Agenda

The ITechLaw CyberSpaceCamp® Program is a platform for experienced lawyers from across the world to interact with young lawyers and professionals and share their insight and in-depth view on the implications of technology law and practice as it has developed in their respective jurisdictions. The program has been tailor-made to address current issues facing technology law practitioners as well as make the event an interactive discussion. The programs are conducted classroom style, with faculty encouraging active interaction from the participants. 

This year, the ITechLaw CyberSpaceCamp® Program is being conducted by Nishith Desai Associates at its office in Bengaluru, on Wednesday, 18 January 2023 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm IST. The CyberSpaceCamp® Program is intended to benefit young lawyers with 0-3 years of experience. All participants are invited to attend the ITechLaw Substantive Legal Conversations from 2:30 pm - 6:00 pm IST and the Welcome Reception from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm IST, held at The Taj West End following the CyberSpaceCamp® Program.

Register to attend and select one of the following categories: Local Delegate - Member, Local Delegate - Nonmember, or Student.

Date: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
CyberSpaceCamp Location: Nishith Desai Associates, Prestige Loka, G01, 7/1, Brunton Rd, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025
Registration Cost: 7,500 INR

Schedule

Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship

Rajeev Chandrasekhar is a member of the Union Council of Ministers of Narendra Modi Govt. in India. Rajeev holds twin responsibilities as Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in the country. He is focused on implementing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India by expanding and deepening India’s Tech and Innovation Economy, developing India as a global talent and Entrepreneurship Hub. In this regard, he is leading several initiatives such as the semi-conductor mission for India, electronics system design and manufacturing, deep tech investment promotion, Startup India and technology policy development.

A tech native, Rajeev has a bachelors in electrical engineering with a MS in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He started his engineering career in the United States working on microprocessors, compilers and Unix operating systems at Intel. In the early 1990s, he returned to India to begin his entrepreneurial journey, setting up one of India’s earliest mobile cellular network – BPL Mobile which he successfully exited to Hutchinson, now Vodafone, in 2005.
In 2006, Rajeev committed himself to long term public service. A three-term parliamentarian, he started his political career as Member of parliament in 2006 campaigning for a variety of public interest and economic growth issues, including exposing the 2G spectrum allocation scam in the telecom sector as an opposition MP, advocating for a rules based open internet, data privacy and interoperability.

Since 2014, prior to becoming a Minister, Rajeev was a member of many important Parliamentary committees including Finance and Technology amongst others. Currently he is executing the Indian Govt’s mission for building a trillion-dollar tech economy in India by 2025-26 and also working towards making India a Global Skills Hub.

The Keynote will include a Q&A Session. 

The impact of India’s “digital stack” in enabling financial inclusion, innovation, and disruption, has only emphasized the importance of replicating this model for other key sectors like e-commerce and healthcare. This Panel will examine the key regulatory challenges associated with key emerging digital public infrastructures like ONDC and the Health Stack along with the potentially transformative benefits of solving them.

Speakers:

Rahul Matthan, Trilegal, India - Moderator

Rahul Matthan is a technology lawyer and heads the TMT practice of Trilegal. In addition to advising clients on issues as diverse as cryptocurrency, satellite regulations, fintech and social media, he has played an active role in tech policy in the country including in relation to the country's privacy law, its spatial data infrastructure and the Unique ID law. His book - ' Privacy 3.0: Unlocking Our Data-Driven Future' - describes the evolution of privacy in India and the world and the impact that technology has had on the evolution of this fundamental human right. He is a published author and a regular speaker across the world on matter relating to emerging technologies and the law and he writes a weekly column on the interface of law and technology entitled Ex Machina in mint, a leading national business daily. He also hosts a podcast series with the same name which picks up on many of the themes discussed in his articles and dives into them in much more detail. Rahul now serves on the Board of Trilegal after having served for many years on the Firm’s Management Committee.

Tanuj Bhojwani, DPG Alliance, India

Tanuj is a founding and current Board Member of the DPGA. As a former Fellow at iSPIRT Foundation, Tanuj worked on policy issues related to digital identity, payments, data protection and drones with the goal of achieving a Digital India, and most recently co-authored a book with Nandan Nilekani called the Art of Bitfulness, a compendium of strategies that help readers develop a healthier relationship with technology.

