Kharagpur, Aug 18: The world is moving from conventional wars to technology-driven wars of power, and our ability to prepare will decide our future, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said on Monday.

Addressing IIT Kharagpur’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations here, Gautam Adani said the wars that we have to fight today are often invisible as they are fought in server farms, and not in trenches.

"The weapons are algorithms, not guns. The empires are not built on land - they are built in data centres. The armies are botnets, and not battalions," the billionaire industrialist told the gathering, adding that we must now fight for the freedom of self-reliance.

“You are the next generation of freedom fighters. Your innovation, your software code, and your ideas are today’s weapons. You will decide whether India takes command of its destiny or surrenders it to others,” Gautam Adani told students and professors.

“I can tell you, with absolute conviction, that the age of transformation now unfolding before us is unlike anything I have seen. And the battlefield is not just about protecting our nation’s borders. It is about securing our technology leadership and ensuring we are able to stay at the forefront of global innovation," he emphasised.

“It is about redesigning every business, reimagining every industry, and rewriting every rule of the game — so we lead and not just participate as low-cost players in the global race. Because, as we all know, in a world of robotics and AI, cost advantages will vanish overnight, and we can quickly lose our ability to compete. Companies will become more powerful than many nations," Gautam Adani said.

Over the next decade, several companies that today seem unbeatable will vanish. They will disappear, not because they lacked resources, but because they could simply not compete at the pace and scale needed.

"And I will say that the same stands true for educational institutions! Because the educational institutions, too, must transform. They must move at the speed of change, drive cutting-edge research and yet be accountable to real-world impact. This is no longer about producing brilliant graduates — it is about producing brilliant patriots that graduate armed with ideas, discipline, and the will to make India unshakable," said the Adani Group Chairman.

The brutal truth is this — when knowledge is a commodity, when skills can be downloaded, and when AI can crack engineering problems in seconds, we must ask — What is the future value of an engineering or technical degree? How should we prepare?

"Because the lifespan of technical knowledge has collapsed from years to months — maybe even weeks. This means the gap between academic theory and industry reality is widening faster than ever before. And the new currency is abundance. Abundance of bold ideas. Abundance of lightning-speed adaptation. Abundance of relentless reinvention," he highlighted.

"In this new round of battle, it is the most brilliant minds that India will need. And you, my dear professors, are the custodians of these minds. Minds trained on these very grounds, trained to think beyond the textbook, trained for rapid invention, and trained to carry the courage of discovery as a national duty. While this is not a call to give up the heritage of our top institutions, it is indeed a call for designing a different future before it is too late," Gautam Adani noted. (IANS)

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