ICMIT 2020, the 6th AICTE sponsored International Conference on Management and Information Technology on the theme “Innovations in Information Technology and Business Management for Sustainability” was organized on 7^th and 8^th August. The conference was hosted in collaboration with institutions including:

·        Indus International University, Himachal Pradesh

·        South Asian Institute for Social Transformation, Bangladesh

·        Canadian University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh

·        Faculty of Management & Law, Nepal  Open University, Nepal

·        Organization for Social Orientation, Bangladesh

·        Institute for Leadership and Development Communication, Nigeria

·        University of Bolton, Ras Al Khaimah

·        Uttara University, Bangladesh

·        Northern Technical University, Iraq

·        IIS (deemed to be University), Jaipur

ICMIT 2020 bought together business stakeholders, academicians, researchers and experts from different fields to meet and share knowledge of innovative concepts and technologies. The conference received an awe-inspiring response of over 100+ research papers under various themes and sub themes of the technical sessions covering wide range of topics from countries including Bangladesh, Iraq, Nepal, Nigeria, Phillipines, Vietnam and USA.

The conference was graced by worldwide experts like:

•       Dr. Phani Tej Adidam, Chairperson, University of Nebraska, USA

•       Dr. U S Rokeya Akhter, Director Research and Innovation, South Asian Institute of Social Transformation, Bangladesh

•       Dr. Shubhankar Das, Professor and Researcher, Duy Tan University, Vietnam

•       Mr. Manish Tiwari, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Strategy, Cradlepoint, USA

•       Dr. Pastor Arguelles JR., Dean-College of Computer Studies University of Perpetual Help System Data, Philippines

•       Prof. Thanoon Y Thanoon, Dean-Administrative, Northern Technical University, Iraq

•       Mr. Aliyu Sani, National Project Accountant, Nigeria

•       Mr. Shah Reza Mohammad Fahad Ul Hossain, Head-Department of Computer Sciences Engineering, Canadian University of Bangladesh

•       Mohammad Abdulkareem, Department of Public Administration, Cihan University, Iraq

Commencement of the 2 day conference was marked by seeking the blessings of the almighty and lighting of lamp. Dr. Ashok Gupta, Director ISIM, through his Welcome Address marked the commencement of the two day conference. Dr Gupta said that in this era of cut- throat competition in the business world, sustainable development is definitely the need of the hour. He emphasized the need to educate and inculcate socially effective strategies at the institutional and managerial levels and promote and challenge our students to develop sustainable business ideas. He further deliberated that the crux is that the key to grow, progress and overcome the challenges, particularly in times of environmental, and socio-economic crisis, is innovation. The world has to revolutionize if it is to survive. Sustainable innovations and initiatives are vital to save the planet. The need of the hour is to treat sustainability as a goal today so as to develop competencies that challengers will be hard-pressed to match.

The welcome address was followed by inaugural address by the eminent Chief Guest of the conference Prof. R A Gupta, Vice Chancellor Rajasthan Technical University, Kota. Prof. R A Gupta in the inaugural address shared his valuable thoughts on evolving research frontiers in innovation and sustainability in Management and Information technology. He said that in order to establish a discourse on technology, innovation and sustainable development that will engage corporation managers, academic and research institutions and those concerned about the structural and institutional changes are required to make the transition to sustainable development in both emerging and developed countries.

The conference organizers and participants are very grateful to Prof. Anil D Shastrabuddhe, Chairman AICTE that in spite of his busy schedule and unavoidable work on the day of conference, he very kindly sent his blessings via a video message to motivate the delegates and participants. Prof. Shastrabuddhe deliberated that it is apparent that there is a symbiotic relationship between business and technology and the existence of both can be ensured only through innovation, and the need of the hour is to treat sustainability as a goal today to develop competencies.

After the tone for the conference was set by such distinguished personalities the book of abstracts of the papers accepted for presentation was released online. The inaugural session of the conference concluded with a Vote of Thanks from Professor Manju Nair, Principal ISIM.

The inaugural session was followed by two parallel sessions under the Technical Session I which included Paper Presentation.

The Session was graced by distinguished keynote and invited speeches by distinguished delegates including:

·        Mr. Sachin Gaur, Coordinator, India EU, ICT Standards Collaborations Projects, India.

·        Dr. Subramanian Raman Iyer, Vice Chancellor, Indus International University, Himachal Pradesh.

·        Dr. U S Rokeya Akhter, director – Research and Innovation, South Asian Institute of Social Transformation, Bangladesh.

·        Mr. Mohammad Abdulkareem, Assistant Lecturer – Department of Public Administration, Cihan University, Arbil, Iraq.

·        Prof. Thanoon Y Thanoon, Dean – Administrative Technical College – Mosul, Northern Technical University, Iraq.

Mr. Sachin Gaur enlightened the participants on the topic “Data Spaces and Data Labs: Enabling Creation of AI Led Innovations at Scale”. He deliberated on the role of Artificial Intelligence and Deep learning in developing sustainable solutions for language processing. Dr. Subramanian Raman Iyer expressed his thoughts on break-through innovations by back thrashing knowledge all the way through traditional practices. Dr. Rokeya discussed Tele-Medicine as a new approach to the non-commercial rural remote health services during COVID Pandemics, and she briefed the audience on the current health services in Bangladesh. Mr. Mohammad Abdulkareem, spoke about startups and their financial backups. He discussed the role of investors in startup companies. Prof Thanoon gave an informative and detailed presentation on Structural Equation Modeling.

