Coimbatore Chapter of Computer Society of India is hosting ''CSI-2016' for the very first time in Coimbatore. The 51st Annual Convention, a three-day (21st to 23rd January) national convention was inaugurated today at Hotel Le Meridien.
Dr. B. K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman, Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Coimbatore declared this National Convention open and delivered the inaugural address. He highlighted the theme of the convention Digital Connectivity - Social Impact and mentioned that connectivity existed in this world from time immaterial and technology just enables it.
The inaugural function was followed by the Awards Ceremony. Prof. Thirumurthy, Chair - Awards Committee read out the citation and purpose of various awards and distributed the same to people who have contributed to the cause of CSI over the years. The awards included Lifetime Achievement Awards and Fellowship Awards.
“People like Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda connected the nation and world through a common cause or purpose. Our latest success in this list is Vision 2020 of Abdul Kalam. These people connected the nation, the world through a common purpose - like truth, Ahimsa and a common vision.” Dr. B. K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar said. He concluded by saying, 'culture and connectivity are not opposite poles, they need to co-exist for a happy society'.
Prem Kumar, Vice-Chairman of HCL Technologies was the guest of honor. He turned nostalgic and recalled his early days in Coimbatore. In his address, he highlighted the need to transform and to lead the transformation process in the society in order to make the world a better place to live in. He cited examples of how aadhar and payment wallets are transforming and easing our day-to- day lives.
T. Mani Chairman - Registration Committee in his address highlighted that CSI 2016 is the most successful annual convention of CSI in terms of registration. “CSI 2016 will be witnessed by almost 900 delegates in person and is being watched live by another 20,000 students across various academic campuses. The participants include people from large corporates, SMEs, academia, research scholars and students representing almost each part of this country. About 50 students, who were selected through the Discover Thinking Project contest will also take part in the event. The online registration had to be closed a week before due to the overwhelming response.” Mani, Chairman - CSI said.
P.R.Rangaswami, Chair - Organising Committee of CSI 2016 welcomed the gathering. Dr. Anirban Basu, President CSI delivered his presidential address and highlighted the work CSI does across the country through it’s 73 chapters and 500+ student branches. He also mentioned that Coimbatore has been an award winning chapter for over a decade. 'And, it' very rightful to host the 51st annual convention here', he said.
Premkumar released the proceedings of paper presentation contest. The conference proceedings are published by Springer and the same was received by Dr. R. Subbayan, Former Vice Chancellor Bharathiar University. The event Souvenir was released was Dr. Vanavarayar and it was received by Dr. G. V. Krishna Reddy, Past Chairman of CSI Coimbatore.
Anand Ramamurthy of Intel Corporation delivered the keynote address on Cyber Security. Dr. S. Subrmaniam, Chair Programme committee briefed the audience about the sessions planned for the upcoming days. Vishnu Potty, Chairman CSI Coimbatore Chapter proposed the Vote of Thanks. Ranga Rajagopal, Convenor, Dr. R. Natarajan, Co-Chair Programme Committee, Dr. K. Sabapathy, Chair - Finance Committee were also present on the occasion.