News From ACM-W India

GHC India 2014, November 19 – 21, 2014 Bangalore

The 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India hosted a sold-out group of 1,600 attendees. It was a great learning and networking experience for women in technology. The program featured many events to support women in computing in India, including sessions on entrepreneurship, building confidence, and professional development, as well as technical presentations on topics ranging from wearable technology to machine learning. Leading women in industry giving keynote talks were Jayshree Ullal, President and CEO, Arista Networks; Lakshmi Pratury, Host, The INK Conference; and
Jane Moran, CIO, Unilever.

GHC India also hosted the final round of the All Women Hackathon (the previous round was in Chennai in July). More than 100 women developers built apps according to the theme “Tech for Good”; the three award-winning apps were a platform for job-seekers, an app to reduce fetal and neonatal mortality in a
rural community, and one to reduce time spent on apps for gaming and social networking and help with donations for social causes.

On the final day, the Women Entrepreneur Quest gave budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to compete for prizes by making pitches for their technology ventures to a panel of judges composed of investors, technology experts, entrepreneurs and mentors.

Grace Hopper India was co-presented by ACM and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. In the inauguration ceremony Dr. Srinivas Padmanabhuni, President, ACM India Council, highlighted the importance of ACM in Computing Community and urged the members to actively participate in ACM activities. Dr. Sheila Anand, ACM-W India Chairperson addressed the gathering and introduced them to ACM-W mission, events, and membership benefits. ACM had sponsored 40 women members from various Student and Professional Chapters across India.

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