How will artificial intelligence transform the industry? How can AI be utilised in manufacturing? And what effects will it have on cyber security? Our customers and business partners increasingly ask themselves questions such as these. They received some insightful answers in January when the team at Krones Digital Solutions India (KDSI) invited experts and decision-makers from the region to Bengaluru for a prestigious conference.
A mega event centred on artificial intelligence: Some 150 experts and decision-makers from the regional sector gathered at Krones Digital Solutions India for “K-NextTech 2025”.
Top-class experts
The agenda for “K-NextTech 2025” included presentations from leading experts in the field. One of them was Sanjeev Malhotra, CEO of the Centre of Excellence for IoT and AI at NASSCOM. In his keynote address he gave an insight into the wide and varied ecosystem of deeptech start-ups in India. The following speaker focused on generative AI and its effects on production: Mundakkal Satyajith, CTO of Hexaware, not only highlighted current trends and challenges, but also dared a look ahead to an AI-controlled future.
The agenda again included a moderated panel discussion, with Ramanan Ramakrishnan, co-founder and CEO of Obidos Software Labs, addressing opposing facets of AI: security enhancers on the one hand and risk factors on the other.
Next up was Dr. Vijay Raaghavan, head of DimensionX at Fractal Analytics, who spoke about how AI agents are rewriting the developer’s handbook. The last guest was a representative of the Heineken Group: Binod M P, Senior Manager IT at United Breweries Ltd., explained how companies can use digital twins and AI-controlled automation to improve their competitiveness.
Competition for creative ideas
As K-NextTech 2025 drew to a close, the platform belonged to the KDSI team. An internal tech initiative competition for which a number of teams had registered had been held over several months prior to the event, the purpose being to address various questions that are relevant for KDSI and develop solutions with a real added value. Each topic was supported by several managers at KDSI. The winning teams were announced at K-NextTech 2025 and given the opportunity to present their solutions in detail. “The competition unleashed incredible creativity,” says a delighted Suchismita De, Managing Director of KDSI. “Our guests were visibly impressed by the pioneering ideas from our guys.”
To get the entire team into the spirit of the event, KDSI also organised a joint office activity the day before: Entitled “Krones 2028”, the employees were asked to get creative – with artistic ideas also welcome – on the topics of “digitalization at Krones” and “internal workplace design”.
