Inside India’s Biggest Summit on DE&I in Tech & AI

The future belongs to those who wholeheartedly embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) at both individual and organisational levels. Emphasising the significance of DE&I in AI, AIM recognises its crucial role now more than ever in harnessing a wide range of talents from diverse cultures, genders, races, and skills so we can drive innovation and shape a more inclusive future.

The sixth edition of the Rising, which lasted two days in Namma Bengaluru with esteemed leaders and industry stalwarts such as Kiran Bedi, Anisha Padukone and others, provided an excellent opportunity for companies and leaders to underscore the importance of DE&I and mental health, alongside discussing and addressing challenges in building an inclusive future for all.?

The event witnessed close to 50+ speakers and 1000+ professionals attending the conference.?

This year, it went beyond being merely a women-centric event, evolving into a comprehensive forum on diversity and inclusion in AI — it was a groundbreaking platform, offering leaders and practitioners from various AI and tech disciplines to explore and address a wider spectrum of diversity and inclusion issues, alongside empowering diverse groups and transcending traditional gender-focused dialogues.?

At the Rising keynote, Genpact's chief technology and transformation officer, Vidya Rao, emphasised how AI will impact 1.1 billion roles. She said that the roles must be fulfilled by a diverse range of people from different cultures, genders, races, and skills, signifying clear opportunities for all.?

Tesco’s Priyadarsanie Ramasubramanian also had an interesting perspective. "It's not about creating reservations, but about looking for colleagues with different backgrounds and giving them a slightly elevated platform. We need not lower the bar, but we could do different things to ensure we seek more diversity,” said Ramasubramanian.?

“A key element of my success has been the support of male allies. It’s crucial to leverage this network. Engage with your male colleagues and embrace their support,” she added.?

Ramasubramanian said that many of her male friends and colleagues recognised more potential in her than she saw in herself. “This kind of support network is vital and should be actively fostered within your own companies,” she added.?

Manjula Nanjappa, the director of architecture and compute engineering at Allstate India, shared the importance of coaching in personal and professional development, the need for self-awareness, and the role of coaching in organisational growth and innovation.?

"If organisations are not investing in people to develop them, they cannot be innovative,” she said, highlighting the benefits of coaching.?

DBS Tech India’s head of data, AI, and cloud, Vijaya Kadiyala’s talk, touched upon the essence of “embracing failures” and learning from them. In it, he shared practical strategies and success stories, demonstrating how organisations can harness the power of big data to stay ahead in today’s competitive landscape.?

In another interesting session—Encrypt Data, Not Empathy—Eventbright’s Aditi Sharma shared a unique perspective on the importance of diversity and inclusion in teams.?

“The key [to successful leadership] is to listen actively and openly. Empathy is not a magic mantra. It’s a conscious choice by leaders to invest time and effort in building trust with employees. This eventually adds up to organisational success, increased innovation, and increased employee engagement,” said Sharma.?

Many such insightful discussions and talks resonated across the event, which included keynotes, fireside chats, panel discussions, and tech talks alongside mentoring sessions, quizzes, awards, expos, and much more.

All the videos of the Rising 2024 will be made available on our YouTube channel soon

Congratulations to all the winners of the DE&I in Tech & AI Leadership Awards at Rising 2024. Check out all the winners here >>>?

The Rising 2024 also celebrated organisations for their diversity, equity and inclusion best practices. The winners of the Best Firm for DE&I in Tech include ANZ, Eventbrite, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, InfoCepts, L&T Technology Services, MathCo, Moody’s, Quest Global, Unisys, Verizon, Chubb, Allstate India, and DBS Tech India.?

Best Firm for Data Scientists >>

At the Rising 2024, the Best Firm for Data Scientists was given to Rakuten for its innovative culture and best practices in AI and analytics.?

[Best Firms for Data Scientists is one of India's biggest workplace certification platforms in data science. To nominate your organisation for the certification, you can fill out the form here .]

AIM is grateful to everyone for making Rising 2024 a grand success. It was also significant for all of us, as it was the first large-scale DE&I event. ??

See you in our upcoming events soon >>

DE&I in Tech 2024 – India >>

AIM Research, in collaboration with CHUBB, recently released a report on DE&I in Tech 2024 – India, where we touch upon the DE&I representation within the Indian technology sector. Check out the full report here >>

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Read the full story here.?

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