The paper presentations in Technical Session 1 were held parallel and the session was chaired by:

Dr. Ampu Harikrishnan, Registrar, Indus International University, Himachal Pradesh and Dr. Monika Rathore, Associate Professor, ISIM. It had 11 research paper presentations.

This was followed by Panel discussion on “How to innovate together for a better tomorrow”. The illustrious panelists were Prof. Rajesh Kothari, Vice Chancellor, The ICFAI University, Jaipur, Mr. Deepak Kumar, Associate Vice President - Data Science, Karvy Insights, New Delhi, Dr. Shubhankar Das, Prof. & Researcher, Duy Tan University, Vietnam, Mr. Manu Shukla, General Manager, National Health Management, Govt. of India, and Mr. Saurabh Chaturvedi, Principal Architect, Volvo Group India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.

All the delegates shared their valuable thoughts on innate abilities and competencies each one of us holds towards innovations to ease and simplify lives by carrying a vision that is ahead of time. They conversed about vision that is intelligent and has an eye for opportunities – that is redefining today for a better tomorrow. Dr. Rajesh Kothari discussed that to manage crisis is innovation is required. For innovation leaders, a time of crisis can be an existential threat to efforts, but at the same time, also an opportunity to create value and define solutions to help the organization effectively navigate the rough terrain. Mr. Deepak Kumar discussed the role of companies, who have access to a large volume of unstructured data, which can help in strategic business decisions. Dr. Shubhankar Das shared his view on Innovation as a function of idea, change, technique and perception. Mr. Manu Shukla also discussed how innovation can change life and how it can impact the sector in which a person is working. Mr. Saurabh Chaturvedi continued the discussion forward by sharing his views on finding ways to innovate together for a futuristic tomorrow.

Dr Rajesh Kothari moderated the session and concluded it with interesting anecdotes.

DAY-2 (August 08, 2020)

Day Two commenced with Technical Session 2 -Innovations in Information Technology for sustainability and parallel Paper Presentations. The session was graced by distinguished speakers including:

·        Dr. Phani Tej Adidam, Chairperson, University of Nebraska, Omaha, UN Omaha - College of Business Administration, USA.

·        Mr. Manish Tiwari, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Strategy, Cradlepoint, California, USA

·        Mr. Aliyu Sani, National Project Accountant, Nigeria

·        Dr. Pastor Arguelles Jr., Dean-College of Computer Studies University of Perpetual Help System Data, Philippines

·        Mr. Shah Reza Mohammad Fahad Ul Hossain, Head, Dept of Computer Sciences Engineering, Canadian University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh

Dr. Phani Tej Adidam’s topic of discussion was Impact of Covid-19 on the Global Economy And Consumer Markets. Dr Phani not only expressed concern on the current job scenario but also emphasized that youth needs to be optimistic in the upcoming months as well for new job opportunities. Mr. Manish Tiwari shared his informatics words on 5G The Digital Haven of Opportunities. Mr. Aliyu Sani spoke on Re-conceptualizing Public Relations in Post COVID-19 World.  Dr. Pastor Arguelles Jr. briefed the participants on Object Detecting CCTV System with Real Time Analysis.  Mr. Shah Reza Mohammad Fahad Ul Hossain spoke on sustainability issues and innovations as a global perspective.

The paper presentations in Technical Session 2 were held in parallel and the session was chaired by:

Dr. Aruna Dhamija, Professor and Associate Head, Institute of Business management, GLA University, Mathura and Dr. Preeti Tiwari, Senior Assistant Professor, ISIM, Jaipur. The session had eight research paper presentations. This was followed by paper presentation session 3 and was chaired by:

Dr. Madhavi Sinha, Associate Professor and Head, Computer Science & Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Extention Center, Jaipur and Dr. Bhumija Chouhan, Associate Professor, ISIM, Jaipur. The session had ten noteworthy research paper presentations.

Technical session 3 [TS-3 Sustainability Issues And Innovations]

Distinguished speakers for Technical session 3 were:

·        Dr. M. Tanveer, Associate Professor and Ramanujan Fellow, Discipline of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore.

·        Prof. (Dr.) Raman Kumar Jha, Vice Chancellor, Amity University, Ranchi, Jharkand

·        Brig. (Dr.) P. S. Siwach, Pro Vice Chancellor(Admin), Chitkara University, Rajpura, Punjab

Dr Tanveer gave a detailed view on Support Vector Machines and shared information about ongoing projects and future opportunities in them. Prof. Raman Kumar Jha shared beautiful essence of education and parenting particularly in reference to education in initial years which are the foundation of building an adaptive, happy and self-aware human being and a positive society. He also mentioned the benefits of art of hearing, art of living, art of dying and art of becoming a T-type personality for becoming a universally accepted human being. Brig. (Dr.) P. S. Siwach shared his views on creating life space of human existence by displaying love, respect, strong character and spirituality to connect with the society and evolve as an effective and relevant human being.

The paper presentation in Technical Session 3 was chaired by:

Dr. N. K. Joshi, Director, Modi Institute of Management & Technology, Kota and Dr. Bharti Sharma, Associate Professor, ISIM, Jaipur.  The session had 13 commendable research paper presentations.