For decades, India has been a fast follower - rapidly adopting global technologies, scaling them with precision, and embedding them into the world's largest digital backbones. But AI presents a new inflection point. One that doesn’t just reward scale - it rewards context, capability, and conviction.In this keynote, Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov, explores why India is uniquely positioned to lead the next wave of AI transformation. From deep workflow knowledge and engineering scale to its growing agentic AI capabilities, India has all the ingredients to move from enablement to innovation. The infrastructure layer is being built. The application layers are evolving fast. And while foundational models may still be nascent, the momentum is undeniable.
As AI becomes embedded into every function and workflow, it’s not eliminating work - it’s changing its shape. Roles are being unbundled and rebuilt. Skills are evolving faster than organizations can map them. And career paths are becoming nonlinear, adaptive, and deeply intertwined with technology.This keynote explores how AI is recomposing the building blocks of work - not by replacing humans, but by augmenting them. From skills-based models to AI-powered learning, discover how leading organizations are designing workforce systems where humans and machines thrive together - with equity, agility, and purpose at the core. Because in the future of work, success isn’t about man versus machine - it’s about how we rise together.
Every breakthrough begins as a bet. Before the markets believe. Before the technology works. Before the world is ready. This session dives into the minds of the founders and builders who live at the edge of what's possible - those who invest in moonshots, back themselves over consensus, and choose momentum over guarantees. From navigating deep tech ambiguity to raising capital for ideas that don’t fit neatly in a deck, hear how bold decisions become world-changing companies - and why conviction, not certainty, is the new currency of innovation. Because the future doesn’t wait for validation. It’s built by those willing to leap before it’s safe.
Factories that think. Grids that heal themselves. Supply chains that course-correct before a disruption even hits. What once sounded like science fiction is now a design problem - and autonomy is no longer a moonshot, but an engineering roadmap. In this keynote, we explore how AI, intelligent data systems, and industrial software are converging to drive self-learning, self-optimizing operations across manufacturing, energy, and logistics. From digital twins to edge intelligence, this is where complexity meets control - and where the future is being automated, one decision at a time. Because in tomorrow’s industry, the smartest systems won’t just follow instructions - they’ll write their own.
What separates scale from impact? This session dives into how Mega GCCs - those with thousands of employees, mature charters, and global mandates - have gone beyond headcount to deliver business-critical value. From building tech IP to influencing enterprise-wide decision-making, these centers have rewritten what it means to operate at scale. This isn’t just a story of size - it’s a playbook of precision, purpose, and performance. Join us as we unpack what these leaders got right, and how mid-sized and emerging GCCs can apply those lessons to accelerate their own journey from execution to influence.
AI’s next frontier won’t be won with bigger models alone - but with faster, leaner, purpose-built silicon.
As agentic frameworks, sovereign LLMs, and real-time AI applications surge forward, the pressure on hardware is immense. This session explores how semiconductor innovation - from custom AI chips to next-gen compute architectures - is shaping who leads in AI, and who gets left behind.
In every boardroom, there’s a quiet recalibration underway. Tech stacks are being torn down and rebuilt. Talent models are shifting. And long-held assumptions about how value is created are being reexamined - not later, but now. This session pulls back the curtain on the boldest enterprise decisions being made in 2025. What are leaders doubling down on? Where are they pulling back? And what trade-offs are they making - between speed and scale, innovation and control, humans and machines? Because the bets placed today will define the winners of 2035. And not choosing is no longer an option.
Some leaders chase trends. Others shape them. In this special Z Talk, Harish Bhat - one of India’s most respected brand thinkers and storytellers - unpacks what it takes to build belief when the odds are stacked, and how timeless brands are born not just from strategy, but from soul. From reviving iconic legacies to launching bold new ideas within one of the world’s most trusted conglomerates, Harish shares lessons on navigating uncertainty, inspiring teams, and unlocking possibility where others see constraints. Because in every impossible idea lies a simple question: What if we just tried?
The metrics haven’t changed-but what qualifies as a smart tech investment has. As capital becomes more selective, Private Equity and Venture leaders are reassessing what tech is worth betting on. From AI-native platforms and vertical SaaS to infrastructure modernization and IP-led product plays, the new thesis isn’t about scale alone-it’s about strategic value.This session brings together investors and boardroom voices to explore how the tech lens is evolving: what they fund, why they walk away, and how conviction is being rebuilt in a capital-efficient, outcome-driven era.
