- ICT Enabled School of the Year Award - The Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
– Civil society / Development agency Initiative of the year - Hole in the Wall Education
– Government / Policy Initiative of the year - Implementation of Shared Computing Technology in 5000 Govt. schools of Andhra Pradesh

New Delhi/ Hyderabad, August 28, 2009: Leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT Trainer, NIIT has won three awards at the esteemed eINDIA 2009 summit under the Digital Learning India 2009 Award Category, for its innovative learning solutions. The Awards were announced at eINDIA 2009, India’s largest ICT event which was held on 25-27 August, 2009 in Hyderabad. The event brings together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, paper presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions.

NIIT has won all the three awards that it was nominated for out of the total four in the Digital Learning India 2009 Awards category. NIIT’s initiative at the Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh received the ICT Enabled School of the year Award, and the company also won Government/ Policy Initiative of the year Award for implementation of shared computing technology in 5000 Government schools in Andhra Pradesh. NIIT’s prominent project, Hole-in-the-Wall, an initiative to promote Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) amongst the under privileged children, has received the Civil Society and Development agency initiative of the year.

Commenting on the awards won by NIIT, it’s Chairman, Mr. Rajendra S Pawar said “NIIT has always believed in developing innovative learning solutions which make a meaningful difference to society. We continue to innovate for a better tomorrow.”

Speaking on NIIT winning the ICT Enabled School of the Year Award for its work with Scindia School, Mr. Vijay K Thadani, CEO, NIIT, said “The guiding principle of teaching is that teachers should seek to empower students with the necessary skills to take control of their own learning. ICT complements it by creating a supportive, inspiring, and exciting atmosphere in the classroom. Scindia School, which pioneered ICT education in schools, partnered with NIIT to strengthen its ICT offerings with successful results.”

Added Mr. Rajendran, COO, NIIT, “Hole-in- the- Wall Education is an innovative effort by NIIT for enabling computers to touch millions of lives globally, by bridging the digital divide”

Commenting on the Shared Computing Technology project, which won the Government / Policy Initiative of the year, Mr. L. Balasubramanian, President, School Learning Solutions, NIIT said “NIIT is committed towards making education more impactful and interactive, by leveraging IT and ensuring that the best tools and resources are made available to millions of school students.”

eINDIA 2009 Awards felicitates the most innovative initiatives in the domain of ICTs for Development. It seeks to spread awareness about the role of ICTs in addressing social concerns by identifying and felicitating projects that exemplify the kind of implementation that can be easily replicated and at the same time proves efficient and sustainable, especially projects implemented in India and the South Asian region

The Nominees were evaluated on the basis of economic cost and sustainability, stakeholder support and other inclusiveness indicators; the impact on livelihoods and society in general; demonstrable effects on the project target groups; Community initiatives and ownership and the measure of replication and the extent of collaboration.

About The Scindia School, Gwalior: ICT Enabled School of the Year Award
In 2001, The Scindia School invited NIIT to assist in construction of a framework of an IT integration program at the school. NIIT presented a solution which in addition to empowering teachers and engaging students also involved the collaboration of Parents in the progress of the student.

The project is now into the eighth year of implementation. The School and NIIT have partnered to bring in numerous changes that impact the learning, teaching and administrative processes. From the first teachers’ training which started in January 2002, there has been increasing momentum to use technology driven aids for learning and teaching. Today, the results speak for themselves. Students creatively use a combination of multimedia and threshold technologies to develop innovative projects while Teachers are computer-savvy and develop subject content using multimedia and internet technologies. Policies on IT Security, Network Usage, E-Mail Usage and Internet Usage define the maturity of the ICT processes. Online collaboration between stakeholders has become a reality with active participation by Parents. The feather in the cap was when The Government of India presented the Award for Excellence in IT Literacy to this school.

The Scindia School is now well positioned on the International arena both in terms of ICT infrastructure and usage. With NIIT’s assistance, it looks forward to achieving greater progress in using ICT in education.