T Koshy, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), India

Mr Koshy is the MD & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a first-of-its-kind initiative globally to democratize e-commerce in India. As an IIM Bangalore alumnus, he was part of the founding team of National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) and served as an Executive Director. He has also marked a remarkable stint in Ernst & Young leading key digital transformation initiatives. Mr Koshy has been a pioneer in Digital ID and social protection initiatives and has played a leadership role in many implementations and consulting projects globally including the UID project of India, the largest ID program in the world, along with many other Digital ID initiatives globally. Mr Koshy played a key role in the many digital transformation projects in India, including the transformation of Pension Systems in India, the development of the Tax Information Network and the formulation of IT strategy and IT architecture for the implementation of Goods & Service Tax in India. Mr Koshy has also assisted the World Bank with pension transformation projects and has been to China as a member of a pension reform mission. Mr Koshy has also served as a member of SEBI committees pertaining to the adoption of dematerialized settlement of securities and mutual funds as well as committees constituted by the RBI with reference to the Online Tax Accounting System for Direct and Indirect Tax. He has also been a member of the Sub Group on Technology of the Tax Administration Reform Commission of the Government of India constituted to recommend measures for reforms required in Tax Administration to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency for both Direct as well as Indirect tax. Mr Koshy played a significant role in several e-Government initiatives, including the Unique ID project, the Expenditure Information Network, the Project PLATINUM for the development of a legal and IT framework for the Ministry of Urban Development's guaranteed land title, the Common Data Repository for the Insurance Sector, the E-Stamping initiative, and the automation of VAT functions in a few Indian states.

Kamya Chandra, India

Kameshwari (Kamya) Chandra specializes in the design and implementation of digital public infrastructure to power financial inclusion and economic growth via identity, payments, data sharing, and access to credit. She advises the Indian Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India on the rollout of the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) which has enabled consented data sharing via shared digital infrastructure for over 1.1 Billion bank accounts in India’s financial sector. She worked previously at the tech-policy think tank iSPIRT Foundation based in Bangalore, at the World Bank’s Digital Identification for Development initiative, and at the Boston Consulting Group in London. She holds an MPA in International Development from the London School of Economics, an Executive Certificate in Leading Economic Growth from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Economics and Political Science."

Join us in congratulating the Honorable Justice Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna as the recipient of the ITechLaw 50th Anniversary India Award for his global impact and his outstanding contribution to the field of technology and law.

Justice Srikrishna is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and has had a distinguished career deciding on matters relating to human lives and commerce. Post-retirement, Justice Srikrishna has headed commissions such as the 6th Pay Commission, the Committee for Consultations on the Situation in Andhra Pradesh (CCSAP), Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), the committee on arbitration law in India, and the committee to draft a data protection framework.

Thursday AM Coffee/Tea Break Sponsor:

The year 2023 promises to be the most complex year yet for technology-led, digital-first companies in India with an uncertain and volatile global and Indian economy, an impending rewritten rule book with new privacy, telecom, and data protection legislation on the books, and a dynamic regulatory and enforcement environment. The panel which includes some of India’s leading In-House Counsel will examine the challenges of navigating this difficult landscape.

Speakers:

Nikhil Narendran, Trilegal, India - Moderator

Nikhil Narendran is a Partner in Trilegal’s Bengaluru office and part of the TMT practice of the firm. He is a subject matter expert in the technology, media, and telecom communication space. Nikhil focuses on the interplay of technology, human lives, and commerce. He has substantial experience in advising companies on telecom, media and technology laws in relation to their entry into India, operations, strategy, policy, regulatory issues, disputes, and business models. He advises new-age e-commerce, Fintech and technology companies in India on their business models and regulatory issues, including data protection. Nikhil’s advice in the telecom regulatory sector ranges from mobile telephony, enterprise, Satcom, cloud and call centre related work. In the media sector, Nikhil has advised traditional and new media content delivery services, including triple play, dual play and OTT. Nikhil has also worked extensively with clients in relation to technology policy, including the private sector and the public sector. He is also called upon by his clients to advise on the best practices to follow during the consultation process for technology legislation in other Asian countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He also has negotiated ICT agreements in South-East Asia, Europe and America. Nikhil was the winner of the ITechLaw Travelling Fellowship Award 2011, as a part of which he worked at six European firms specialising in Technology Laws.