Every enterprise wants to scale AI. But few are asking the hard question: Can our stack handle it? As AI ambitions surge - with bigger models, more data, and real-time everything - infrastructure is cracking under the weight. Latency creeps in. Costs spiral. Security gaps widen. What was once “cloud-ready” is now 'AI-fragile.' This session dives into the pressure points no one’s bragging about on stage - where systems buckle, where decisions stall, and what leaders must redesign before their AI dreams turn into architectural debt. Because building AI is easy. Scaling it? That’s where things break.
In an era defined by noise, velocity, and short-lived trends, the real competitive edge lies in thinking clearly - from the ground up. This session explores how the most resilient leaders and builders are applying first principles thinking to navigate ambiguity, cut through hype, and solve for what truly matters. Whether reimagining tech stacks, designing AI-native products, or shaping org models for the future - they’re not following the playbook. They’re rewriting it.Join us as we unpack how first principles thinking enables better decisions, bolder bets, and solutions that stand the test of time - even as the world keeps changing.
Drones are evolving beyond surveillance and defense into intelligent, self-organizing systems capable of solving real-time global challenges. This talk will explore how drone swarms are revolutionizing environmental monitoring, disaster response, and logistics, offering tangible solutions that save lives and improve global operations.
Should you invest in building proprietary capabilities, acquire cutting-edge solutions, or form high-impact partnerships? This session unpacks the critical decisions leaders must make to scale AI with speed, precision, and long-term value. Learn from those who’ve navigated the build-buy-partner equation, and discover how to align AI strategy with business outcomes - without compromising agility or control.
Some companies use AI. Others are learning how to become AI.This session explores what it truly means to evolve into an AI-native enterprise - not just by adding tools, but by rethinking the entire operating model. From legacy institutions rearchitecting their tech stack to digital-born firms designing AI-first workflows, we’ll unpack the journey of embedding intelligence into every layer of the business. Expect bold conversations on real-time decision loops, digital co-pilots, autonomous workflows - and the cultural shifts it takes to get there. Because in the AI-first era, the future doesn’t belong to the biggest or the fastest. It belongs to those who are built to think.
Indian GCCs are no longer just cost-efficient extensions of global enterprises - they’re becoming the new centers of gravity for innovation, leadership, and strategic decision-making. But as they scale, the question isn't just how much value they create - it's what kind.
In this session, we go beyond the traditional metrics to challenge how value is defined, measured, and amplified within GCCs. We’ll unpack the shift from execution to influence - where innovation isn't an initiative, but a core operating principle. As GCCs hit a critical inflection point, this conversation will explore what it takes to move from being valuable to being indispensable.
The best GCCs no longer wait for instructions. They shape roadmaps. They own products. They drive strategy. This session unpacks the rise of integrated GCCs - not as support hubs, but as global nodes of innovation and influence. Where engineering, product, and AI teams operate end-to-end. Where leadership is embedded. And where decision-making is distributed, not centralized. As enterprises rewire for AI, speed, and scale, the most impactful GCCs aren’t just aligned - they’re indispensable. Because in today’s world, influence doesn’t come from where you sit. It comes from what you build.
For years, GCCs chased efficiency. Lower costs. Faster delivery. Leaner teams. But in the age of AI, efficiency is no longer the goal - it’s just the starting line. This session explores how the most forward-looking GCCs are redefining value itself. Not as cost saved, but as capability created. Not as FTE count, but as decision velocity, adaptability, and strategic lift. Because when machines take the grunt work, human effort must move upstream - toward innovation, leadership, and lasting impact. The question isn’t 'How fast can we work?' It’s 'What are we working toward?'
As AI reshapes the enterprise, Global Capability Centers are no longer just delivery engines - they’re being reimagined as AI-native hubs that drive innovation, intelligence, and impact at scale. But while the promise is clear, the path is not. In this keynote, Nilesh Thakker, President - GCC Business, Zinnov and Karthik Padmanabhan, Managing Partner, Zinnov decode what it truly means to build an AI-First GCC - why this transformation is now a strategic imperative, what foundational shifts are needed across talent, tech, and structure, and how organizations can move from pilot to full-scale execution. This is not just about adopting AI - it’s about redesigning the GCC to lead in an AI-first world.