Shared Computing Technology: Government / Policy Initiative of the year
In November 2007, NIIT and US based NComputing formed an alliance to offer affordable computer education to Indian schools. As part of this partnership, NIIT would provide its expertise and deliver computer and computer-aided education across the schools in India, while NComputing would offer its technology. The NComputing technology creates multiple virtual desktops on a single PC, enabling several users to tap unused capacity and share the system simultaneously. Its patented technology drastically lowers costs, improves manageability and reduces energy consumption.

Andhra Pradesh, the largest and most populous state in South India, is the first state to provide computing access to 5,000 government schools, covering 1.8 million school children. The state is installing a total of 50,000 computing seats in these schools, deploying the low-cost and eco-friendly virtualization tool provided by NComputing.

The Andhra Pradesh government has outsourced the education services project for five years to leading educational IT companies, such as NIIT, based on a Build- Operate- Transfer (BOT) model. NIIT is currently present in 2678 schools in Andhra Pradesh.

About HiWEL: Civil society / Development agency Initiative of the year
Hole-in-the-Wall Education Ltd (HiWEL), a joint venture of NIIT Ltd. and the International Finance Corporation (an affiliate of The World Bank Group), was initiated as a research initiative in 1999 and later established in 2001. Through its product and service offerings HiWEL facilitates learning through unconditional and public access to computers. In its endeavor to positively impact learning outcomes in elementary education and computer literacy, HiWEL also addresses the digital divide and school drop-out rate, and works towards providing effective and interesting minimally invasive learning experience.

Today, HiWEL has set up more than 500 learning stations till now in various parts of country including in J&K, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Maharashtra. In addition, Government of India has gifted HiWEL playground learning stations to many African countries including Zambia, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique as well. In all, more than 350,000 underprivileged children have benefited from Hole in the wall learning stations till now. This has also inspired an author, whose work provided the basis for the production of the Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire”.

About eINDIA 2009:
eINDIA 2009 is a unique platform for knowledge sharing in different domains of ICT for development and facilitates multi-stakeholder partnerships and networking among governments, industry, academia and civil society organisations of different countries, including the host country- India. The objective is to bring together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, paper presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions.

The eINDIA Award programme is held annually alongside the eINDIA conference proceedings. eINDIA Awards are open for all national and international government organisations, civil society organisations, bi-lateral, multi-lateral developmental organisations and enterprises who have transformed social development opportunities into a sustainable social enterprise through innovative use of ICTs. Apart from the general category of awards eINDIA have special categories for performers who manifest extraordinary achievements in different domains with individual capacity and efforts.

About NIIT
NIIT Limited, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, offers learning and knowledge solutions to over 5 million students across 40 countries.

Leading IT magazine Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT, the ‘Top IT Training Company’ award successively for the past 15 years, since the inception of this category. Rated among India’s Business Super brands 2008, NIIT’s Individual Learning Business offerings include industry-endorsed programs for students seeking careers in IT – GNIIT, Edgeineers and Globalnet+ for IT professionals.

NIIT has provided computer-based learning to over 12,000 government and private schools. The futuristic NIIT eGuru range for schools is a holistic education package that comprises of Interactive Classrooms (an embedded Teaching Learning Material, that uses elements of interactivity, automation and web links library); Math lab (technology tools that enable school students to learn and explore mathematical concepts); IT Wizard (equips the students with core computer knowledge and IT skills); and Quick School (an Education Resource Planning solution for School Management).

For working professionals, NIIT Imperia, Centre for Advanced Learning, offers Executive Management Education Programs in association with Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow, IMT Ghaziabad and IIFT Delhi.

NIIT Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI), formed by NIIT with equity participation from ICICI Bank, offers programs for individuals and corporate in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.

NIIT Uniqua, Centre for Process Excellence, addresses the increasing demand for skilled workers in the business and technology services industry by providing training programs in relevant areas. This is a part of NIIT Institute of Process Excellence, a NIIT-Genpact venture.

NIIT’s Corporate Learning Solutions, offers integrated learning solutions (including strategic consulting, learning design, content development, delivery, technology, assessment and learning management) to Fortune 500 companies, Universities, Technology companies, Training corporations and Publishing houses.

