DEI Takes Centre Stage At Industry academia Conference

 A two-day Industry-Academia Conference 2023 (#IAC2023) was organised by PeopleLabs. In its fifth edition, the theme for the fifth edition of the conference was ‘Creating Future-Ready Inclusive Organisations.’

Alok Kumar Choudhary (Managing Director, SBI) delivered the Keynote Address and Harish Bhat (Brand Custodian, Tata Sons) delivered the Valedictory Address at the proceedings. Mr Prashant Tripathi (MD & CEO, Max Life Insurance) delivered the Inaugural Address.  

#IAC2023 aimed at bringing Corporate Leaders, Higher Education Leaders and Policy Makers on one platform to discuss the issue of “Creating Future Ready Organizations” and chart the way ahead for the Indian Higher Education sector towards the endeavour of creating Inclusive organizations both in Academia and Corporate.

Commenting on the purpose of the conference, Dr Subrat Kumar (CEO & Founder, of People Labs) said, “We do not have an issue of employment, the problem is of employability. Industry-Academia Conference in its endeavour strives to bring together the two important pillars – the academia and the industry together to discuss how best they can resolve this pertinent issue of finding the right talent.”

Two days at #IAC2023 enabled attendees to appreciate external perspectives on the contours of future readiness and inclusion in the continuously evolving world of work and engage with colleagues from the corporate world as well as academia to strengthen networks and gain insights on cutting-edge initiatives and next practices.

The speakers at the conference were unanimous in their belief that an organisation cannot be future-ready without a focus on diversity and being inclusive. While there can be different facets to being future-ready, which includes focusing on a larger purpose and not just revenue figures, the participants discussed how the focus on continuously innovating and maintaining that WOW factor of one’s organization is imperative.