Entrepreneur Ignite Summit (EIS) 2026

Date: January 9, 2026

Venue: COMSNETS 2026

Host: CEEDS (Council for Entrepreneurship Enablement, Decarbonization & Sustainability)

Format: Single-track, in-person

About: The Entrepreneur Ignite Summit (EIS) is a curated, founder-first forum designed to explore how ideas become ventures through the combined forces of human judgment, artificial intelligence, and ecosystem enablement.

Program Structure

Session 1 — IGNITE (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) Theme: Why Build? [cite_start]What Is Worth Building?
10 mins	Opening Context: From Product Thinking to Wisdom Thinking (AI + Human Collaboration) Includes a short guided meditation Presenter: Gaurav Vaid, CEEDS
5 mins	Agenda and Flow of the Day Presenter: Dr. Madanmohan Rao, CEEDS
40 mins	Founder Story + Conversation Speaker: Derick Jose, Managing Director - Industrial AI, Accenture (Ex Founder, Flutura Decision Sciences) Format: Founder narrative followed by a fireside chat (20 mins fireside) Fireside Moderator: Vinay Dora, CEEDS
40 mins	Staying at the AI Edge: Skills + Mindset for Thriving in the AI Era Speaker: Prof. Ravishankar Rao, Fairleigh Dickinson University (IEEE Fellow; former IBM Master Inventor) Format: Presentation followed by a fireside chat (20 mins fireside) Fireside Moderator: Gaurav Vaid, CEEDS
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM	LUNCH BREAK
Session 2 — ACTIVATE (2:00 PM – 4:30 PM) Theme: How Ideas Become Ventures
25 mins	Open Room Dialogue CEEDS introductions + participant quick introductions; share challenges and interests (including VC / incubation connects later in the day) Facilitators: Vinay Dora and Kundan Das, CEEDS
30 mins	How Ideas Become a Venture: A Founder's Story Fireside chat with the team behind RDEP (Retail Digital Experience Platform) About RDEP: Enables merchants and customers to engage, interact, and shop across channels, using mobile POS and self-checkout. Panelists: Pavan Panchamukhi (CEO, RDEP) & Sagar Panchamuki (Head of Customer Success, RDEP) Moderator: Vinay Dora, CEEDS
40 mins	Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Intrapreneur's Perspective Speaker: Dr. Ranveer Chandra, Vice President, Copilot Tuning, M365 Copilot; Board Advisor; CTO Agri Food, Microsoft Format: 20 minute talk + 20 minute fireside conversation Moderator: Gaurav Vaid, CEEDS
60 mins	Integrated Capital & Industry Conversation Session Type: Panel Derick Jose (Founder) Dr. Ranveer Chandra (Ecosystem Partner) Samir Kumar (Athera Ventures, Investor) Rahul Chandra (Arkam Ventures, Investor) Anila Bajpai (Incubator) Moderator: Dr. Madanmohan Rao, CEEDS
15 mins	Closing Reflection: Building for the Long Game Speaker: Gaurav Vaid, CEEDS Note: Close with Wisdom Thinking and set the stage for the DecarbX opening.