KNOWLEDGE MILLENNIUM SERIES – A Brief History

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the oldest apex industry organization in India having extensive membership of Trade and Industry, has positioned itself as the “Knowledge Chamber of India”.

Realizing that future wealth creation will be through the knowledge based industries and recognizing its responsibility, as a Chamber of Commerce, to spearhead the knowledge movement in India by promoting knowledge-based industries, ASSOCHAM organized the Knowledge Millennium Summit I in December 1999, the focus of which was Information Technology. We were fortunate to have Hon’ble Prime Minister and Dr. Raj Reddy, Co-Chairman President Clinton’s committee on Future technologies and Dean, Dept. of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University as the Guest of Honour on the inaugural day. The Summit attracted national attention and as a consequence, there was considerable debate, resulting in several policy statements. We are happy that this initiative triggered policy formulation in the area of IT in India.

Continuing with its focus on the knowledge economy, ASSOCHAM celebrated the Knowledge Millennium Summit II: Biotechnology – The New World in March 2001, with the aim to introduce the Indian industry to the new and rapidly expanding field of Biotechnology. Prof. Inder Verma Professor of Genetics, at the Salk Institute had been invited as the Chief Guest. At the end of three-day deliberations, a declaration was issued and submitted to the government and other institutions.

Following the success of Knowledge Millennium II, in an attempt to take Biotechnology a step further, ASSOCHAM celebrated the Knowledge Millennium Summit III: The Business of Biotechnology in March 2003 in New Delhi. The focus of the event was on encouraging economic investment in Bio-Industry and give a wake up call to encourage investment in Biotech-Education, Biotech-Industry, and Biotech-research and Development. During this event, eminent scholars as well as businessmen from the Biotechnology-related fields demystified the opportunities in various field of Biotechnology like Biohealth, Genetic Engineering, Bioinformatics, Bioentrepreneurship etc. For a copy of the 2003 Programme schedule click here.

The 2003 Summit was inaugurated by the Hon’ble President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Dr. Craig Venter – the author of Human Genomic Project was invited as Millennium Speaker. Other eminent Speakers Dr. Claire Fraser (President, the Institute for Genomic Research, USA), Dr. S. Subramanyam (Prof. Of Bioengineering, University of California) and Dr. M.S. Reddy (Auburn University) along with other distinguished scientist and bioentrepreneurs. The Ministries of Science & Technology, Agriculture and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Govt. of India were support partners in this event. 

The Summit addressed issues, applications and implications of biotechnology in Agriculture, Health & Medicine, Bioinformatics, Entrepreneurial Potential and Policy Making. At the conclusion of the Summit, ASSOCHAM New Delhi Declaration on Biotechnology was presented. The Declaration lists the recommendations aimed at giving a wake up call to herald the bio-industrial revolution in India. We have great pleasure in informing that many recommendations were accepted and acted upon subsequently.