XV Annual Conference of the Knowledge Forum: Technology and Economy

The Institute organised the 15^th annual conference of the Knowledge Forum (KF) (http://fgks.in) during 16^th-17^th December 2022. The conference was sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). The theme of the conference was ‘Technology and Economy’ and around 60 attendees, including paper presenters and external participants, were present during the conference proceedings at the institute. The conference proceedings were streamed live through Zoom online platform.

The Forum for Global Knowledge Sharing (Knowledge Forum) is a specialised, interdisciplinary global forum dealing with science, technology and economy interface. The Forum aims at providing a platform for scholars belonging to different institutions, universities, countries and disciplines to interact, exchange their research findings and undertake joint research studies. In this regard, the conference covered various aspects of technology and economy like FDI and platform economy, energy and environment, knowledge capital and innovation, econo-physics, industry, R&D, and industry 4.0.

The introductory session was chaired by Prof N.S Siddharthan, President Knowledge Forum and Honorary Professor, Madras School of Economics followed by remarks from Prof Nagesh Kumar, Director ISID, Dr Richa Sharma, Deputy Director and In-charge, RIC Division, Prof K. Narayanan, India Value Fund Chair Professor, IIT Bombay and Honorary Secretary, Knowledge Forum, and Prof Bino Paul, Pro Vice Chancellor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Treasurer, Knowledge Forum. This session marked the release of a book, titled, ‘Regional Economic Diversity: Lessons from an Emergent India’, authored by Prof Poornima Dore and Prof K. Narayanan and published by Oxford University Press, India. This was followed by three technical paper sessions, namely (a) Foreign Direct Investment and Platform Economy, (b) Energy, Environment and Innovation Studies, and (c) Knowledge Capital and Innovation. On 17^th December, the conference papers covered diverse themes such as Econo-Physics, Industry and R&D & Innovation. During the last round of the event, there was a special panel discussion on ‘Industry 4.0, Sustainability and Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges’. The eminent panellist in the discussion was Prof Nagesh Kumar, Director ISID; Prof Alakh N. Sharma, Director Institute for Human Development, New Delhi; Mr Ashwani Bhat, Vice-president, M/S Choice Solutions Limited and Prof Suma Athreye, School of Public Policy, IIT, Delhi.

Programme Schedule

Friday, 16^th December 2022

Introductory Session

Chair: N. S. Siddharthan, President, Knowledge Forum and Honorary Professor, Madras School of Economics

Opening Remarks: Nagesh Kumar, Director, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, [ISID]

Remarks by ICSSR Representative: Dr Richa Sharma, Deputy Director, and In-charge, RIC Division, ICSSR

Tour of the Sessions: K. Narayanan, India Value Fund Chair Professor, IIT Bombay and Honorary Secretary, Knowledge Forum

Remarks by Chair: N. S. Siddharthan, President, Knowledge Forum, and Honorary Professor Madras School of Economics

Release of the Book: Regional Economic Diversity: Lessons from an Emergent India authored by Poornima Dore and K. Narayanan

Vote of Thanks: Bino Paul, Pro Vice Chancellor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences [TISS] and Treasurer, Knowledge Forum

Session 1: Foreign Direct Investment and Platform Economy

Chair/Discussant: K. L. Krishna (Delhi School of Economics, Delhi)

1. Bino Paul (TISS Mumbai); Unmesh Patnaik (TISS Mumbai); Sumesh P. Soman (TISS Mumbai); Kamal Murari (TISS Mumbai)
Platform Economy, Small Enterprise Performance and Employment in India

2. Ruchi Sharma (IIT Indore) and Aparna Sharma (IIT Indore)
Innovation Strategies of the Foreign Firms in the Indian Manufacturing Industry

3. Shreya Anurakti (IIT Bombay); K. Narayanan (IIT Bombay)
FDI Clusters, Technology and Export Performance of the Pharmaceutical Firms in India

