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Pearl Academy, in one of its diligent attempts to empower creative minds initiated a thought leadership platform, What’s Next in 2014.
About What’s Next
Pearl Academy initiated its annual thought leadership platform What’s Next in 2014.
This intellectual symposium is a space for change makers from across diverse contexts, to come together to discuss, deliberate and share thoughts, experiences and ideas to enable and co-create a vision for a future that is dynamic, exciting and happening. The What’s Next confluence is designed to encourage free flowing conversations and exchange of ideas, and has evolved over the years to become a seminal platform that drives design thinking to address topics impacting the country and the world at large.”
“We are at a point in the course of human evolution when the demands of survival converge with the higher ideals of humankind and the well being and flourishing of human society. It is up to us that we navigate this transition, adapting to and emerging in a NEW REALITY.”
~ Jonathan Salk
The New Reality@What’s Next 2020
Convergence: The Borderless World
What is already evolving, success stories across the globe, laying the groundwork for a convergence of thoughts and ideas that are no longer on the drawing boards but a reality of our timesTransition: Rhetoric for Change
Areas where it is pertinent that the transition and change is happening and must happen for the New Reality to be/ come to passEmergence: The Balanced Ecosystem
The Future we are already working towards – tomorrow’s worldOUR SPEAKERS

Nancy Giordano
Strategic FuturistNancy Giordano is a strategic futurist, global keynote speaker, corporate strategist and summit designer with a drive to help enterprise organizations and visionary leaders transform to meet the escalating expectations ahead.
Recognized as one of the top female futurists, Nancy’s expertise and experiences range from A.I. to frozen foods to reinventing the internet. Her projects have a key common denominator: transitioning away from the extractive operating systems and outdated business thinking that simply do not hold up to today’s societal needs, and to create the more sustainable, inclusive and dynamic solutions that the future demands.
The world’s first TEDx licensee, a Singularity University lecturer, frequent SXSW ( ‘south by southwest’ ) contributor, and recent creator of the first “Career Fair For The Future: for college + high school students”, Nancy is committed to advancing the societal structures and new mindsets necessary to effectively harness the significant technology innovations for ensuring a safe and thriving future for us all.

James Woudhuysen
Professor of Forecasting & Innovation at The London South Bank UniversityJames Woudhuysen is a professor of Forecasting & Innovation at The London South Bank University. He is a graduate in Physics from University of Sussex and co-installed Britain’s first computer-controlled car park in1968. James has worked for the Design magazine as an Editor and co-founded the Blueprint magazine. As the Chief of worldwide market intelligence at Philips Consumer Electronics, Netherland, he was responsible for the overall Strategic, Marketing and Financial experience. He also co-led a multi-client study on e-commerce for Fitch. He has enjoyed a 4 year stint with Seymour Powell as Director-Product Design where founded and led the forecasting arm of Britain’s premier product designers. His recent clientele includes American Express, British Venture Capital Association, British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, Dassault Systèmes, Dell, Fujitsu, Heathrow Airport, National Grid, Oracle, Sage.

Anne Lise Kjaer
Futurist and a renowned TED speakerAnne Lise Kjaer is a Futurist and a renowned TED speaker. She has authored The Trend Management Toolkit – A Practical Guide to the Future. She holds the honorary title of Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador and was recently appointed to the International Panels of Experts for Singapore Urban Development Authority. She founded Kjaer Global Ltd in 1988, a Trend Management & Ideas agency that provides businesses and public institutions with insights to drive new models and innovation.
She is a regular media commentator on trends and has featured on Aljazeera, BBC, CNN, DR, and TRT. In 2015, she was identified as one of seven top futurists by Huffington Post and was featured for predictions in Technology for the next decade. She presents regularly at international conferences and has lectured at Cambridge, Esade, HEC, LSE and MIT. She believes in the whole brain methodology that bridges the rational and emotional universe – shaping the strategies and core concepts that drives businesses and brands of the future. Her clients include Amazon, BBC, Dell, Huawei, IKEA, Visa, Volvo, the EU, OECD and Wired Lab.
Anne is a Design and Product Development graduate from The University College Teko Denmark

Danish Husain
Actor, Poet, Storyteller, and Theatre DirectorDanish Husain is an actor, poet, storyteller, and a theatre director. He stays in Mumbai & runs his theatre production company called The Hoshruba Repertory. He started his career in theatre with Barry John and went on to work with directors like Habib Tanvir, M.S. Sathyu, M.K. Raina, Sunil Shanbag, Sabina Mehta Jaitly, & Naseeruddin Shah.
His major film work includes India's entry to Oscar 2018 - Newton (2017), Ankhon Dekhi (2013), Dhobi Ghat (2010), and Peepli Live (2010), ), Shaad Ali's film Soorma (2018) Gaurav Chawla's Baazaar (2018), a cameo in Nandita Das's Manto (2018), and Antagonist in Bard Of Blood for Netflix.

