The highly sought-after INK Conference – an annual conference that aims to fuel innovation and foster knowledge by bringing together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers on a global stage – ventured into Goa this year. Over 75 speakers – CEOs, entrepreneurs, artists, technologists, and scientists, amongst others – shared their inspiring stories at INK Conference 2016. While the conference was hosted at Grand Hyatt Goa from September 16 to September 18, INK Live 2016 was hosted at the Goa Institute of Management (GIM), India’s premier B-School. 
This year, INK partnered with the Goa Institute of Management to gather over 300 young people to participate in a variety of workshops and interactive experiences while they watch a live stream of the INK Conference being held at Grand Hyatt Goa. Many of the globally acclaimed and respected attendees and speakers from the conference were present at the GIM campus to share their stories and hold workshops. 

Commenting on this year’s theme ‘Kaleidoscope’, Lakshmi Pratury, host and curator of the INK Conference, said, “INK shares a lot in common with the kaleidoscope. When unchecked imagination meets creative ability, the output is what causes future innovation. I believe in the sheer magic that this diverse set of INK community creates year after year, writing our future together. It is always refreshing that just like the kaleidoscope, every person who is a part of the conference comes with a unique talent and leaves creating collective impact reshaping the world as we know it.” 

Comments Dr. K. Balakrishnan, director, Goa Institute of Management (GIM), “We at the Goa Institute of Management are delighted to partner with INK to host INK Live 2016@GIM on campus. As part of the collaboration, INK fellows are delivering inspiring talks and workshops on campus to over 300 students.” 

The first session ‘Yellow Brick Wall’ at INK Conference 2016 was screened live at GIM. The session stressed on what can be done to improve education. The speakers for the day included several interesting personalities such as paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara who shared his insight on how the ancestors of humans and dinosaurs were actually the same and Chandan Gomes who spoke about imagination living on through art and how he helped create an art book to express the imaginative universe of a little girl called Irene who passed away. Kenta Koga had the crowd enthralled with his vision of what education should really be like. A kickboxer, magician, founder and CEO of ‘Gakko’ he believes that education should be magical and has organised several summer camps in Japan and other countries where select students from all over the world are invited to come and hold innovative workshops. He says, “It’s not about learning to learn, it’s about loving to learn.” He left us with an inspiring and thought provoking question – “If you were a high school teacher for a day in your life, what would you teach and why?” 

The daylong session featured social media influencers such as YouTuber Anisha Dixit also known as Rickshawali who hosts a girl-centric comedy channel on YouTube, conduct a talk  and startup experts share their insights and knowledge with students. A number of interactive workshops were also held by INK fellows Aman Jain, Abhijit Jejurikar, Anirudh Sharma, Anushka Sani, Samyak Chakrabarty, and Amit Hardi. 

For more details on the conference, visit http://www.inktalks.com/conferences/inklive2016/program.