Sustainability in recent years is generally understood to be the convergence of environmental, social, and governmental aspects of how businesses thrive. It has become one of the key areas of focus, and organizations have been stressing on acknowledging the same. Companies across the globe have been tweaking their policies to implement the key elements of innovation and sustainability into their business practices.

It was with this view of sustainability in mind that Alliance Ascent College, a constituent college of Alliance University Bangalore, conducted a two-day International Conference on Business, Innovation & Sustainability in the Digital era, on 26^th and 27^th of May 2023.

The inception of the Conference started almost six months ago when it was conceptualized. Then began the rigorous exercise of publicizing, calling for abstracts & papers, sorting the abstracts, forming of committees and finalizing the course of the events & tracks. The conference came alive with the efforts of all stakeholders involved and started with the inauguration that included industry and academic leaders.

On day one, the Conference was inaugurated with the ceremonial lighting of the Lamp by the dignitaries which included the Chief Guest for the Conference, Mr. Mohit Gopal, Chief Operating Officer, PayU India Ltd.; Mr. Abhay G. Chebbi, Pro-Chancellor, Alliance University; Dr. Nivedita Mishra, Registrar, Alliance University; Director of Alliance Ascent College, Dr. Ramanna Shetty; and Deputy Director of Alliance Ascent College, Dr. Preeti Gupta.

Dr. Preeti Gupta welcomed all the guests who had come from far and wide for the international conference. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Abhay G. Chebbi stressed the need for sustainability in every aspect and the significance of discussion and deliberations to sensitize people on the different aspects of innovation and sustainability. This was followed by Dr. Ramanna Shetty delivering the conference note.

The chief guest Mr. Mohit Gopal brought new perspectives into the fore when he spoke about the origins of FinTech (a Portmanteau of Finance and Technology) and reiterated the need to strike a balance between these two seemingly different worlds of sustainability and technology. The guest of honor, Mr. Manav Goel, Tech Lead, Climate at Facebook, Meta, USA, expressed his views on the negative environmental impact of carbon emissions on the atmosphere and the efforts taken by him and his team at Meta to reduce them.

This was followed by the release of the Book of Abstracts. As part of the Conference, the organizing Committee received around 250 Abstracts, under various tracks of Finance, Human Resource Management, Operations Management, Marketing and General Management, pf which 80 abstracts were shortlisted for publication in the book. Technical sessions followed soon after, where several papers on the tracks were presented.

The afternoon session had a plenary talk by Ms. Kenashree, an author, storyteller & TEDx speaker, who spoke about the importance of storytelling, both in the corporate and the academic worlds. Stories inspire people, boost morale, and help people to envision a brighter future.

The second day of the Conference began with a Panel Discussion on ‘Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Sustainability in the Digital Era’. The esteemed panelists were Dr. Belal M Alwadi, Founder & Vice President, Jordonian Association for Entrepreneurship; Ms. Maneesha Bhushal, Vice Presdient of CX, Saudi Arabia; Dr. Subhasis Dey, Professor, Dept. of Marketing, Xavier Institute of Management; and Dr. Benjamin Mathew, President of Rural Transformation & Innovation Centre, Deshpande Foundation; Dr. Ray Titus, Professor of Marketing, Alliance School of Business, Alliance University initiated the discussion with the speakers and later the forum was opened for questions and discussion from the audience. The entire session was an interactive session, and the speakers answered many queries raised by the participants.

The second plenary talk of the conference had an insightful talk by Dr. Paromita Goswami, Professor, Dept. of Marketing, Shiv Nadar University. Dr. Goswami along with her team held a discussion on “What Role can Social Marketing and Consumer Movements Play” for sustainability.

The Conference concluded with the valedictory session wherein the three Overall Best Papers were awarded certificates and cash prizes. Awards were also given for the best paper in each of the conference tracks. Many students along with the faculty members of Alliance University attended the event and derived immense value from the conference.