Sugata Mitra

The Sugata Mitra keynotes promote the idea that technology can be easily adapted to, understood and executed in societies that were once unfamiliar to it. Mitra believes that individuals, especially children, are able to learn technology quite effectively and efficiently without the need of instruction.

Mitra is a Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University. He started the 'Hole in the Wall' experiment, which embedded computers within the walls of Indian slums, to examine how children interact with technology and how easily they can learn to use it. In terms of his education, Mitra holds a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the IIT, and has been credited with over 25 cognitive science and educational technology inventions.

Prior to his current position, Mitra was the Chief Scientist at NIIT Ltd., India's largest multinational training and software serve company, the Head of the Technology Division for United India Periodicals and created the 'Yellow Pages' industry now running in India.

Due to his extensive real-world research and applicable findings, Mitra has been awarded the 'Dewang Mehta award for innoavation in IT' and 'Best Education Research Article in an Open Access Journal.' In a digitally saturated age, the Sugata Mitra keynotes suggest that execution and interaction with technology and digital means can be self-taught and adapted to.