The boldest decisions rarely make sense in the moment. They defy consensus. Outrun the market. And often look risky - until they become obvious in hindsight. This keynote explores the mindset of leaders who bet on the future before it's fashionable. Who ignore quarterly noise to build enduring advantage. Who think in ecosystems, not functions - and in decades, not quarters. From generational tech bets to talent and culture compounding strategies, discover how visionary leaders engineer relevance that lasts - not just for the next cycle, but for the next chapter of their industry. Because the best way to win the next quarter… is to already be building for the next decade.
As the world faces urgent and interconnected challenges from climate change to intelligent mobility - traditional approaches to engineering are no longer enough. Incremental fixes and siloed solutions fall short in an era that demands speed, scale, and systemic thinking. This keynote explores why engineering must evolve from a purely technical discipline into a creative, interdisciplinary force that blends design, systems thinking, and human purpose. With rising complexity, shifting business models, and mounting societal expectations, engineering must now lead not only with precision, but with imagination. The future calls for more polymath engineers who combine imaginative vision with practical implementation and technical precision to solve problems.
India is no longer playing catch-up - it’s building the future.
From digital public goods like India Stack to state-level execution engines and a growing voice in global tech governance, the blueprint for India as a tech superpower is being drawn - brick by brick, byte by byte.
In this powerful conversation, three leaders shaping that future from the ground up come together to answer one bold question: Can India lead the next digital revolution - and what will it take to get there?
Expect real stories, honest challenges, and bold ideas that move beyond vision and into the 'how.'
As AI agents become integral to enterprise workflows, organizations face critical decisions in how they design, deploy, and govern these systems. But unlocking their full potential requires more than just powerful models-it demands a new architecture.
This keynote explores the foundational considerations for building AI agents that are trustworthy, secure, and aligned with business goals-from organizing enterprise data for context-rich interactions to leveraging semantic models that enhance reasoning and adaptability. Attendees will gain practical insights into creating AI architectures that not only scale, but also uphold the highest standards of safety and accountability.
The future belongs to those who build Agents responsibly, This is your blueprint.
From platforms to partnerships, the next wave of innovation isn’t being built in silos. It’s co-created across value chains, with customers, partners, and even competitors. This session dives into how organizations are shifting from closed strategies to ecosystem-first thinking - where success is measured not just by product excellence, but by the strength of the network around it. Learn how leaders are architecting ecosystems that move faster, scale smarter, and deliver lasting impact.
As enterprises rush to scale AI, one critical question keeps surfacing: Who owns the data? This session brings together tech, product, and clinical leaders to explore the increasingly murky terrain of data ownership - from patient records and enterprise logs to real-time platform signals. Panelists will unpack how organizations are navigating the trade-offs between access and accountability, governance and agility, and innovation and compliance. In a world where clean, high-context data is the fuel for AI, this conversation asks: What does responsible AI look like when ownership is distributed - but impact is enterprise-wide?
Explore how public art investment positions your company as a forward-thinking industry leader while de-risking your CSR initiatives. Learn the strategic advantages of partnering with established art institutions to attract top talent, enhance corporate reputation, and create innovation hubs through professional curation and proven community connections that guarantee maximum impact.
When ambition meets action, revolutions are engineered. In this keynote, Sudhanshu Mani - the visionary behind India’s Vande Bharat Express - takes us behind the scenes of a nation-building project born not from massive budgets or mandates, but from belief, urgency, and a scrappy, relentless team. It’s a story of dreaming big within rigid systems, of mobilizing talent against the odds, and of proving that world-class innovation can come from within. For every leader trying to build something iconic - this is how legacy is forged.
In a world of constant reinvention, a few leaders consistently shape not just outcomes - but direction, culture, and conviction at scale. This panel brings together some of the most respected voices in tech to explore what it truly means to lead at the edge - where transformation is ongoing, teams are distributed, and expectations are exponential. From scaling tech with clarity to nurturing next-gen talent, the conversation will offer insights into the habits, mindsets, and decisions that set exceptional leaders apart - and how they inspire the many who follow.
