Anand Giridharadas is a writer, but the depth of his words speaks for itself. He is the author of The Persuaders, a New York Times bestseller; the international bestseller Winners Take All; as well as The True American and India Calling. A former New York Times columnist, his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Time. A dynamic speaker and former NYU professor, he has been honored with awards like the Radcliffe Fellowship and the NYPL’s Bernstein Award for Journalism. He is also a political analyst on MSNBC and the publisher of The Ink, a newsletter on politics and power.
Ashwini is an Indian sprint athlete from Karnataka. The daughter of an arecanut farmer, she first discovered her speed while chasing cows, unaware that she was destined for the track. Her remarkable sprinting career helped India dominate middle-distance relays during the 2010s. Specializing in the 400 meters, she was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Award in 2022 for her outstanding contributions to athletics.
Ayah is a technology leader and entrepreneur. She leads Mozilla’s AI strategy, driving open and trustworthy innovation across its ecosystem. For over a decade, Bdeir has leveraged technology to empower changemakers, with a focus on underrepresented communities. Before Mozilla, she founded littleBits, the revolutionary electronic building block that redefined STEAM education for millions of children worldwide. Recognized as one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential Women, Bdeir has been featured has graced the covers of The New York Times Magazine, WIRED, and The Wall Street Journal. An alum of the MIT Media Lab and the American University of Beirut, she is also a TED Fellow and currently serves on the board of the Fund for Public Schools, supporting New York City’s 1,800 public schools.
Making the adage, ‘necessity is the mother of all inventions’, ring true is C Mallesham, who, moved by his mother’s suffering, innovated an automatic loom, that is also reviving the dying tradition of the Pochampally silk sari weaving. Laxmi Mallesham is now perhaps the happiest mother in Sharjipet, a village of handloom weavers in Andhra Pradesh. She, and many women weavers, is now free from pain and stress that consumed her for hours on the manual loom.
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Chakshu is an expert on the rules and procedures of Parliament and its functioning. He heads the legislative and civic engagement initiatives at PRS. For over a decade, he has championed citizen involvement in India’s lawmaking. He trains journalists, supports civil society in engaging with legislatures, and helped create India’s first comprehensive state legislation database.
Guillermo Rivero turns brands into a phenomenon. Since 2019, he’s led Netflix’s Social Marketing in Latin America, skyrocketing followers from 60M to 110M by tapping into fandoms and local trends. Before that, he shaped Vice Mexico’s brand appeal, crafting campaigns for giants like Nike and Coca-Cola. With an expertise in data-driven strategy, Guillermo keeps redefining entertainment marketing.
Ishita is a feminist facilitator and independent advisor with 22 years of experience working with women and girls from underserved communities worldwide. She is also an Ashoka fellow. She has advised governments, philanthropies, and civil society groups, shaping policies on gender, education, and reproductive rights. She has served on advisory groups for the UN, UNESCO, and the Government of India. Currently, she is the Regional Representative for Echidna Giving and serves on the boards of Ipas and Population Foundation of India.
Joi Barua is a musician from Assam, India who fell in love with music at the age of four, after his father gifted him a violin. Growing up, his town had one piano and no music teachers, and his father had to cross the border and get him a keyboard from Bhutan. Since then, Joi has been making waves in the advertising, music, and film circuit in Mumbai with his musical stylings and melodious voice. He is also the lead vocalist of the band Joi and has a mixed musical style incorporating elements of rock, soul, jazz, folk and world music.
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Madhu Acharya is one of the key founding members of Antenna Foundation Nepal and served as its Director from 2006 to 2010. Antenna (est. 2002) is a vibrant production and training facility catering local and community radio stations in Nepal. Madhu’s pioneering work includes introducing mobile radio-Doko Radio into remotes villages of Nepal. He began his career as one of the founding producers of Radio Sagarmatha in 1996 and worked there for five years. Madhu, as a Knight Fellow 2010-11 at Stanford University, is studying share-casting, two-way communication, as a tool for development and democracy.
Mansukhbhai R Prajapati was born in Nichimandal village in Gujarat in a family of potters and terracotta craftsmen. Being the eldest among four siblings, he became the helmsman of his family and its craft legacy. Despite financial constraints, Mansukhbhai’s parents managed to educate him till high school. Mansukhbhai has developed an entire range of earthen products for daily use in the kitchen. These products include water filters, refrigerators, hot plates, cooker and other such items of daily use.
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Mushtaq Ahmed Dar is a 28 year old serial innovator. He started inventing his own tools when he could not take his exams and study beyond the 10th standard due to the untimely death of his father. Mushtaq has developed a series of innovative tools, including a walnut cracker, a device to climb electric poles and trees, a machine to crack almonds, a plastering machine, and a seed broadcaster and sprayer.
Nachiket Udupa graduated as a Civil Engineer from IIT Guwahati after which he worked for a year as a Derivatives Trader. Subsequently he worked for a year at a non-profit in Bangalore and then did his Masters in Education Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. For the past few months he has been volunteering with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan. In the long term he plans to work on agricultural cooperatives, education and health.
Remya Jose, all of 23 years from Malappuram in Kerala, is a gifted innovator, with a number of path-breaking innovations to her credit. The washing-cum-exercise machine that she developed received a National Award from former Indian President Abdul Kalam. The idea for the machine came to her as washing clothes was a tiresome chore and her family could not afford a regular washing machine. Remya works at National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad, and is responsible for many other innovations.
Sachin Malhan is the co-founder of Inclusive Planet, which is working to enable online collaboration amongst the world’s print-impaired population. Before Inclusive Planet he co-founded two ventures in the education space – Law School Tutorials, the leading law test prep outfit that became an ISB case study in 2009, and Rainmaker, the leading talent advisory firm for the legal industry and manager of India’s Bar examination. In his ventures Sachin has worked intimately with technology and young people, and discovered the joy of teaching. Sachin is a graduate of the National Law School in Bangalore.