Harshitha Thammaiah, Xiaomi India, India

Ms. Harshitha Thammaiah is the Senior Director and General Counsel of Xiaomi India group and is responsible for leading the legal and compliance team in India and international markets of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Harshitha advises the board on all legal, business and strategic decision making. She has been instrumental in corporate structuring, contract structuring and designing policies and procedures on all forms of legal compliance at Xiaomi. Prior to Xiaomi, Harshitha has spent over a decade at top tier law firms advising large multi-nationals and start-ups on general corporate and technology matters including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, entry strategy, intellectual property, data protection and viability of new technology business models.

Jagriti Bhattacharyya, Pinelabs, India

As General Counsel at Pinelabs, Jagriti oversees the Legal, Compliance and Corporate Secretarial functions for the organization across geographies. In prior roles as Chief Counsel of Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters, Jagriti had legal oversight of the sales organization as well as the Indian Enterprise Technology and Operation Centers in South Asia. Jagriti has indepth experience advising on complex corporate commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory aspects and strategic and operational matters. In her earlier role at Citibank, South Asia she was part of the General Counsel’s office with purview of the Global Markets/Treasury, which included the Fixed Income, Derivatives, Commodities & Equities businesses, alongside having supervisory oversight of the Global Trade Services legal function. She has also advised the wholesale & private banking businesses, the e-commerce platforms & the trade finance desk of ICICI Bank in a previous role. Jagriti serves on the board of directors, providing key corporate governance advice. She is a keen supporter of CSR and D&I initiatives and has chaired chapters of women's networks in her organization. Jagriti’s contributions in the legal field have been recognized by international organizations such as Chambers & Partners and Legal500.

Rajeev Nair, HP, Inc., India

Rajeev Nair heads the legal team for HP Inc. India Market and has been with the Company for over 10 years. Rajeev has held country and regional roles and has also led a global transformation project in the HP Global Legal Affairs team. Rajeev started his legal career spanning over 27 years as a litigation attorney. He and has worked with the corporate legal departments of Unilever, ING Group and HSBC prior to joining HP.

Lopamudra Rao, Meesho, India

Lopamudra is an alumnus of NALSAR, Hyderabad. She is currently the General Counsel at Meesho. She has over 14 years of work experience gathered across start ups and private practice. She started her career as an M&A lawyer at Trilegal and subsequently, at Luthra & Luthra. Prior to Meesho, Lopamudra was Head-Legal at the Ola Group.

While The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill proposes solutions to many problems, perhaps none is so important as the balance of digital sovereignty with enabling cross-border data flows. This panel will examine the thorny problem of localization, its consequences on privacy and business, and what the right balance may be here.

Speakers:

Sreenidhi Srinivasan, Ikigai Law, India - Moderator

Sreenidhi Srinivasan is a partner at Ikigai law and leads the firm’s data practice. She advises the world’s leading technology companies, startups, premier industry bodies, VC funds and several others, on data governance. She is recognised as a go-to lawyer for data protection by The Legal 500 and was a finalist for the ALB India Law Award 2022 for India’s best data protection lawyer. She speaks regularly at panels and to the media, and has published widely in leading publications like TOI and Quartz, and academic journals.

