The ideas factory

Every year, the best and the brightest from all realms of human endeavour—whether politics or economy, culture or science— come together in what has become the most anticipated event in ideas: The India Today Conclave. So it was this year too. Chairmen, CEOs, entrepreneurs and leading thinkers from across the globe put forth ideas that provoked, challenged and entertained. There were also ideas, as the quotes above suggest, that interpreted change and hinted at the coming changes. In the following pages we present a pick of excerpted speeches and interviews from the conclave that are bound to influence your world view, and perhaps your business.

David E. Bloom, Professor, Harvard University
"With the right policies, India's demographics will give it an edge over China"

Nassim Taleb, Philosopher and Expert on Risk
"I don't think anybody understands the Internet. I am worried about the Internet"

Alan Mulally, President & CEO, Ford Motor
"We are in the fabric of every company we operate. So we are never outsourcing"

John Chambers, Chairman & CEO, Cisco
"Let's set an unreasonable goal of a dollar per month per student to get a competitive education"

Nikesh Arora, President, Global Sales, Google
"The world is going towards network computing. Any unconnected device is becoming less interesting"

Chris Hughes, Co-founder, Facebook
"5-10 years from now, most people who will engage on Facebook will never come to Facebook.com"