NIIT delivers a tailored combination of catalog learning products, technology and services through Element K offerings. These include: lab®: hands-on labs, instructor-led courseware, comprehensive e-reference libraries, technical journals, and Knowledge HubT: hosted learning management platform. This makes NIIT the first and the best choice for comprehensive learning solutions, worldwide.

For media queries, please contact:
Prateek Chatterjee, NIIT Ltd, Ph: (Cell) +91 9910201085, (Dir) +91 124 4293041
Email: prateek.chatterjee@niit.com or
Jyotsna Dash Nanda, Brodeur India, Ph: (Cell) +91 9810499625, (Dir) +91 011 26142292 I
Email: jnanda@brodeurindia.com or
Visit www.niit.com

EuroIndia-ICT is a proud supporting partner of India’s Largest ICT Event, eIndia2009, being held in Hyderabad, India, 25-27 August 2009. Organised as a three-day international conference including high-profile exhibitions will serve as a unique platform for knowledge exchange across different domains of ICT. This event aims to develop and facilitate multi-stakeholder partnerships and networking among governments, industry, academia and civil society organisations from a vast array of different countries.

The objective is to bring together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions. Overall, this event provides an excellent opportunity for participants to interact with key players from the ICT community.

eIndia2009 will focus on six emerging application domains of ICT for Development:

• eGov India
• Digital learning India
• eHealth India
• Indian Telecentre Forum
• mConnect India
• eAgriculture India

EuroIndia Background

Euro-India ICT Co-operation, in partnership with CSDMS, is organising this workshop with the aim to achieve the following specific goals:

• enhance knowledge of innovation management in India
• create opportunities for innovative collaboration in India
• increase visibility of innovative ICT business models
• solicit views on innovation clusters, domains and technologies

The workshop will share findings from the Euro-India innovation mapping project. The project aims to achieve the following objectives: to map the Indian ICT innovation landscape to better understand the innovative potential and collaborative capacity of Indian ICT companies; to feed the policy dialogue between India and the European Union, and to inform and encourage Indian ICT firms to take part in the seventh framework program.

Euro-India Mapping of ICT Innovation in India Workshop Draft Agenda

Session 1 – 9.30 to 11.00: Findings from a study of Indian ICT innovations
During this session the Euro-India Consortium will be represented by the Co-ordinator Prof Mogens Kuehn Pedersen and team leader Dr Sudhanshu Rai, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Informatics, Denmark.
The session will be chaired by Jonathan Liebenau, London School of Economics, United Kingdom

9.30 – 9.35	Panel Introduction Jonathan Liebenau London School of Economics, United Kingdom
9.35 – 10.00	EuroIndia Knowledge Mapping Study on Indian ICT Innovations Findings Prof. Mogens Kuehn Pederesen Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
10.00 – 10.30	Indian ICT innovative potential and collaborative capacity Dr Sudhanshu Rai Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
10.30 – 10.50	Panel & Audience Interactive Discussion Moderated by Jonathan Liebenau London School of Economics, United Kingdom
10.50 – 11.00	Session Wrap up and Concluding remarks Jonathan Liebenau London School of Economics, United Kingdom

Session 2 – 11.15-12.45: Panel discussion on the impact of management of innovation
This session will consist of a 10 min presentation by the panel members. This part of the workshop is designed to create an atmosphere for a dialogue between the audience, the panelists and the Euro-India principle researchers. We would like the audience to come forward with questions after hearing the panelists on the findings reported in the previous session.
The session will be chaired by Dr. Sudhanshu Rai, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Informatics, Denmark.

