This is the eighth in a series of conferences organized by Vidya Pratishthan’s Institute of Information Technology (VIIT) in Baramati, Maharashtra, India. This year, the conference will focus on the economic benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on communities , exploring avenues through which governments, NGOs, development agencies and corporations can work, to successfully scale ICT initiatives to benefit the Indian population.

The advent of broadband, internet penetration and access to affordable information technology is constantly improving to meet society's needs. Recent developments in communication technology such as Internet, innovative developments on new usage models in agriculture, education and healthcare based on information technology, streaming media, satellites, and wireless communications have greatly facilitated the exchange of information and expertise.

ICT implementations intersect agriculture, education and health care service delivery , to improve access to affordable quality education, information to farming and healthcare for both urban and rural communities through the use of information technology. In a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state-of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for a networked, global thinking approach, to improve education, agriculture and health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technology.

This year’s conference theme is to showcase and discuss an unprecedented number of projects that have scaled to improve the economies among the communities and deliver on the expected benefits of improved patient outcomes and cost effective care delivery, enhanced tools and quality education to children, quality and timely information for farming community that helped improved agriculture yields, shared access models that provide transparent services to citizens and to discuss how we can maximize the combined impact of all we in these areas on general economies of the communities that they impact. Indian corporations, international NGO’s, development agencies, governments and healthcare service providers from around the world will join us in exploring the following topics:

• Government efforts on use of ICT for communities.
• Potential impact of ICT policies (such as broadband, shared accesses, e governance, healthcare delivery, education on economies - International development agencies perspective.
• Measuring the economic benefits of ICT projects
• Scaling pilots for a significant impact – measurement criteria
• Demonstrating successful use of technology in improving quality of education, healthcare, improving operational efficiency, patient safety and satisfaction.
• Innovative Good Practices in Education, e-Agriculture and e-Health
• Broadband and last mile for successful scaling of ICT projects – Discussion on different models