The conference begin with opening remarks by Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Director and CE, ICRIER who highlighted the specific concerns of digital economy in terms of future prospects be it positive or negative and to what extent could it be considered reliable for security and protectionism within government policy framework. Mr. Peter Cherukuri, Executive Director, Data Catalyst Institute delivered his address on data analytics and future course of action in the digitalization of economic growth.

The conference was organized with the partnership between ICRIER and Data Catalyst Institute. Key Note Address was delivered by Ms. Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, Department of Telecommunication, Govt. of India on policy issues and vertical impact on qualitative data which also highlighted the digital instrumentation for younger demography and e-commerce. She interlinked data with the security of incremental growth and digital drivers.

The conference was structured in three panels and every panel was based on different areas viz. Future of the Digital Economy, Data Security: Emerging Discourse on Encryption and Localization and Identity and Authentication in India’s Digital Economy. Panelist and Moderators were experts from academia, industry, technocrats, service providers, info analysis from public, private and Government institution and Ministries. The discussion centered on data security, privacy security, data space, data user’s identity, quality of data, data storage facility, digital technology and interlinking with growth and delivery of services etc.

A special address by Mr. Gopalakrishnan S., Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt. of India was delivered on the issue of privacy and data storage facility focusing on spectrum supply by Government.

Overall it was a great learning experience with new insights gathered on a wide array of the specified theme.