16/09/2026
At the 18th nasscom Design & Engineering Summit, held at the Sheraton Grand, Bengaluru, Mr. Vinod Sood, Co-founder & Managing Director of Hughes Systique Corporation, served on the summit's core committee, helping shape the agenda and elevate the quality of discussions. He also took on the role of Sutradhar (Facilitator) for the flagship chapter, "India's Engineering Moment."
Setting the context for the chapter, Mr. Sood connected a series of conversations spanning AI, frontier mobility, sovereign infrastructure, and design, highlighting how these themes collectively reflect the next phase of India's engineering evolution. Concluding the session, he observed, "India's engineering moment is not one breakthrough, but four capabilities, intelligence, frontier ambition, infrastructure and design, starting to move in the same direction, at the same time."
Mr. Sood also hosted a Fireside Chat with Dr. B. K. Das, Distinguished Scientist and Director General, Electronics & Communication Systems, DRDO. The discussion focused on how India can prepare for future conflicts by strengthening capabilities across cyber, data, space, and autonomous systems, while ensuring that innovation progresses through rigorous testing and deployment. Reflecting on the conversation, Mr. Sood noted that "Preparedness is not about predicting the exact threat of tomorrow, but about building the capabilities and agility to respond faster than it emerges," emphasizing the importance of long-term capability building and strategic technology investments.
Following the Fireside Chat, Mr. Sood facilitated an interactive engagement between Dr. Das and DeepTech startups, fostering discussions on emerging technology opportunities, innovation challenges, and the role of startups in advancing India's strategic and defence capabilities. The session underscored the importance of closer collaboration between industry, academia, investors, startups, and research institutions to accelerate the development of next-generation technologies.
