WTC Bhubaneswar Think Tanks Meet

Dec 18, 2021

The pandemic not just impacted livelihood but also social connectivity and well being throughout the world. As a post pandemic connectivity drive with the members, World Trade Center Bhubaneswar conducted its Think Tanks Meet 2021 both on virtual and physical set-up.

With the strong presence of the industry representatives and stakeholders in its five different think tanks Tourism & Hospitality, Infrastructure & Smart City, Technology, Innovation & Start-ups, Agriculture & Food Processing and WTC Women Forum,the sessions were convened by the convenors of the respective Think Tanks of WTC Bhubaneswar.

Ms. Jyoshna Das, Founder, Bivabari & Convenor of WTC Women Forum, started off the session by inviting suggestions from the Think Tank members anddeliberated on various initiatives to be taken by the center in order to facilitate the women entrepreneurs to boost their businesses and provide handholding support to the women led start-ups. The members in the forum further discussed about the activities to be proposed and also ideated the upcoming exhibitions at various locations exclusively by and for the Women Entrepreneurs.

The Convenor of Start-Up & IT Think Tank, Mr. Ashwini Rath, CEO, Batoi Systems Pvt. Ltd. delivered the opening remarks and invited ideas from the Think Tank members of the Start-up Innovation & IT think tank which need to be facilitated by the Center in order to rope in business opportunities for the members and to develop positive collaborations to further conduct workshops and seminars on relevant as well as important topics keeping the current scenario in mind.

Mr. Mahendra Gupta, Convenor, Infrastructure & Smart City Think Tank & Managing Director, Gupta Power Pvt. Ltd spoke about various activities and awareness drives to be conducted under the think tank to promote renewable resources. He further invited the members to put forward their respective business updates. The members discussed about organizing &participating in various virtual sessions related to scope for exports, identification of foreign markets, export documentation etc. The Think Tank members further proposed ideas to conduct awareness drives to adapt Green Building concept, promote EV Charging Stations throughout the state, approach Odisha Skill Development Authority for collaborative measures and address the challenges faced by the exporters.

Convenor to the Agriculture & Food Processing Think Tank, Mr. Pradipta Mohanty, Chairman, SNM Grouprequested the members to suggest and propose ideasfor proper strategic planning and execution of the activities to be taken up under the Agriculture Think Tank. The members discussed about awareness drives/activities to promote Innovation and Incubation with existing MoU partners, training programs for the FPOs, proper framing of aquaculture regulations and to drive focus on Sustainable Farming. They further proposed to collaborate with promotion councils to promote Oilseeds, conduct capacity building programs for small group of farmers as identified and recommended by the members and also emphasize interaction with Govt. departments to further strengthen the sector.

The Tourism Think Tank Meeting was organized at Hotel Swosti Premium with a view to revamp the Tourism & Hospitality sector in the state post-covid. The session was convened by The Convenor to the think tank Mr. J.K. Mohanty, CMD, Swosti Group, Bhubaneswar.The Convenor started off the discussion by inviting the views of the think tank members regarding focused activities to be taken up during the upcoming year and which shall be facilitated by the Centre under its think tank. The members discussed on various action points to be facilitated by the Think Tank of the center like Skill Development sessions in the rural belts for skilled manpower in the sector, Internship &Certification Programs, Foreign Language training for the tour guides, Odisha Tourism Conclave as a policy advocacy platform etc. The members further proposed to focus and promote the culture and tourism potential of the state.

WTC Bhubaneswar initiated an inter-member connectivity drive where business updates by the members about their services and products were compiled as a Member’s Directory in order to support by means of facilitation and marketing assistance.

Ms. Nimeshika Natarajan, Assistant Director, WTC Bhubaneswar gave the introductory remarks to mention about the objectives of the Center with a view to help the sectors revive from the various challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic. She further invited the Convenors to preside over.