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The seventeenth edition of IIT Roorkee�s Annual Technical Festival, to be held from the 15th of March to the 17th of March, 2019. IIT Roorkee presents Cognizance 2019, a conflation of 150+ events spread over a span of three days. A m�lange of technical competitions, theme events, guest lectures, workshops, exhibitions, awareness drives, techtainment shows and a lot more, it�s a celebration of the technophilia and technovation that this institute has stood for over the past 170 years.



The Inaugural Ceremony of Cognizance 2019 was graced by Dr. P. V. Venkitakrishnan, Director, CPBO, ISRO HQ who was present there as a chief guest and Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist Halliburton as the Guest of Honor. The opening event was also graced by Dr. M. A. Paul, Deputy Director, RESPOND, ISRO. Cognizance, IIT Roorkee aims to achieve the vision to be at the frontiers of the emerging technovation, thus through its theme - �Unwinding Chaos�, Cognizance 2019 aims to provide a platform to the enthusiastic youth populace of India to accomplish the feats that they have been dreaming about. Our theme ideates that huge footprint can be created by our small consistent and dedicated efforts.



Social initiatives have been the cornerstones of Cognizance and thus this year we took up initiatives on Women health and menstrual hygiene, trash pollution and waste management, drying and pollution of our rivers and motivating students of Uttarakhand. Our initiatives were profoundly called HASI (Health and Sanitation Initiative) for Girls, #tbt (Think Before Throwing), Revival of Rivers, and UTSE (Uttarakhand Talent Search Examination) which were conducted under USERC (Uttarakhand Science Education and Research Center), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), Bisleri�s Bottles for Change, ITDA (Information Technology Development Agency), CEE, SAYEN, Make In India, PETA Youth and WCA (World Cubing Association).



Cognizance plans to encompass all the levels of the participant�s aptitude through a plethora of competitions and challenges. For avid gamers, we have a mound of events in GAMING; for management enthusiasts, we are organizing B-STREET consisting of numerous events to keep them engaged. Robotics buffs can test their mettle in ROBOSAPIENS; quizzers can battle it out in QUIZZOTICA; while enthusiastic debaters and orators, have their calling in IITR MUN.



The highlight of this edition is the FinFest involving various events and a panel discussion on one"Value Investing vs Quantitative Finance" with Yogesh Aggarwal (Managing director & Head of Equity Research, HSBC India) and Vinit Bolinjkar (Head of Research, Ventura Securities Ltd.) as the eminent guests. Finfest Valuation Challenge is a stock pitching competition with prize money of Rs. 1 Lakh, making it the largest valuation challenge across the country. Finfest Case Challenge is a case study competition which is conducted in association with "The Money Roller" where participants are expected to present a sectoral analysis of the FMCG industry.



Several eminent personalities from all corners of the intelligentsia have agreed to grace the festival as Keynote speakers. One of the big name in our series of guest lectures is the keynote speaker Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist Halliburton. Panel Discussions of Cognizance 2019 will witness the elite panels on:



1. Revival of Rivers:



● Mr. HP Uniyal, Director Uttarakhand State Planning Commission



● Dr. Sumit Sen, Associate Professor, Department of Hydrology, IIT Roorkee



● Dr. MK Srinivas, Director General, National Water Development Agency



● Dr. Vishal Singh, Deputy Executive Director, CEDAR



● Dr. Anil Joshi, Founder, Himalayan Environmental Studies Conservation Organization (HESCO)



2. Another on Value v/s Quantitative Investing



● Yogesh Aggarwal, Managing Director & Head of Equity Research, HSBC India



● Shubham Agarwal, CEO Quantsapp



● Jayesh Khilnani, Senior Analyst - ET Now



● Varun Divakar, Lead Research & Development, QuantInsti



● Pankaj Sharma, Author, and Advisor on Emerging Markets



● Vinit Bolinjkar, Head of Research, Ventura Securities Ltd



● Ritesh Chavan, Co-Founder, The Money Roller



3. Prithvi Talks (Presented by UNDP)



● Dr. R. B. Biniwale, Principal Scientist, NEERI



● S.P. Subudhi, IAS, Member Secretary, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board



● Avinash Pratap Singh, Waste Warriors



● Srikrishna Balachandran, UNDP



Exhibitions at Cognizance 2019 promises to bring contemporary technology like InDro 3.0 (Robotech Research PVT. LTD), SensorBoard v1.0 (Sudaksh Technology LLP). A new addition is the Gadget Expo by Samsung featuring Samsung�s S 10, S 10+ and A series. As a part of its techtainment nights, Cognizance introduces performances by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry namely the comedian Zakir Khan, followed by the band When Chai Met Toast and the Bollywood-Indian singer K.K. We end Cognizance 2019 with an EDM night featuring DJ Lost Stories & DJ Anish Sood.



The innate desire to answer the question of one's existence has presented itself in a lot of forms since the dawn of human civilization, and the most prominent mediums to satiate this inquisition have been Literature and Arts. Sensing this very need of time, Cognizance is taking this bold step and organising its own, Literature and Arts Festival, Lit.A.F under which cognizance 2019 presented Parvaaz: A night filled with poetry, shers, couplets and ghazals featuring the chief guest for LIT.A.F. Shri Kunwar Bechain along with 15 other distinguished poets in collaboration with हिंदी House and Poets Of India. Mr. Sharat Chander, the Information Officer at Prime Minister�s Office was present as Guest of Honor at the Valedictory Ceremony of Cognizance 2019 which marked the successful conclusion of this edition of this technical confluence.



Cognizance 2019 remains indebted to all its sponsors and patrons for wholeheartedly supporting us in our endeavors. We would like to extend our special thanks to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), USERC (Uttarakhand Science Education and Research Center), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), Bisleri�s Bottles for Change, ITDA (Information Te, CEE, SAYEN, Make In India, PETA, WCA. We would also express our gratitude towards our sponsors WorldQuant Research (India) Private Limited, ABB Group, Swiggy, Publicis Sapient, Uttarakhand Shasan, Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) and Tata Chemicals Limited.