaboration between UPES and Dell Technologies, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding. Designed to deepen the industry integration of learning, the partnership will open up meaningful opportunities for students and faculty through curriculum enhancement, faculty immersion, guest lectures, internships, and placement support.
This edition of DrishtiKone convened a highly accomplished set of 20 senior industry leaders from globally recognised organisations spanning enterprise technology, financial services, digital platforms, healthcare, manufacturing, design and talent strategy. The gathering included Amit Kaushik of Zee Entertainment, Ashwath Kumar of Razorpay, Dilshad Kunnumal of Amazon Web Services, Narendra Ghate of HDFC Bank, Dr Ranjith TP of Volvo Group, Ruchit Sangal of Exxon Mobil, Satyajit Thakur of Honeywell, Shalini Sriram of Salesforce, Shaon Sengupta, formerly Head of Design at Kyndryl and Philips India, Prajakta Kanaglekar of Rakuten Symphony, Rajeev Virmani of OpenText, Sneha Undale of 7-Eleven GSC, Kuldeep Parashar of PensionBox and Abhishek Bharti of Danaher Corporation alongside a senior delegation from Dell Technologies comprising Shelesh Chopra, Santosh TK and Sachin Sabyasachi.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sunil Rai, Vice-Chancellor, UPES, said, “At UPES, we believe, the future of higher education will be shaped by the strength of its industry linkages. DrishtiKone has been envisaged as a high-trust platform for dialogue between academia and industry, where ideas can be exchanged meaningfully, and partnerships can take shape with purpose. Our collaboration with Dell Technologies is a product of our commitment to building an effective industry-defined ecosystem that is deeply connected to the realities of business, technology and talent.”
The event opened with a welcome address and context setting by Dr Sunil Rai, followed by the two dialogue sessions and closing reflections by Mr Manish Madaan, Registrar, UPES. The format combined structured conversations with networking, allowing senior participants from academia and industry to exchange perspectives in an intimate, high-engagement setting.
With DrishtiKone, UPES continues to create platforms that go beyond conventional academic events to enable sharper conversations on the forces reshaping business, technology and society.