11.15 – 11.20	Panel Introduction Dr Sudhanshu Rai Copenhagen Business School, Department of Informatics, Denmark
11.20 – 11.30	Working with sustaining innovation in a fast growing ICT firm, thoughts and challenges Raj Datta CKO Mindtree, India
11.30 – 11.40	Innovation in the e-learning sector, views on integrating ICT technology into education in India Ashish Garg GESCI Asia Regional Coordinator – Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative eGovernment representative, India
11.40 – 11.50	Challanges and opportunities in managing innovation in ICT firms in India Rajiv Narang Erehwon, India
11.50 – 12.00	Representative for e-governance Speaker to be confirmed
12.00 – 12.30	Panel & Audience Interactive Discussion Moderated by Dr Sudhanshu Rai Copenhagen Business School, Department of Informatics, Denmark
12.30 – 12.45	Session Wrap-up and concluding remarks Dr Sudhanshu Rai Copenhagen Business School, Department of Informatics, Denmark

Introduction

Internet is one of the best gifts that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has given us. The ultimate aim of Internet is to reach the unconnected and make them a part of the mainstream. This calls for transforming the policies that govern the usage of Internet, which should aim at allowing each and every person of the world to access and use this technology freely. With this, Internet will be able to fulfill its basic objective of improving the quality of life of the masses. Therefore, the standards and the government policies should aim at a sustainable, open and universally applicable policy that can foster socio-economic development.

Understanding the needs of such consultation on public policy for Internet society, a half day workshop, co-organised with Internet Society (ISOC), will be held at eINDIA 2009

Aim of the Workshop

The workshop aims at engaging stakeholders towards a meaningful discussion on Public Policy Debate on Internet society.

This workshop will engage with several different types of institutions, innovators, technology providers, besides government, end-user communities, etc. The recommendations that emerge from this workshop and tutorial is aimed to serve as inputs for policy advocacy.

Key Stakeholders

The workshop looks at bringing together key stakeholders from across the spectrum:

1. Government Agencies: Department of Information Technology and Department of Telecommunications
2. Regulatory Bodies: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
3. National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
4. Internet Service Providers
5. Technology Providers
6. Internet Society Chapters – Chennai, Delhi, etc. and Representatives from ISOC (international)
7. Industry Associations: Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI)
8. Civil Society Organisations
9. Academicians and others

1400-1410 Welcome and Introduction Rajnesh D Singh ISOC 1410-1430 The Internet is for everyone Jon McNerney ISOC 1430-1500 Internet Governance and ISOC’s Enabling Access Initiative Frederic Donck ISOC 1500-1530 The Internet: An Indian Perspective Deepak Maheshwari Director – Corporate Affairs Microsoft, India

1530 – 1600Afternoon Break1600 – 1730 Panel Discussion 

1600-1615 Multilingualism on the Internet Tulika Pandey Additional Director – Department of Information Technology, Government of India 1615-1630 Global Addressing and IPv6 Sally Wentworth ISOC 1630-1725 Panel Discussion: The Internet and Public Policy Issues – an Indian Perspective Panellists: Tulika Pandey Additional Director – Department of Information Technology, Government of India Rajesh Chharia President – Internet Service Providers Association of India Osama Manzar Director – Digital Empowerment Foundation Niel Hirjee Calport Technologies Ravi Gupta CSDMS (TBC) Moderator: Nikhil Agarwal Europe Asia Business School 1725-1730 Conclusion and Next Steps Frederic Donck ISOC