You wouldn't launch a product on broken code. So why scale a team on broken culture? Like tech debt, culture debt builds slowly - through misaligned mindsets, unclear accountability, and values that get diluted as you scale. At first, it's barely noticeable. But over time, it compounds into friction, attrition, and strategic drag. In this session, we explore how the best companies measure, manage, and repay their culture debt - not with perks or posters, but by hardcoding shared mindsets into decision-making, feedback loops, and leadership models. Because the real blocker to scale isn’t process. It’s misalignment of perspective.
At just 17, Kaamya Karthikeyan has done what few adults ever dream of - summited the highest peaks on all seven continents, becoming the youngest in the world to do so. From Everest to Elbrus, she has stared down altitude, isolation, and exhaustion - and kept climbing.
Now, she’s chasing the Explorers' Grand Slam - a rare feat that includes skiing to both the North and South Poles.
In this Z Talk, Kaamya unpacks what it takes to defy fear, rewire your limits, and stay grounded while reaching extreme heights. This is more than a story of summits - it’s a masterclass in resilience, mental stamina, and chasing audacious goals.
Because in Kaamya’s world, age is just a number - but courage is everything.
The future of work isn’t remote or return-to-office. It’s a redesign - of everything. This session explores how work is being re-architected at all three levels: the worker, the work itself, and the workplace. From hybrid models to AI-augmented productivity, and from flexible infrastructure to culture without boundaries - we’re entering an era where workspace becomes strategy. Join Amit Ramani, a pioneer in India’s flexible workspace revolution, as he breaks down what it takes to design environments - physical and digital - that attract talent, enable collaboration, and scale with the speed of modern business.
As AI adoption accelerates, the talent gap is widening. Enterprises are racing to reskill, redesign roles, and build teams that can keep pace with evolving AI capabilities - but most are playing catch-up. This session explores what it takes to solve the AI skills crisis at scale - from identifying future-proof capabilities to rethinking hiring, learning, and workforce design. Because without the right talent, even the best AI strategies will stall.
AI is flattening the workforce. Entry-level roles are vanishing, middle layers are evolving, and new capabilities are emerging at the edges. The traditional pyramid-shaped org structure no longer fits how work gets done - or who’s doing it. This session explores how leaders can redesign roles, rethink reskilling, and build agile, AI-era teams. Because in the future of work, it’s not about climbing the pyramid - it’s about adapting to the curve.
AI may be dazzling the world with demos and prototypes, but beneath the surface lies a growing problem: bad data. Incomplete, biased, outdated, and ungoverned - data is the silent force that can make or break any AI initiative. In this session, we expose the uncomfortable truth behind the AI hype cycle and ask: Are enterprises truly ready to scale AI, or are they building on foundations they don’t understand - and can’t trust?
In today’s cybersecurity landscape, AI plays both hero and villain. While defenders deploy machine learning to detect anomalies, automate threat response, and predict breaches, attackers are using the same tools to bypass firewalls, generate deepfake content, and launch sophisticated phishing attacks at scale. This session unpacks the evolving dual role of AI as both a formidable defence mechanism and a potential weapon in the hands of malicious actors. Learn what it takes to stay ahead in a world where AI is both your strongest shield and your biggest threat.
What does it take to play fearlessly, lead boldly, and win when it matters most? In this high-energy session, cricketing icon Krishnamachari Srikkanth - 1983 World Cup hero and former Chairman of Selectors for the 2011 champion squad - unpacks the mindset behind champions. From taking the first strike against the world’s best to making high-stakes calls off the field, Srikkanth shares timeless lessons on risk, resilience, and backing your instincts. Filled with humor, candor, and bold insight, this session will inspire you to lead from the front and swing big - in sport, leadership, and life.
Everyone’s talking about AI. Few are scaling it. Most strategies stall in the no-man’s land between vision decks and fragmented pilots.
This masterclass is built for leaders who’ve made the commitment - but are still wrestling with execution. Through a pragmatic, AI readiness framework and real-world enterprise examples, we’ll decode what’s truly holding organizations back - and what it takes to lead the shift from experimentation to enterprise-wide impact.
What you can expect from the session is:
The manufacturing industry is focused on integrating IT and OT data to power smart manufacturing initiatives and AI continues to be a game changer for the manufacturing industry. In this masterclass, we will explore how the company is transforming manufacturing efficiency & reducing risk across supply chains. We will delve into how the AI Data Cloud for Manufacturing helps manufacturers converge IT and OT data faster, deploy AI/ML and securely share data across the value chain to drive cost efficiencies and improve cycle time and yield.
