TEDIndia 2009 ended with thunderous applause; INK, in association with TED, is an encore

Following the success of TEDIndia 2009, Lakshmi Pratury, co-host of TEDIndia, is hosting a new conference, The INK Conference, in association with TED, (www.theinkconference.com) at Lavasa Hill City near Mumbai, India, from Dec 9-12, 2010.

In 2009, Lakshmi Pratury co-hosted TEDIndia with Chris Anderson, Curator of TED Conference. Close to 1000 attendees from 46 different countries attended TEDIndia in Mysore to celebrate the first-ever TED in Asia. This conference brought together accomplished artists, architects, technologists, business people, musicians, dancers, scientists, and social entrepreneurs along with 100 young TEDIndia Fellows. TED will provide strategic advice and host some popular talks from the INK Conference on TED.com following the same editorial process and rigor as all other TED talks.

The INK Conference (INK stands for Innovation and Knowledge) is an annual conference that aims to fuel innovation and foster knowledge by bringing together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers from a range of disciplines such as art, architecture, design, entertainment, entrepreneurship, sports and technology - an intellectual Mardi Gras!

The theme of this year’s INK is ‘Untold Stories’, and the impressive line-up of INK speakers include ‘The Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening, filmmaker James Cameron, innovator Arvind Gupta, ‘New Scientist’ journalist and author of ‘The Edge of Physics’ Anil Ananthaswamy, Super 30 founder Anand Kumar, Lego innovator John Henry Harris, academic and author Jennifer Aaker of Stanford, internationally-renowned product designer Philippe Starck... and many more. (http://theinkconference.com/speakers.php)

“INK is unique because it is not your regular conference with keynote speakers and an agenda. Our conference transcends different disciplines and topics. In short, there is a method to the madness. We’re ensuring a cross pollination of ideas, where our highly curated audience and speakers have an opportunity to mingle,” said Lakshmi Pratury.

INK will also host 20 of the most promising young innovators from around the world to showcase their amazing work at The INK Conference. The INK Fellows program will select two or three of the 20 world-changing innovators and work with them to incubate and support their projects.

Apart from the annual conference, INK is involved in various activities to bring the world’s two great democracies – India and the US – together. During the US President’s visit to India, INK and the Rajeev Motwani Foundation hosted President Obama in Mumbai at St Xavier’s College for the ‘Democracy and Open Government Expo’. It brought together various government and non-government organizations to discuss the intersection of democracy and technology and how new advances in technology are empowering the bottom of the pyramid with access to information.

Samantha Power, US National Security Council Senior Director of Multi-Lateral Affairs, who took part in the roundtable on November 7 at the ‘Democracy and Open Government Expo’ in Mumbai said, “Capitalizing on the creativity and innovation that Americans and Indians are bringing to these issues, President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are launching a US-India Partnership on Open Government to drive forward our respective domestic efforts and to offer our support to the efforts of reformers and activists in other interested countries. In support of this effort, we announced an initial commitment of approximately $1m to support the work of Indian civil society in sharing their best practices abroad, with a matching commitment of in-kind assistance by Sam Pitroda that will harness India’s technical expertise to assist governments in harnessing technology, improving services, and enhancing democratic accountability. This is precisely the kind of ‘partnership built on shared values’ that President Obama has hailed during his visit to India.”

Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer, Executive Office of the US President, was also part of the roundtable.

A part of Obama’s speech at the Indian Parliament in New Delhi was influenced by the forum. “Now, in a new collaboration on open government, our two countries are going to share our experience, identify what works, and develop the next-generation of tools to empower citizens. And in another example of how American and Indian partnership can address global challenges, we’re going to share these innovations with civil society groups and countries around the world. We’re going to show that democracy, more than any other form of government, delivers for the common man - and woman,” said President Obama in his speech.