S Sivakumar Chief Executive ITC-IBD	Aruna Sundararajan IAS Chief Executive Officer Community Service Centres, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS Ltd)	Dr K G Karmakar MD, NABARD
Michael Riggs Knowledge and Information Management Officer FAO Rome	Dr T P Trivedi Project Director Directorate of Information & Publications of Agriculture Indian Council of Agricultural Research	Prof K R Srivathsan Pro-Vice Chancellor IGNOU
Dr V P Sharma  Director – Information Technology, Documentation and Publications MANAGE	Ahmed Eisa Chairman Gedaref Digital City Organisation Sudan	Naimur Rahman Director OneWorld South Asia & MD OneWorld Foundation India
Wasantha Duggannarala Agri-Ambassador CIC Agri Business Centre Sri Lanka	Dr V Balaji Global Leader Knowledge Management & Sharing ICRISAT Patancheru, Hyderabad	Seva Ratan M Moni Deputy Director General National Informatics Centre New Delhi
Dr Rathan Kelkar IAS Director, Kerala State IT Mission, GoK	Dr Sapna A Narula Asstt Professor College of Agribusiness Management G B Pant University of agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, Uttarakhand	Dr Gopi Ghosh Assistant FAO Representative India
Monirul Bashar Manager, Services Group Katalyst-Bangladesh	Dr Shaik N Meera Senior Scientist and Project Coordinator, RKMP DRR, Hyderabad	Santanu Sengupta CEO Study & Jobs Worldwide
Dr P Kalaiselvan Director of Extension Education Tamil Nadu Agricultural University	Dr P Raghava Reddy Vice-Chancellor A N G Ranga Agricultural University Hyderabad	Dr C Kathiresan Project Manager (InDG) & Principal Investigator (e-Village Project) C-DAC, Hyderabad
Dr Runa Sarkar Indian Institute of Management Calcutta	Dr Rex Navarro Director – Communications ICRISAT	Dr N H Rao Joint Director National Academy of Agricultural Research Management
Dr Sreenath Dixit Principal Scientist National Agricultural Innovation Project CRIDA	Rosana P Mula Coordinator Learning Systems Unit (LSU) Knowledge Management and Sharing (KMS) ICRISAT	Dr Geeta Kutty Professor and Head Centre for Gender Studies National Institute of Rural Development
K V Raghavulu CGM, NABARD	Natesh B V Head, Emerging Markets Services Nokia India	Sudhanshu Jain Manager – Marketing handygo, New Delhi, India
Dr Prema Ramachandran President, National Academy of Medical Sciences	Dr C Karthikeyan  Associate Professor(Agrl. Extension) Department of Agricultural and Rural Management Tamil Nadu Agricultural University	K Rajasekhar Senior Technical Director, National Informatics Centre, Andhra Pradesh State Centre, Hyderabad

Introduction

Since the Green Revolution, Indian agriculture has been progressing steadily in terms of productivity and growth despite various challenges before it. Modern farming practices and inclusive technologies have been implemented in many parts of rural India to foster rural growth. Wireless communication networks and GIS-based agro-software technology are reaching rural India giving them access to vital and updated information on weather, farming technologies, latest know-how, commodity prices, market trends, international trade, etc.

Despite the usage of advanced ICT tools in many parts of rural India, there are several villages where advanced farming technologies, and interactive communications networks haven’t reached yet. Access to these technologies will help secure livelihood of many farmers and consequently build a stronger nation and economy.

Building upon the achievements of previous editions of eAgriculture2007 and 2008, and to take the momentum ahead, eAgricultureINDIA 2009 calls for deliberations on the unsolved issues. The event will explore ways through which current agricultural practices can be made more efficient with the help of ICT tools.

The event is conceived as an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences, debate and discuss a way forward to make best use of ICT for an integrated development of agriculture and rural sector. It aims at prime participation of key policy makers, corporate stakeholders, researchers, civil society organisations, ICT professionals, etc. working in the domain of agriculture and allied fields.

eAgriculture 2009 is designed to:

• initiate inter-sectoral linkages
• facilitate progressive decision-making, information sharing and performance improvement.
• bring policy makers, development professionals, researchers, academicians, community stakeholders, corporate on a discussion dais.
• aid the process of identification and integration of diverse ICT tools that are employed in present day agricultural practices.

Key Themes

• eAgriculture Policy:perspective to practice
• Role of ICT in Education, Research and Extension
• Capacity Building, Peer to Peer Information Sharing and Knowledge Management
• eAgri-marketing: backward & forward linkages
• Insurance, Financial inclusion and Risk Mitigation Strategies Using ICTs
• Optimum Resource Utilisation towards Sustainable Growth
• Practical Software, Hardware and Power Solutions for Rural Communities
• Food Security and ICTs

Who will attend

• Policy Planners and Decision-makers
• Key Government Officials and Experts
• Environmentalists
• Members of SHGs & Rural Community Organisations
• Community Stakeholders
• CEOs/Management Cadre from Agri-Industry
• Development Professionals from NGOs Working on Agricultural and Rural Development
• Personnel from Banking & Financial Institutions and Commodity Exchange Boards
• Personnel from Central and State Agriculture Research and Education Institutions
• Researchers, Scholars and Agri-Entrepreneurs

