‘There is a Gap in India for Large-Scale Tech Expo’, says Naveen Bharadwaj

1. Tell us about DATE. Firstly, we start with that.

As the name suggests, DATE is all things digital acceleration and transformation. It’s a Digital Acceleration and Transformation Expo. This is the launch event in India because I am from India. Although I live between India and the UAE, we wanted to bring something back to India so the Founder of the TRESCON, Mohammed Saleem, and I, with the management and the team, wanted to do something big in India.

There is a gap in India for the large-scale technology expo like DATE. Most of the countries have large tech expos, regardless of the size of the country and regardless of them being in technologically leading positions. Indians are known to travel to all those different countries multiple times a year, just to experience how large tech expos with multiple zones with hundreds of exhibitors showcasing several start-up pitch competitions, and so forth happening.

So, we wanted to do something for India, therefore, we launched DATE here in New Delhi and we were fortunate enough to have participation from government leaders, policymakers, enterprises, industry entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs, CIOs, media friends such as yourself, lots of start-ups, investors, technology companies showcasing as well as association and council that are responsible for all things technology, including AI, blockchain, cyber security, cloud computing, data analytics, e-sports and gaming, e-government, electric mobility, electric vehicles, fintech, internet of things, and metaverse.

We were fortunate enough to have the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Shrimati Nirmala Sitaraman as our opening fireside chat speaker. We were also privileged to have Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics IT Skills Development and Entrepreneurship, as opening honorary speaker on day 2. We had the Maharaja of Mysore, a strategic partner from Cyberverse and he is also the Chairperson of Cyberverse.

Sir Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has also been passionately driving this with me, TRESCON, and rest of the team here. The economic advisory council’s member to the Prime Minister, Sri Sanjeev Sanyal, Shri Tejasvi Surya Member of Parliament Bengaluru, South. CEO of Britannia, President of Volvo, and the list continues to go long. Also, speakers representing multiple segments of our economy come together to talk about the lead for digitization, the goals of the nation not just of the government to make India a truly digital economy, and the role all of us need to be playing.

I think that beautifully sums up DATE for you. We have more than 8000 registrations, and the love we received here has been fantastic. 

2. That was a beautiful answer given. You have explained well about DATE, a diversified tech event, where we talk about blockchain, AI, Metaverse, and a lot more about tech. So how do you see TRESCON’s vision to align with DATE?

The vision of TRESCON is multi-fold, right? The best way to put it is three verticals.

Now from a business standpoint, we run emerging technology events. DATE is one of the main things we own. We own brands like the World AI Show, World Blockchain Summit, World Fintech Show, World Cloud Show, and World Data Show. We combined all of them into this one single thriving growing brand called DATE. We run future technology events for governments around the world including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Mauritius, so that will keep growing and our convex model, where our events are content to lead will remain, because we believe in delivering quality content and then building an expo around it because people come to learn not just for the exhibitors but also from industry experts, so that will happen. That’s one vertical.

We are launching a new brand called CARE. Just as DATE is Digital Acceleration Tech Expo, CARE is Climate Action and Renewable Expo, because we see that climate action sustainability, net neutrality, carbon footprint reduction, carbon marketplace, sustainable finance, blended finance, sustainable manufacturer, sustainable infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, and the whole list is a priority now globally. So, we are launching CARE across different countries and there will be a big addition of CARE here in India. So that’s our event vertical.

Secondly, we have our investment vertical, we have been investing based on opportunities, but based on a few select opportunities in a few start-ups, but now we want to do that in a more focused and more formal manner. So, we want to invest in a few emerging technology, sustainable technology, and ESG technology companies because they align more as well with our vision and we want to make sure that our support is thriving start-up ecosystems, not just by providing exposure through events but by also providing funding that they need and giving the maxes tour network.

And the third vertical is the foundation, and I am quite passionate about that. TRESCON Foundation is focusing on social impact. How to benefit or how to support not-so-privileged communities and we have multiple verticals focusing on healthcare and hygiene, education, youth, government, and women empowerment. Here, at this event, we launched The Smart One Thousand campaign in partnership with Yuva Unstoppable, where we want to help transform over one thousand classrooms in rural areas of India across the not-so-privileged belts, particularly focusing on Anganwadis, making the classrooms more visually appealing by providing clean and hygienic rooms. Secondarily, we are working to provide digital smart capabilities with interactive smart boards, train the teachers, and make learning more fun for the children.

So social impact in TRESCON foundation which is a registered non-profit entity is also one of the three verticals that we are focusing on. So, this sums up the vision for years to come.

3. So, it’s great to know about the CSR initiatives that TRESCON has taken, because so far as I know, TRESCON has been great in the event space, and I am happy to learn the CSR initiatives that you have taken to provide the modern and advanced education system to the rural area in India. I am extremely glad about this initiative and thank you for bringing such initiative to India. I am quite sure this might get a lot of support across India.

Absolutely. This initiative is possible because of the positive intention and support from 250+ employees, the board, and the founders. This is not something 1 person can try, or a couple of persons can try. In our case, we come together collectively because we want change to happen, collectively work towards the overall root of our economy, not just the business side, but of course, we are business, a company, and business is a priority.

Sometimes we spend some percentage of our time energy efforts money resources on social impact. Yes, that is what we focus on.

4. So, tell us about the endorsement and the support that you are getting from the government, ministry, and a lot of organizations that are not private. 

Governments are generally supportive of initiatives at ease, although not ‘official endorsement’ as such. At this event, we are fortunate enough to have the honourable minister of finance as a speaker, members of parliament are here, and a few others were here from the government side. So that alone is endorsement as it is support.

But I know that this government is quite proactive and sees the potential in things that can help transform the Indian economy, while also bringing together different communities. Next year, it’s going to scale up and it will have government participation at a much higher capacity. I am very hopeful of that. We have already started the participation, while we have already started the discussion and announced the DATE for next year. We will be having multiple discussions with the government. So, in addition to that, a lot of government-run organizations and associations have also expressed their eagerness. Some are responsible for driving technology space and driving innovation space, some are part of the electronics and IT and part of the Ministry of Science, technology, and Innovation.

5. So, one last question that I was waiting eagerly for your answer, can you tell us about the entrepreneur journey in this event, in the b2b tech space and how you are enjoying being in the tech industry?

I started working when I was 14. Since then, I have been in the events except for a few years, and I spent focusing on cyber security data analytics and artificial intelligence because I wanted to move away from the events industry and spend some time there. So, I spent four years, i.e., 2019 to 2022, heavily focusing on technology and came back to the event space and tried again in technology events with the understanding of technology.

I have been fortunate enough to be in the company of seven different entrepreneurs including the business entrepreneur that I have been associating with my earlier organisations. I have also spent a little bit of time in the banking space for HSBC and have spent a lot of time in the staffing and engineering space, but events are where I have spent a vast majority of my two decades of experience B2B events are where I have spent more than a decade of my life working.

C-Suite events where I have spent last or not last, cumulatively more than 10 years of my experience and I am quite passionate about it because you are talking to people, bringing people together who can influence and bring up change at the national level and the industrial level, help transform economies regardless of industry like IT, health care, finance, agriculture, sustainability so on and so forth. I also run a few women in leadership forums in partnership with several governments around the world so focusing heavily on diversity in industries, focusing on women’s empowerment. So, when you interact with these people you learn, stimulate your thoughts, come up with ideas and you want to be a part of the change that they trying to happen you want to contribute your energy to making things happen.