Knowledge sharing is the most important event of Vibrant Gujarat: Modi

AHMEDABAD: A two-day International Conference for Academic Institutions-2013 ( ICAI) started as a part of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit-2013 in Gandhinagar from Wednesday will be the anchor event for the sixth edition of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi inaugurated the conference saying although others would keep an eye on MoUs, he would focus on knowledge sharing.

ICAI-2013 will mainly focus on internationalisation of education, promotion of research and development through innovation and skill development.

Around 260 universities and institutions are participating in the ICAI-2013 comprising of 145 international, 52 national (from 14 different Indian states) and 63 Gujarat-based institutes. "Everybody tries to understand the Vibrant Summit, but very few can understand it in a full manner. Many will focus on the formal events on January 11 and 12, but ICAI, which talks about knowledge creation from information, is the most important event of this year's Vibrant Summit," he said.

"India is a country of young population with 65 per cent people with less than 35 years of age. We should plan every scheme keeping youth in mind. Each country in the world will be dependent on other countries for skilled workforce and we will have to become well-equipped with knowledge, skill and culture to meet expectations," Modi said.

Judith Wolfson, vice president (International relationships) of University of Toronto, Canada said that we will have a dialogue to create sustainable world class institutions in the 21st century. "We have access to knowledge like never before. Also, institutions can not be everything to everyone but they have to find specific area of strength and they have to decide where and how to invest available resources," she said.