Dr S Arulrhaj President Commonwealth Medical Association	A Babu  CEO Arogyasree Health Care Trust Govt of Andhra Pradesh	Mr. Divya Sehgal Executive VP & COO Apollo Health Street
Dr K Ganapathy President, Apollo Telemedicine Network Foundation	Dr Karanvir Singh Head of Medical Informatics Sir Ganga Ram Hospital New Delhi	U K Ananthapadmanabhan  President Kovai Medical Center & Hospital, Coimbatore
J Satyanarayana Principal Secretary Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department Government of Andhra Pradesh	Dr Ajit K Nagpal Chairman, Executive Council Batra Hospital & Medical Research Centre, New Delhi	Dr Dinesh Jain Medical Informatics Specialist Max Healthcare
Dr Pradeep Bhardwaj COO, Ojjus Medicare Group	Dr Rana Mehta VP-Healthcare Practise Technopak	Iain Bray Strategic Planning Group, InterSystems Corporation
Satish Kini Chief Mentor 21st Century Health Management Solutions	Girdhar Gyani CEO, NABH	Dr Erna Surjadi Regional Adviser-Gender Woman & Health, WHO
Sandeep Sinha Dy Director Healthcare Practise (South Asia & ME), Frost & Sullivan	Dr Rathan Kelkar IAS Director, Kerala State IT Mission, GoK	Pravin Srivastava Director (Stats) Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of India
Manish Gupta CIO, HCG Enterprises	Surgeon Rear Admiral (Retd.) Dr V K Singh VSM, Director, IIHMR, New Delhi	Bhudeb Chakravarti General Manager NISG & Asst Secretary, IAMI
Dr Shakti Gupta Professor & Head, Department of Hospital Administration, AIIMS	Vikram Gupta COO, India Ventures	Dr V Balasubramanyam Domain Consultant-Medical eLearning & Professor-Dept of Anatomy, St John’s Hospital, Bangalore
Subramaniyan CEO, ezEMRx India Pvt. Ltd.	Inderjith Davalur CEO Aosta Software Technologies	Vishnu Gupta CIO, CMRI
Dr Srinivas K Iyengar VP, Care Hospitals Hyderabad	Lt Col (Dr) Salil Garg Sr Cardiologist Command Hospital, Pune	Srikanth Muthya General Manager, Healthcare IT, GE Healthcare, India
Uday Bhaskarwar Vice President, Infosys Technologies Limited	Dr S B Bhattacharya Vice President, Clinical Service Karishma Software Ltd	Dr Shafqat Khan Officer-on-Special-Duty (OSD) Dept of Health & Medical Education, Govt of J & K
Dr P C Jain Professor & Head-School of Electronics, C-DAC, Noida	Vamsi C Kasivajjala Executive Director-Healthcare Sobha Renaissance IT	Wg. Cdr. Dr Sanjeev Sood Sr Medical Officer & Aviation Medicine Specialist Indian Air Force
Prasenjit Kundu COO, HealthHiway	Venkat Changavalli Chief Executive Officer GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute	Dr Balaji Utla CEO, Health Management and Research Institute
KVRK Rao VP-Strategic Initiatives & Business Intelligence, SG Technologies	Rahul Chatterjee  Healthcare Vertical Head, Siemens Information Systems Ltd	Rajendra Pratap Gupta President & Director Disease Management Association of India
Ruchi Dass Business Head Kayaguru Health Solutions	Dr Shabbir S Abdul Telemedicine Consultant & Researcher, National Yang Ming University, Taiwan

Focus Areas & Topics:

• National Health IT Infrastructure
• Healthcare Reforms through ICT
• Hospital Automation & Systems Management (HMIS & ERP)
• EMR Applications & Medical Informatics
• Medical Imaging, RIS & PACS
• Shared Services Infrastructure & Hosted Models
• Clinical, Bio-Medical & Drug Information Systems
• Enterprise Communication Systems & Network Solutions
• Evidence-based Medicine through eHealth
• Telemedicine & Tele-health
• Online and Mobile healthcare
• Technology Standards and Interoperability
• ICTs in Public Health Delivery

