Shri Subrata Gupta on Bridging Industry, Academia, and AI Disruption | Digii100x East India

In this inaugural address at Digii100x East India, Shri Subrata Gupta, IAS (Retd.), Advisor to the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of West Bengal, delivers a forward-looking perspective on aligning higher education with rapid technological disruption. As an experienced policy administrator driving industrial and economic strategy, he highlights that traditional rote learning and static curricula can no longer compete with AI automation. He stresses that preparing students for the modern economy requires cultivating high-order competence, critical problem-solving, and entrepreneurial adaptability Advocating for an integrated ecosystem, Shri Subrata Gupta outlines how government, academia, and corporate leaders must break out of operational silos to co-create industry-ready talent, establish university research sandboxes, and turn regional youth into global value creators. About Digii100x East India: Digii100x East India is the regional extension of Digii100—India’s flagship invite-only summit for higher education. The summit took place on September 29th, 2026, at Taj Bengal, Kolkata. It brought together key Educational, Industry and Policy Leaders across 10 states: West Bengal, Odisha, Tripura, Nagaland, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Manipur. Together, they united to transform regional higher education into a powerful engine for innovation, youth empowerment, and a Viksit Bharat.