Ashwathy Basu Pillai, Microsoft Corporation, India

I am currently the Commercial Legal Lead and a senior corporate counsel with Microsoft India managing end-to-end corporate transactions for business segments and have corporate legal experience spanning more than 16 years. I specialize in transactional work, data privacy & AI & ML technology-related work. Prior to my Microsoft role, I was the lead legal counsel for Software, Watson and Channel Partners India/South Asia business unit at IBM India. This included supporting Systems and Technology Group, Software Group, Channels and Partners and Watson in the region. In my career, I have worked extensively on transactions involving information technology contracts like MSAs, RFPs etc software licensing, compliance and enterprise agreements, channel partner transactions and strategic outsourcing deals amongst others. My experience involves negotiation of multi-million dollar Software and Services contracts with clients across the globe. l also provided support for M&A integration teams, Marketing and Advertising teams and hae done strategic work in ensuring that my employer is FCPA compliant along with other related laws. I have experience in cloud computing, analytics, cognitive computing (Watson), SaaS and overall management of complete business linea including litigation, arbitration, procurement, disputes etc. Prior to IBM, I was Head of Legal for the Indecomm Group, an American company with IT/BPO/KPO services and with Technology Services based in India. I was responsible for the entire legal function of the Group’s India operation including strategic initiatives, IP Law, litigation, mergers and acquisitions etc. I started my career with Infosys Technologies as a Commercial Transactions Specialist.

Shyaam Nagarajan, Glance Digital Experience Private Limited, India

Lawyer with over 15 years’ experience - Currently heading the legal in Glance, a unicorn in less than 2 years. The journey in Glance has been a unique and interesting and the direct shift to B2C which is different from its parent group, InMobi. Have also been actively involved in data and privacy matters and working closely with committees and advising teams on criticality of privacy law and its global level implications. Previously worked as in Trilegal (Mumbai and Bangalore) and also worked in the in-house legal team of Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai. In 2017, got selected in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist India as one of the top in-house legal teams.

Ashish Aggarwal, NASSCOM, India

Ashish leads NASSCOM’s engagement with the industry, regulators, and governments on policy and regulatory reforms since 2018. His key focus is on data, e-commerce, platforms, fintech and regulations impacting emerging technologies and tech led businesses. Earlier at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a Ministry of Finance think tank, he led the technical assistance to the Indian Ministry of Finance on regulation of financial products, digital payments, and consumer protection.

Friday AM Coffee/Tea Break Sponsor:

The Digital India Act will constitute the core regulatory infrastructure which will govern a vast swathe of subjects ranging from intermediary and platform regulation, openness and artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity and cybercrime. The Panel will examine the likely contours of this new legislation and its impact on India both from a business and policy perspective.

Speakers:

Aditi Agrawal, Newslaundry, India - Moderator

Aditi Agrawal is a technology policy journalist at Newslaundry. She reports on issues related to privacy, surveillance, cybersecurity, intermediary liability, traceability and regulation of Big Tech.

Sumit Ghoshal, AZB and Partners, India

With over 14 years of experience, Sumit Ghoshal specializes in Corporate, E-Commerce & Retail, Data Privacy, Information Technology, and Employment law. He has in- depth experience in advising clients on various legal and regulatory issues pertaining to e-commerce, single and multi-brand product retail trading, food product retail trading, setting up payment systems, online sale of products, online marketing and advertising of products, legal metrology and other commercial issues pertaining to e-commerce. He also has significant experience in Information Technology, Data Privacy, cyber security, intermediary and safe harbor issues, cross-border transfer, data interception etc.

Uthara Ganesh, Snap, Inc., India

Uthara Ganesh is Head of Public Policy, India and South Asia for Snap Inc. She is focused on building Snap's relationship with key government agencies across South Asia, and securing government partnerships focused on Augmented Reality. Prior to this, Uthara led Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) and Amazon's public policy work, supporting advocacy on content regulation, taxation, data governance and competition issues across the Prime Video, Kindle, Alexa and Cloud businesses. She also served as Public Policy Lead to Rajeev Chandrasekhar between 2014-17 and has had stints at the Centre for Policy Research, UNAIDS and GIZ. Uthara served as a LAMP Fellow between 2010-11.

Shahana Chatterji, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, India

Shahana Chatterji is a Partner with the Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs team at the Firm. Shahana has been deeply involved with policy and regulatory issues both in India and in the United States. She has worked with a Representative at the U.S. Congress, Washington D.C., engaging in expansive legislative and policy matters ranging from healthcare and financial reforms. . Before working with the U.S. Congress, she worked extensively on capital markets and corporate finance transactions and advised clients on foreign investment and financial regulatory issues here in India.