Anju Maudgal Kadam
Founder and Chief Nurturer of the powerful internationally acclaimed movementAnju Maudgal Kadam is a communications professional who enjoys the challenge of piecing together a story to look at the big picture. She is a custodian of stories. Especially those that inspire and bring change. Anju is a Founder and Chief Nurturer of the powerful internationally acclaimed movement, the #100sareepact, a platform for voices of women to build the narrative of their lives through the medium of the saree.
She is also the Founder and Director of Webtv.in, a company that works to build effective communication for its clients. A mentor to start ups and entrepreneurs for goal setting, vision & mission and communications, Anju guides her mentees to plan and prepare for success. And failure.
A firm believer in a fit mind and body leading to unlocking of potential, she champions the cause for women’s health and fitness because a healthy woman can change and impact so many more lives. She is an Ambassador for Pinkathon, India’s first Women’s only run. She is also a yoga instructor and holds sessions to share practices on breath and mindfulness at corporate workshops and for individuals.

Varghese Mathew
Director of Product Design at BYJU’SVarghese Mathew is a trans disciplinary designer who has been part of growth stories of multiple B2C startup ventures with almost a dozen product launches.
Currently as a Director of Product Design at BYJU’S, he scaled up the design team to 25 designers & user researchers which has won multiple design awards. He is responsible for everything design from Re-Branding to defining the App Experience to become the most loved and preferred education app for students across age groups.
A design graduate from NIFT (New Delhi), he was tutored in the fundamentals of design by Itu Chaudhury while designing for the Economic Times. With a focus on branding & interactive design, Mathew believes in a people centred design approach while keeping the business vision.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Registerations
Opening: Introducing Whats Next 2020
by Suresh VenkatIntroduction to "The New Reality"
by Nandita AbrahamKeynote#1: The New Reality : A vision of the future-Technology, Environment, Society
by Nancy GiordanoKeynote #2: The New Reality: Future of Design- Education, Disruptions, Leadership, Commerce
by Sharad MehraWhats Next Cafe Breakout Session: Lets talk New Reality
Lunch
Theme #1 Provocation: Convergence- The New Reality of Corporate culture
by Parmesh ShahaniTheme #2 Provocation: Transition- Return to innocence: Leveraging the grassroot culture
by Shruti JagotaTheme #3 Provocation: Emergence- Future of Individual Commerce & New Economics
by Mukund KulasekharanWhats Next Cafe Breakout Session: Lets talk Convergence, Transition, Emergence
Recaping the New Reality
Closing Keynote : The New Reality:Trendspeak
by Anne Lise KjaerClosing Keynote : The Emerging India
by Rajeev SethiAwards- Papers
by Sanyogeita ChaddhaClosing
by Suresh VenkatRegisterations
Opening: Introducing Whats Next 2020
by Suresh VenkatDiscourse: The New Reality: Global Trendspeak
by Anne Lise KjaerDiscourse: The New Reality: Revival and regeneration of human culture & ethics
by Anju Maudgal KadamDiscourse: The New Reality: Rethinking Design
by James WoudhuysenQ&A
Lunch
Discourse: The New Reality: Future of Education- Convention vs. Disruption
by Varghese MathewDiscourse: The New Reality: Design Innovation, Technology & Strategy for the future
by Nancy GiordarnoDiscourse: The New Reality: Art & Expression- Emoting thoughts
by Danish HusainQ&A
Closing
by Viveck VaswaniJoin What’s Next 2020
INDIAN DELGATES
The registration fee for attending the event is as mentioned below.
- Early Bird Registration: Delegates- ₹ 7500 ( By February 28th 2020).
- After February 28th, 2020: Delegates- ₹ 10000.
- Academics and Institutions (minimum of 3 attendees)- ₹ 7500.
- Students- ₹ 3000.
INTERNATIONAL
The registration fee for attending the event is as mentioned below.
- Individual Delegates- USD 250.
- Academics and Institutions (minimum of 3 attendees)- USD 150.
- Students- USD 100.
VENUE INFO
— The Lalit Ashok,
Bengaluru
India
— 30th April – 1st May 2020
— Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
CONTACT INFO
— No. 31, Residency Road,
Next to Opera House,
Opposite to the The Gateway Hotel,
Bengaluru- 560025