Target Audience:

• MDs/CEOs of Leading Healthcare Organisations
• Hospital Directors, Medical Superintendents & Chief Administrators
• CIOs/CTOs/GM-IT/Head-IT/Manager-IT
• Central & State Health Officials & Policy Makers
• Technology Vendors & Solution Providers
• Industry Analysts & Healthcare Consultants
• eHealth Researchers & Academicians

Special Sessions/Panel Discussions:

• ‘Envisioning Healthcare Reforms’ – role of information and communication technologies
• ‘Hospital CIO Conclave – mainstreaming IT in Indian hospitals’
• ‘VC & PE Investors’ Summit – appraising investment worthiness among healthcare providers and technology players’

Shankar Aggarwal Joint Secretary Department of Information Technology	Ashis Sanyal Senior Director, DIT Government of India	Naimur Rahman Director OneWorld South Asia & MD OneWorld Foundation India
Ajay Kapur Senior Director Oracle Education Foundation	Niranjan Meegammana Director/Team Leader Shilpa Suraya Project Kandy, Sri Lanka	Golok Kumar (Principal Consultant) Ministry of External Affairs Passport Seva Project, PMU
Dr Kamolrat Intarat  Associate Professor, Faculty of Communication, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University Bangkok, Thailand	Mukesh Hajela CEO Network for Information & Communication Technology	S N Goswami MD & CEO Media Lab Asia
Maud Chatelet Executive Director howtopedia.org	Chetan Sharma Founder Datamation Foundation	Senthil Kumaran Project Director Community Informatics M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Peter Mozelius Lecturer Department of Computer and Systems Sciences Stockholm University Sweden	Wilfred Varghese IT Manager South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies	M S Kiran Senior Researcher Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Introduction

Of the numerous efforts at making information and communication technologies (ICTs) a tool for socio-economic development and in pursuit of a knowledge society, telecentres have apparently been playing a dominant role. Telecentres, also known by various names such as information centres, knowledge centres, info-kiosks, community service centres, etc, as they provide services in the areas of health, education, public service delivery, social security services and livelihoods, hold tremendous promise for bridging the digital divide – the key barrier in reaching the twin but interrelated goals of achieving socio-economic development and knowledge society.

India is home to one of the largest number of ICT4D initiatives in the world, and the telecentre landscape in India is bubbling with new energy after the launch of the national programme to set up 100,000 Common Service Centres, and it is the appropriate time to take stock of the developments. Indian Telecentre Forum 2009, organised by Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), in its sixth year, is going to do just that by providing an opportunity to telecentre stakeholders, both regional as well as global, to meet and deliberate on the issues facing the telecentre movement, the journey till now, and devise new plans for the future. This forum, expected to follow a consultative mode, will also act as a platform to share experiences in order to come up with tangible solutions to the the issues raised.

Key Themes

• A Review of the CSC Programme (A status update)
• Telecentre Movement in India: Issues, Lessons and Best Practices
• Capacity Building and telecentre.org Academy India: The Task Ahead
• NEGP and Other National Level Development Programmes vis-a-vis the Telecentre Movement
• People’s Participation and telecentres: The Indian Experience
• Telecentres in the Age of Mobile Phones
• Content, Services, and Connectivity: Taking Stock of the Indian scenario
• Knowledge Sharing Among the Telecentre Stakeholders
• Localisation of Content, Services, and Grassroots Innovation

Who will attend

• Telecentre Leaders and Telecentre Practitioners
• Technology Service Providers
• Social Investors
• Researchers and Project Implementers
• Private Sector Investors
• Government Implementers
• Funding Agencies
• Content Developers and Consultants
• Community Mobilisers