Session 2: Energy, Environment, and Innovation Studies

Chair/Discussant: Malathy Duraisamy (IIT Madras, Chennai)

1. Biswanath Goldar (Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi); Amritha Goldar (ICRIER, New Delhi); Yashobanta Parida (Flame University, Pune)
Impact of Cyclones on the Manufacturing Firms in India

2. Pranik Bagchi (Madras School of Economics, Chennai) and Santosh Kumar Sahu (IIT Madras, Chennai)
Pigou and Porter are Perfect Complements: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Firms

3. Savita Bhat (National Institute of Technology, Surathkal)
Determinants of CSR investments on Technology Incubators in India

Session 3: Knowledge Capital and Innovation

Chair/Discussant: B. L. Pandit (Delhi School of Economics, Delhi)

1. Surender Rao Komera (IIM Amritsar); Subash Sasidharan (IIT Madras); and Jijo Lukose P. J. (IIM Kozhikode)
Are Family Firms Innovative? Moderating Effects of Insider/Family and Institutional Ownership

2. Kaushalesh Lal (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht) and Shampa Paul (Centre of Economic and Social Research, NCR-Delhi)
Productivity, Innovation and Knowledge Capital: A Cross-Country Analysis

3. Dev Nathan (Institute for Human Development [IHD], Delhi)
Knowledge and Global Inequality: Monopoly, and Monopsony Capitalism

Saturday, 17^thDecember 2022

Session 4: Econo-Physics

Chair: Ashok Jain (NISTADS, New Delhi) and M. K. Das (University of Delhi)

1. Ashok Jain and M. K. Das (Institute of Informatics and Communication, University of Delhi South Campus)
Complexity Analysis of Synthetic Financial Model Data with Multiscale Permutation Entropy

2. Anindita Bhattacharjee (Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, Symbiosis International [Deemed University],
Noida)
Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak in the Indian Stock Market with regard to Market Efficiency

3. L. M. Saha (Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida)
Complex Dynamic on Evolution of Nonlinear Housing Prices

4. Rajat Budhiraja (Institute of Informatics and Communication, University of Delhi South Campus); Manish Kumar (Department of Computer Science Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh, Haryana); M. K. Das (Institute of Informatics and Communication, University of Delhi South Campus); Anil Singh Bafila (Institute of Informatics and Communication, University of Delhi South Campus)
Forecasting and Regeneration of Behavior of a Time Delayed Financial System Using Echo State Network

5. Sanjeev Singh (Institute of Informatics and Communication, University of Delhi South Campus)
Forecasting and Regeneration of Behavior of a Time Delayed Financial System Using Echo State Network

6. Saureesh Das (Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi)
Dynamics of Chaos in Employment Relation Model

Session 5: Industry

Chair/Discussant: Nagesh Kumar, ISID, New Delhi

1. Anurag Anand (CITER, Pune)
MNC’s Affiliation and their Exports Performance: A Case of Indian Motor Vehicle Industry

2. Smruti Ranjan Sahoo (Centre for Development Studies [CDS] Thiruvananthapuram)
Determinants of Export in Boom and Bust: Evidence from the Indian Electronics Industry

Session 6: R&D and Innovation

Chair/Discussant: B. N. Goldar (Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi)

1. Sanjaya Kumar Malik (ISID, New Delhi)
Technology Transfers from FDI to Local Firms in Indian Manufacturing Industries

2. Tuhinsubhra Giri (RIS, New Delhi) & K. Chandra Shekar
ICT and Firm Performance in India’s Informal Sector Enterprises

Panel Discussion: Industry 4.0, Sustainability and Developing Countries: Opportunities and
Challenges

Chair: S. R. Hashim (Former Chairman, UPSC)

Panellists:

· Nagesh Kumar (Director, ISID)

· Alakh N. Sharma (Director, IHD)

· Ashwani Bhat (Vice-President, M/s Choice Solutions Limited)

· Suma Athreye (IIT Delhi and ISID)