Join an engaging virtual conversation between author Sam Pitroda and UBC professors Sujatha Ramdorai and Ramana on Pitroda’s new book, Redesign the World: A Global Call to Action, followed by comments and Q&A. This book is about reshaping the world to meet the future challenges of our planet and our people.
Purchase the book here or at your local bookstore.
Please register in advance. The Zoom link will be emailed to all registrants.
Speakers:
- Sam Pitroda, author of Redesign the World: A Global Call to Action
- Sujatha Ramdorai, Professor, Mathematics; Executive Committee Member, The Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR), UBC
- M. V. Ramana, Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC
Moderator: Kshitij Sharan, Student, Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC
Bios:
Mr. Sam Pitroda is an internationally respected telecom inventor, entrepreneur, development thinker, and policy maker who has spent 50 years in information and communications technology (ICT) and related global and national developments.
Credited with having laid the foundation for India’s telecommunications and technology revolution of the 1980s, Mr. Pitroda has been a leading campaigner to help bridge the global digital divide. During his tenure as Advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Mr. Pitroda led six technology missions related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy production, and oil seeds. He was also the founder and first Chairman of India’s Telecom Commission. In these plural roles, Mr. Pitroda helped revolutionize India’s development philosophies and policies with a focus on access to technology as the key to social change.
As a way to induce the second phase of India’s technology revolution, in 2005 Mr. Pitroda headed India’s National Knowledge Commission (2005-2009), to provide a blueprint of reform for the knowledge-related institutions and infrastructure for the 21st century in the country.
Recently, Mr. Pitroda served as Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, with the rank of a Cabinet Minister. He served as the Chairman of the Smart Grid Task Force, as well as the committees to reform public broadcasting, modernize railways, deliver e-governance, and other developmental activities.
Mr. Pitroda is a Founding Chairman of five non-profit organizations including the India Food Bank, the Global Knowledge Initiative and the Institute of Transdisciplinary Health. He is also a founding Commissioner of the United Nations Broadband Commission for Digital Development and Chairman of the International Telecommunication Union’s m-Powering Development Board that looks to empower developing countries with the use of mobile technology.
In addition, Mr. Pitroda is a serial entrepreneur having started several companies in the United States. He holds around 20 honorary PhD’s, close to 100 worldwide patents, and has published five books and numerous papers and lectured widely all over the world. He lives in Chicago with his wife.
Bio: M. V. Ramana is Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA), University of British Columbia. He is also Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues and the Acting Director (2020-2021) of the Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) in the Institute of Asian Research.
His research interests are in the broad areas of international security and energy supply, with a particular focus on topics related to nuclear energy and fissile materials that can be used to make nuclear weapons. He combines technical skills and interdisciplinary methods to address policy relevant questions related to security and energy issues. He is the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India.
Bio: Sujatha Ramdorai is Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Mathematics and an Executive Committee Member, The Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) in the Institute of Asian Research, SPPGA at the University of British Columbia.
Co-hosted by: The Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) at the Institute of Asian Research, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