D Purandeswari Minister of State for Higher Education Ministry of Human resource and Development Government of India	Charles Clarke Member of Parliament Former Home and Education Secretary, Former Minister United Kingdom	R Chandrashekhar Secretary DIT, Ministry of Communication & IT Govt of India
Dr Rajashekharan Pillai Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University	Subash C Khuntia Joint Secretary Ministry of HRD Government of India	N Ravi Shankar Joint Secretary e-Learning Group Ministry of Communications & Information Technology Department of Information Technology
Suresh Chanda Secretary Secondary Education Government of Andhra Pradesh	G Narendra Kumar Secretary, Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Delhi	Shambhu Singh Secretary and Commissioner Education (Schools) Government of Manipur
Sharda Prasad Director General Ministry of Labour Welfare	Vikram Desai Group Head, DECU Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)	Prof Mohammad Akhtar Siddiqi Chairperson National Council for Teacher Education
Sam Carlson Lead Education Specialist World Bank	Micheal Ward Senior Education Advisor DFID	K C Reddy Chairman Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Council
Ashish Garg Country Programme Director- India GeSCI	Duk-Hoon Kwak President Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS)	David Mathias British Council Thailand
Prof K Kannan Vice Chancellor Nagaland University	Dr V S Ramamurthy Chairman Board of Governers, IITD	Dr P Venkat Rangan Vice Chancellor Amrita University
Prof A K Bakshi Director Institute of Lifelong Learning & Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education University of Delhi	Will Glennon President Global Classroom Connections	Madhuri Parti Head Learn India
Terry Wason Area Manager – CEE Russia & India SMART Technologies	Capt K J S Brar CEO Designmate	Meena Ganesh CEO Edurite Technologies
Muralidhar KS CEO LearnSmart India	Ranjit Singh CEO Genee Solutions India Pvt. Ltd.	Manish Sharma Vice President APAC, Ncomputing Inc.
Dr Madhav Pulipati Director ( Promotions ) CEO, e-GIGA, Institute for e-Governance, IT & C Dept Govt of Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad	L Balasubramanian President NIIT-School Learning Solutions NIIT Ltd.

 Introduction

How can eLearning methodologies, tools and solutions contribute to competitiveness and a different educational edge in India? What are the specific examples of how this is already happening at sectoral level? What training & education strategies including, upscaling, lifelong learning, competency driven education, open educational resources, etc should be promoted and adopted by the stakeholders in the education community? How can the ICT and education industry contribute and what types of partnerships are needed to drive adoption further? What kind of R & D in technology enhanced learning is required to contribute to employability and competitiveness? How education with ICTs can help to address the fast changing skills requirements on a large scale and hence create a more flexible and adaptable workforce?

Digital Learning India 2009, the 5th annual conference and exhibition organised by Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies and Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd, will take a look at the current situation and outline desirable future developments in the field of ICTs enabled Education. Convened alongside the eINDIA2009, from 25th to 27th August, the Digital Learning track will mark the shift from just a eLearning programme to a more integrated approach of ICT supported education conference.

Digital Learning India 2009 follows four previous ICT in Education conferences in India and three in Asia; the previous one “Digital Learning INDIA 2008″ was held at Pragati Maidan, Delhi in July 2008.

Focus Areas

• From Literacy to Digital literacy for all – from school pupils to university teaching staff
• ICT Leadership: Competing on the Edge of Innovation
• Digital competencies in the national education programmes & policies
• Future Technology – Learning from the past
• Cooperation and collaboration- Managing multistakeholder partnerships
• E-Learning & Pedagogy
• Quality assurance & quality standards
• Bridging the skill gap with technical vocational education
• Virtual Universities and Classrooms
• From human links to hyperlinks: Networks and collaboration on and beyond campuses
• Ambition and challenges of e-Learning Industry Group
• Corporate e-Learning
• R & D initiatives in ICT and education
• Best Practices session
• Special Think Tank Members sessions
• And Conclaves of School and Higher Education Leaders

Key Participants

• Vice-Chancellors, Principals, Directors, Deans and Registrars
• School Principals and Administrators, Teachers and Trainers
• Researchers and Students
• Policy-makers & Regulators
• Senior Staff from Government Departments
• People from International Development Cooperation Agencies
• Programme Managers and Education Administrators
• Representatives of International Education Missions
• Leaders of Professional Associations, NGOs and Continuing Education Centres
• Corporate Training and Development Executives
• Human Resources executives, and IT Managers
• CEOs, Technology and Service Providers