Shilo Shiv Suleman is an Indian illustrator, animator and visual artist based in the city of Bangalore. Her primary area of interest is visual storytelling through multiple mediums. She illustrated her first book for children at the age of 16 and has illustrated eight others since with some of the most well known publishing houses in India. She has also been actively involved in setting up community art projects and collectives that get people to appreciate and create street art in their surroundings as well as use art and design to bring socially relevant issues in India to the forefront.
She is currently working on creating interactive narratives for children on the iPad called Khoya, an experiment with the links between magic, earth and technology as well as the potential that touch has as a new integral part of storytelling. It attempts to use new and mobile technologies like Augmented Reality and the iPad to bring out the fantasy in an Indian contemporary story and create interactions that make you actively seek out natural environments.
Earlier this year she was chosen by TED and Levi’s as an ambassador of the shape of things to come – one of three Indian women to be felicitated with this honour at the TED Global Conference 2011, Edinburgh. In 2010 she was selected for an INK Fellowship for her work as a young innovator in her field and now continues her work with the INK community.
In her spare time Shilo gypsies around the country, driven by Love, magical realism and everything that shimmers, pressing flowers between the pages of her many notebooks while losing herself in watercolor wonderlands.
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Samples of her work are available at http://www.shiloshivsuleman.com
Shivam Sai Gupta is an Indian virtual reality evangelist, game developer, and influential speaker. Gaining early recognition as an INK Fellow, Gupta developed his first game, Terror Attack: Project Fateh, at age 14, inspired by the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Released by Indiagames, it aimed to raise awareness against terrorism and received praise for its impactful storytelling.
Shivam transitioned from game development to become a pioneer in virtual and augmented reality. He founded VirtualRealityPit, a prominent online publication dedicated to immersive technologies, after serving as a VR Producer at Happy Finish India. Later, he established and led the AR/VR division at Vara United Pvt Ltd.
A sought-after public speaker, Gupta has presented at TEDx, NASSCOM Gaming Conclave, and notable institutions like India’s National Institute of Design. Currently based in Berlin, Germany, Shivam continues innovating in technology, developing user-centric products driven by data and immersive experiences.
Sophie Morgan is a British TV host, producer, travel writer, speaker, artist, and disability advocate, known for her bold perspective and commitment to inclusion. A wheelchair user since 18, she has broken barriers in travel, adventure, and media representation, redefining possibilities.
Recognized as one of the UK’s most influential disabled people, Sophie’s impact extends beyond television. In 2010, she designed Mannequal, a wheelchair for mannequins that allows disabled shoppers to see how clothes would fit. In 2024, she made history as one of the first disabled women to serve as a Paralympic correspondent in the U.S., taking the mic for NBC Sports.
Today, she leads Making Space Media, a production company dedicated to amplifying disabled voices in film, TV, and promotional content.
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Sushant Pattnaik is a serial innovator, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker. He has several innovations that have made the critical transition from idea to working prototype. One of his first innovations was ‘Breathing Sensor Apparatus’ to assists physically challenged people to operate an electronic wheel chair that uses changes in the breathing. Through this technology, they can even type messages in a specially designed cell phone for better communication. He has been awarded the President’s award six times for his inclusive innovations. Sushant is also helping unsupported inventors take their creations to the next level through his startup InThinks.
In recent years, Pattnaik has focused on revolutionizing battery technology. Sushantinvented a battery that charges in less than a minute. He co-founded Capattery, working on cutting edge, innovative battery technology. In 2024, Capattery was recognized as a runner-up in the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) startup awards, highlighting its contributions to green energy solutions.
Ugesh Sarcar is India’s first and only contemporary and revered street magician. Ugesh mastered diverse forms of the “King of Arts,” including Street Magic, Mentalism, Hypnosis, Illusion, Paranormal, and Psychic abilities. “Ugesh Sarcar’s 3rd Degree,” his first national TV appearance, became an instant hit and the highest rated show for the channel in over 3 years. He is founder at Fans Tribe Pvt. Ltd, recognised for pioneering transformative strategies that bridge the gap between celebrities and their fans through AI, nurturing meaningful communities. He is also the creator of the world’s only completely interactive Zoom Mentalism Experience Your Mind is Mine 2.0.
In 2024, Sarcar embarked on an all-India tour of “Your Mind is Mine”. Each performance was tailored to reflect the local culture, ensuring a unique experience for every audience.
Beyond live performances, Sarcar has contributed to Indian cinema by training actors like Shah Rukh Khan for “Don 2” and serving as the Technical Director for Magic in “Guzaarish,” where he designed and executed magical effects.
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Vinay Gidwaney is an entrepreneur and innovator transforming employee benefits, insurance, and financial services. As Chief Product Officer at OneDigital, Vinay spearheads product innovation, delivering cutting-edge insurance and wealth management solutions to over 100,000 employers and 10 million families. He previously co-founded Maxwell Health, an employee benefits platform acquired by Sun Life Financial, and led technology at CIC Health, rapidly scaling COVID-19 testing and vaccination services across Massachusetts.
Passionate about social impact, Vinay serves on the board of Design for Change USA, empowering young people through education and social justice initiatives. He also advises startups in insurtech, life sciences, and healthcare, influencing sectors essential to millions.
Earlier in his career, Vinay conducted neuroscience research at the MIT Media Lab, exploring treatments for epilepsy. Based in Boston, he balances professional leadership with family life, reflecting his commitment to holistic innovation and community engagement.
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