The Indian Telecommunications Bill is intended to modernize the basis on which telecommunications services are regulated under a legal framework that dates back to 1885. While proposing a welcome and radical simplification of the ornate (and heavily litigated) existing framework, the Bill also proposed changes which may have far-reaching consequences beyond India’s core telecommunications ecosystem. The Panel will examine the Bill, some of the key concerns surrounding it, and how they may be addressed.

Speakers:

Dr. Mansi Kedia, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), India - Moderator

Mansi is Senior Fellow at ICRIER. She has over 12 years of experience in policy research. She has published papers/ reports on telecom and Internet regulations, the impact of information technology including emerging technologies such as AI in India. She was appointed as a member of the Task Force rewriting the Direct Tax Code for India (2017). She also has a background in consulting and financial services with four years of experience in the private sector. She completed her B.Sc. in Economics from St. Xavier’s, Kolkata, and MBA from ISB, Hyderabad. Her PhD is from IIFT, New Delhi.

Prof. Varadharajan Sridhar, International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, India

Dr. V. Sridhar is Professor at the Centre for IT and Public Policy at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, India. He is the author of three books: The Telecom Revolution in India: Technology, Regulation and Policy (2012), The Dynamics of Spectrum Management: Legacy, Technology, and Economics (2014), and Emerging ICT Policies and Regulations: Roadmap to Digital Economies (2019). He has also edited four books, and his recently edited book titled Data Centric Living: Algorithms, Digitization and Regulation, has just been published by Routledge. Dr. Sridhar has taught at many Institutions in the USA, Finland, New Zealand and India. He was a visiting Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California, U.S.A. during May-Jun, 2021 and Apr-May, 2022. He has received funding from different sources, both national and international for his research projects. He has been a member of Government of India committees on Telecom and IT and has published many peer reviewed articles in telecom and information systems journals. He has also written more than 300 article in newspapers and magazines on telecom regulation in India. Dr. Sridhar has a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, U.S.A.

Aditi Shamlal, Zeta, India

With almost 15 years of experience as a legal practioner, Aditya has worked at Amarchand Mangaldas's New Delhi offices, in the high court, supreme court and various other fora within New Delhi as an independent practioner. After stints in a corporate law and litigation, Aditya joined GameChanger Law Advisors and headed up the Delhi office. After 9 years at GLA, Aditya joined Zeta, a long time client, as their head of legal. Aditya's experience ranges from general corporate, litigation, investment transactional and advisory, M&A, telecom, technology contract and advisory, media and entertainment.

Anand Prasad, AP & Partners, India

Anand Prasad is a corporate lawyer with more than 3 decades of experience advising domestic and international clients on their businesses in India. In 2019, along with former colleagues Anand established AP & Partners focusing on assisting clients stuck in special situations and on the sell side in M&A deals. In an earlier life, Anand was one of the co-founders of Trilegal. Anand represents clients in high-value disputes, including in arbitrations, bankruptcy, corporate fraud and corruption proceedings. Anand has been cited in independent legal directories such as Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a market leader for corporate and commercial laws in India for well over a decade and half

Technology has enabled development of solutions that tackle some of the lingering social discrepancies. The true potential of technological transformation can be unlocked when the benefits trickle down to the last mile. From housing, sanitation, education, poverty alleviation, employment to primary healthcare, technology has played a significant role in limiting inequalities and bringing equity across the social fabric. Technology for the community and social impact organizations have a key role to play. Policy initiatives, infrastructure development, realistic regulations and practically scalable models are the need of the hour. The session will focus on the unique policy, legal and funding challenges for the sector and possible way forward that would make technology and its benefits accessible to masses.

This session will be led by the I-WIN (Women’s International Network) Committee.

