I Vijaya Kumar joins INK as its Chief Innovation Officer

After a successful career as Chief Technology Officer at Wipro, I. Vijaya Kumar (popularly known as IVK) will join INK, which runs The INK Conference, in association with TED, as its Chief Innovation Officer.IVK has been with Wipro for more than 21 years and introduced many emerging technologies to its business portfolio. He led technology strategy, central technology themes and innovation management for Wipro in his role as a CTO and is widely known for his innovation network and technology expertise in the industry.

The INK Conference, in association with TED, 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, dance, design, music, science, social entrepreneurship, sports and technology. INK continues the conversation that was started at TEDIndia in 2009.

Commenting on his new assignment, IVK says, “This is a new challenge and a great opportunity to be at the forefront and lead some amazing innovation in emerging economies around the world.”

As its Chief Innovation Officer, IVK will set the stage and pace to convert new and interesting ideas from The INK Conference into action. “Since its inception last year, The INK Conference, in association with TED, has had the opportunity to be a repository of innovative ideas in the fields of education, technology, health, music, the arts and sciences. IVK will now breathe life into these ideas and make them real,” says INK Curator and Host Lakshmi Pratury.

The inaugural INK Conference was launched in December 2010 at Lavasa Hill City near Mumbai. With the theme of ‘Untold Stories’, the three-day conference had a stellar lineup of speakers delivering breathtaking perspectives and innovation, both local and global. These included science writer Anil Ananthaswamy, founder of Super 30 Anand Kumar, science educator and innovator Arvind Gupta, youngest headmaster of a rural school in West Bengal Babar Ali, musician and founder of CD Baby Derek Sivers, filmmaker James Cameron, founder of Wired magazine Kevin Kelly, cartoonist and creator of The Simpsons Matt Groening, co-founder of Emotiv Nam Do, design guru Philippe Starck, anti-trafficking activist Sunitha Krishnan, and many more.

This year, INK journeys to Jaipur, the enchanting land of palaces, royalty and much colour. INK 2011 will be held from December 8 to 11 with an equally accomplished lineup of speakers from across the world, linked by this year's theme of ‘Power of the Journey’.

Besides the annual conference, INK includes INKTalks.com and the inspiring INK Fellows Program. On INKTalks.com, we make the best talks and performances from INK available to the world for free. These videos are released under a Creative Commons License, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

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