In this masterclass, we will explore wage inflation as a reflection of evolving talent supply-demand dynamics, organizational complexity, and workforce planning maturity in the age of AI. Leveraging Draup’s labor market intelligence and predictive modeling capabilities
This theme leverages the expertise of the attendees to generate actionable insights on bridging the gap between the art community and policy and decision makers. The discussion would explore practical, innovative, and collaborative approaches to influence policy and embed art within urban environments.
Discussions across:
Can European GCCs unlock the full potential of India - or will they miss the window?
While many European firms have a presence in India, few have tapped into its full strategic potential. From advanced AI capabilities to deep tech talent and a thriving innovation ecosystem, India is no longer just a delivery hub - it’s a launchpad for global impact.
This masterclass unpacks how leading GCCs from the UK, Germany, France, and Switzerland are rewriting their operating models to drive product, data, and innovation charters from India. Backed by Zinnov benchmarks and real-world case studies, we’ll explore how European GCCs can move beyond cautious scaling to bold value creation.
Design thinking is a human-centered approach that drives innovation by placing the needs, emotions, and experiences of individuals at the forefront of problem-solving. In this session, we’ll explore how design thinking can reshape workplace environments, making them more adaptable, inclusive, and collaborative.
You’ll learn how this powerful methodology helps organizations tackle complex challenges by empathizing with users, defining clear problems, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing. We’ll highlight how design thinking goes beyond product development-unlocking creative potential, improving team collaboration, and creating spaces that foster a sense of belonging and productivity.
This session will also focus on how design thinking’s iterative, human-centered process can build workplaces that are responsive to evolving needs, ensuring organizations stay agile in a rapidly changing world of work. Join us to discover how design thinking can be applied to build innovative, resilient, and human-centered workplaces for the future.
There’s a quiet power in belief-a force that can shape the future, transform organizations, empower teams and create legacies. Harish Bhat, with his decades of leadership experience across Tata’s iconic brands, understands this power better than most. In this masterclass, he’ll show you how belief is not just a vision; it’s a practical tool for real-world impact.
Belief isn’t something that stays confined to the top floor. It’s a ripple that must spread throughout an organization, touching every corner, every team, and every decision. It’s about aligning your entire team to a single vision and transforming that vision into action. Through his stories, both personal and drawn from Tata’s rich legacy, Harish will show you how belief turns into execution and how that execution fuels innovation and impact at scale.
This session will leave you with more than just leadership principles-it will equip you with the mindset to lead with purpose, to inspire with conviction, and to create a culture where belief isn’t just felt but lived, every single day. It’s not about chasing success; it’s about creating it by turning belief into action, one bold step at a time.
The healthcare industry is undergoing a significant shift towards value-based care while grappling with the rising costs of care. This masterclass will explore key data and AI opportunities for healthcare enterprises in 2025, emphasizing their pivotal role in navigating this transformation.
Agentic AI is not just another step in automation-it’s a paradigm shift in how enterprise systems think, act, and evolve. As businesses move beyond traditional automation and GenAI copilots, Agentic AI introduces autonomous, goal-driven agents that can dynamically interpret data, make decisions, and collaborate across systems.
The 60-min session will explore:
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As GCCs evolve into strategic hubs, leaders face a new mandate: drive innovation, influence enterprise priorities, and deliver measurable impact. But in the absence of clear diagnostics, transformation often stalls.
In this interactive session, Barath Ravichander (Flexera) joins Dipanwita and Sa’ad (Zinnov) to introduce a leadership framework designed to decode complexity, spotlight capability gaps, and surface high-impact growth levers. Anchored in live polling, peer discussion, and real-world examples, this session offers a pragmatic roadmap to elevate your GCC’s performance and strategic relevance.
The session is a deep dive into the key success factors for future-ready GCCs. It aims to equip leaders with frameworks to demonstrate how their right-shoring strategy has delivered measurable value to the parent organization.
This session dives into how to build that story - with Emmy Award-winning coach and master storyteller G. Riley Mills, recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of its 'Top Leadership Speakers,' unpacking how to craft messages that drive real business results, whether you're navigating a strategy pitch, leading a change initiative, or delivering a high-stakes presentation.
To register for Zinnov Confluence 2025,
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