TORONTO - The seventh annual Pan-IIT Global Conference ended with alumni of the prestigious institutes chalking out plans to make India the global knowledge hub by 2022.

“One of the major initiatives we have planned to reform India’s education relates to Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). They are crucial to meeting India’s manpower needs and creating jobs,” conference chairman Ray Mehra told IANS after the conclusion in Chicago Sunday night.

He said: “Reforming them is part of our agenda to boost vocational manpower in India. Though this initiative is already under way, we are now creating a guidebook for these institutes.”

Mehra said: “We are involving retired IITians in India in our work to reform ITIs. To begin with, we will target major cities across India.

“IITians have also decided to support the Akshaya Patra Foundation to bring both education and nourishment to India’s deprived children.”

Promoted by California-based IITian Desh Deshpande, the Akshaya Patra Foundation helps run the world’s largest mid-day meal scheme feeding more than a million children.

The summit also firmed up its plans to push educational reform in India as outlined in their so-called Panch Ratnas presented to the Indian president in July.

“Under the Panch Ratna or five-point plan, we want India to become the global hub for knowledge creation.

“In our education session attended by Sam Pitroda and Indian minister D. Purandeswari, we decided to facilitate MoUs between Indian and US universities,” Mehra said.

The MoUs, he said, will boost research collaboration between Indian and US universities and facilitate faculty exchanges.

As per its theme of `Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Global Economy’, the IIT summit was addressed by top guns from energy and health care sectors.

“CEOs and top people from these sectors shared with us where future opportunities lie. Among others, we had CEO Jim Rogers of Duke Energy and Tulsi Tanti of Suzlon Energy,” Mehra said.

Clinton, who was the main speaker at the summit, called the IITians India’s `best and brightest’.

Holding a cheap toy lamp which can light two rooms, the former US president urged IITians to innovate to usher in cheap technologies for the common man.

Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s chief technology officer, also touched upon major areas in technology with immense future opportunities.

Other prominent speakers at the summit included James Owens, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc., and Raghuram G. Rajan of the University of Chicago and former chief economist of the IMF.