Speakers:

Arya Tripathy, PSA, India - Moderator

Arya Tripathy is Partner at PSA, a full-service law firm headquartered in New Delhi. She specializes in M&A, general corporate, technology, and data protection laws, and is a qualified CIPP/Asia from IAPP. She is the Co-Chair of the I-WIN Committee of ITechLaw and a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. She has a keen interest in technology policy, works with think tanks, conducts guest lectures at law schools, participates in stakeholder discussions, and submits recommendations on draft laws. As part of pro-bono services, she advises social impact and not-profit organization on tech4good strategies and privacy laws. She was recognized as in the list of Rising Star 2022 by Asia Legal Business”. 

Sudha Srinivasan, The/Nudge Institute, India

Sudha is CEO of The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation, a nonprofit on a mission to nudge and nurture top talent to solve India’s most critical problems. Since its launch in 2017, The/Nudge CSI has incubated 100+ nonprofit startups, including 30 tech startups solving problems of poverty. Its $6Mn accelerator fund works with high potential nonprofits that are ready for growth and scale. The/Nudge Prize and the Indian Administrative Fellowship enable problem solvers from diverse domains to apply their capabilities to solve India’s most pressing developmental problems. Prior to The/Nudge, Sudha worked at Intel, where she spent nearly 13 years in various leadership roles defining and executing large-scale global programs. She has great passion for enabling organizations to ramp in scale and competence, and achieve audacious goals. Sudha is an engineer by training, and holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow.

International businesses are incorporating AI and machine learning into their operations in a big way. We have seen this particularly in the health – tech and fintech sectors, in India, in recent times. While the introduction of AI has its benefits, it also raises questions of bias, negligence, risk and accountability. What is the best way to address this issue? Is Regulation the answer? Join the panel as they debate and discuss these issues.  

Speakers:

Namita Viswanath, IndusLaw, India - Moderator

Namita is a Partner in the Technology Media and Telecom (TMT) practice group at INDUSLAW. Namita is well-regarded for her technology law expertise across all industry sectors. Namita has advised several domestic and international clients from start-ups to mature private and public companies and investors in various technology-driven and technology-consuming industries on issues ranging from setting up an e-commerce business and outsourcing to data governance and cyber security.

Arindrajit Basu, The Centre for Internet & Society, India

Arindrajit Basu is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Centre for Internet & Society, India, where he focuses on the geopolitics and constitutionality of emerging technologies. He is a lawyer by training and holds a BA, LLB (Hons) degree from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, and an LLM in public international law from the University of Cambridge, U.K.

Lahar Appaiah, IBM India, India

Lahar Appaiah is IBM’s lead privacy lawyer for the Asia Pacific region. In 2019, he was one of six Indians selected for the British Government's Chevening Fellowship in Cybersecurity, conducted by Cranfield University at the Defence Academy of the UK. Lahar has advised local governments in South America on data-driven transformations, as a part of IBM’s Corporate Services Corps missions. Lahar graduated from the National Law School of India University, and has several years of experience as a technology lawyer.

Gulzar Azad, Google, India

Gulzar is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Google Research and Health AI, focussed on building an open digital ecosystem for healthcare through a public, private, people partnership initiative and mission for the global south. He is currently the founder of a project that is driving the organization of information and improvement in healthcare outcomes at population scale, which puts mobile-first, AI-accelerated technology in the hands of community health workers and frontline healthcare professionals. In his earlier work at Google, starting 2013, Gulzar founded the initiative for Railways WiFi, an ecosystem building partnership between Google, and the Indian Railways to bring high-speed Internet connectivity to hundreds of millions of people visiting train stations across 400+ cities and towns in India. Gulzar also drove the early technology partnerships and business model for Google’s global connectivity projects creating scale for mobile web technologies and introducing cloud-based Software Defined Networking, network virtualization for telcos. In his life before Google, Gulzar led the engineering and product development for India's first carrier-grade SMS gateway and engineered early innovations in mobile location-based services. Gulzar is a global tech and community motivation speaker, TEDx speaker, and startup advisor & angel investor. Gulzar is a computer applications graduate from the DAVV University in India (1999). He later undertook a one year executive management program from Indian Institute of Management, IIM-Bangalore (2005-06), and completed the Advanced Project Management executive program from Stanford University.