Ramneek Kalra, IEEE Impact Creator & Young Professional
Shailesh Prabhu, IEEE Young Professional
A group of IEEE Young Professionals & Impact Creators gathered on 13th February, 2021 (06:00PM – 07:30PM IST) to create awareness on technology and form a collaborative environment by initiating “Quarter Tech Talk Table 2.0 (QT3)” in the form of a Panel Discussion on the topic “Role of Technology in Post-COVID Preparedness”.
Motivation: To create a broad collaborative group of Young Professionals and Impact Creators to share some insights on cutting-edge technologies to all technology enthusiasts by having a panel discussion. The primary motivation of QT3 comes from the IEEE Strategic Plan 2020-2025 which inspires us to conduct this event with no boundaries. This provides opportunities to volunteers who collaborated to make this event a grand success.
Objectives: The objectives of QT3 are stated below:
- Creating a broad collaboration for sharing knowledge of industrial technologies.
- Creating a bridge to connect IEEE Young Professionals through this activity for career and professional development.
- Sharing opportunities for elevating ideas using research based oriented learning.
- Creating an open forum for discussion on recent technological advancements and challenges.
Event Details: After a successful completion of the 1st edition of QT3 back in November 2020, the prominent IEEE Young Professionals and Impact Creators across the globe once again came together for a panel discussion in the second edition of QT3 held on 13 February 2021. The event panelists are listed below:
- Sampathkumar Veeraraghavan (Global Chair, IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee, USA)
- Bozenna Pasik-Duncan (IEEE Fellow | Professor, The University of Kansas | Past Chair (2017-18), IEEE WIE, USA)
- Subodh Gajare (Lead Architect, Cisco R&D, Bangalore, India)
- Mei Lin Fung (Chair & Cofounder, People Centred Internet, USA)
Moderators:
- Ramneek Kalra (IEEE Impact Creator | Project Engineer at Wipro Limited, India)
- Shailesh Prabhu (Senior 5G Developer, Wipro Limited, Bangalore, India)
General Chair:
Dr. Prashant R. Nair (IEEE R10 newsletter editor & Associate Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India)
Program Co-Chairs:
- Pooja Sharma (IEEE WIE R10 Com. Member | Component Engineer, Flex India Pvt. Ltd., India)
- Wathmini Sharika (IEEE YP | Production Engineer, Central Industries PLC, Sri Lanka)
- Naveendra Jayakody (IEEE YP | Electrical Engineer, Sunleaf Solar Solutions, Sri Lanka)
Content Writers:
- Sachin Motwani (Social Media Lead, IEEE CS SYP Global | Newsletter Editor, IEEE SPS Delhi Chapter, India)
- S. Sonali Reddy (Vice Chair, IEEE VCE SB | Zonal Technical Chapter Representative, Warangal Zone and Student Network Representative, IEEE Hyderabad Section)
Discussed Points: Some of the key takeaways from this 2nd edition of QT3 are as listed below:
The sudden transformation to the future that was expected in the coming decades, has arrived with a lot of challenges in various fields of human importance. The pandemic is in fact an opportunity to be creative and to work with whatever is available to get things done. With the technological innovations reaching the market quicker, it is also important for the consumers to adapt better technologies sooner. The organizational achievements of IEEE and its verticals such as SIGHT have made a positive impact in the lives of people who were resource-deprived during
the pandemic.
Round 1 (Open Discussion on the Role of Technology in the Post-COVID Times): The discussion opened with the realization that the pandemic has taught everyone how to deal with unprecedented circumstances and the floor was open to insights about the new norms that would help prepare for the next pandemic. To start with, one of the panelists suggested three primary areas of focus- immediate adaptation to latest technologies, improved global connectivity, and formation of a technologically advanced ecosystem where every stakeholder equally contributes.
Another panelist pointed out that people must focus on creative and adaptive strategies to tackle situations with limited access to technologies. This demands patience, innovation, and management skills. The virtual times during COVID, helped people come closer and interact, which would have taken a lot of time, money, and efforts otherwise.
Round 2 (Panel QA Discussion): One of the panelists shared their perception that the future of every domain has occurred suddenly. Keeping it simply, what was supposed to happen gradually in many years to come, was forced upon the world immediately. The pandemic crisis is nothing less than an opportunity, which the panelist abbreviates as the VISA model for Virtualization, Integrity, Software and Artificial Intelligence.
The next panelist shared his views on how IEEE can bring out practicality in humanitarian activities. He described that every student becomes perfect in technical fields, but industry expects a student to be an expert in both technical and non-technical domains for which IEEE SIGHT is useful to explore every domain.
Another panelist spoke about the post-pandemic era describing various fields featuring the changes like online education, work from home, marketing, socialization, technology development, milestone startups discovery, etc. which were changing the human life completely online but making them explore the technology and made them reach success even in this pandemic.
The next panelist discussed the challenging resource development of smart villages comparing these concepts with the live examples of various problems that are being faced by the people in the rural areas. The next panelist gave the best insights on the financial status of the various departments and the utility of money in Global Public Utility for SME Finances, Community Finances, Education, etc.
“Ask the Panellist”: Under this last section, the “Quarter Tech Talk Table 2.0 (QT3)” in the form of a panel discussion on the topic “Role of Technology in Post-COVID Preparedness” was open to the virtual delegates for the Q&A session. They were informative and worth seeking inputs from everyone. With the ending of this QT3 2.0, the General Chair put together the thank remarks and shared the tentative next QT3 3.0 Schedule: 8th May 2021 (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM IST). We welcome all the readers to register for QT3 3.0 edition at: https://forms.gle/x2ost6UqqBGiqtxJ6.
