Soumitra Dutta

Who is Soumitra Dutta ?

Soumitra Dutta is a globally renowned Indian academic, consultant, author and entrepreneur. Soumitra Dutta is most famous for being the co-developer of the Global Innovation Index, the world’s most influential innovation ranking system. Published annually, GII covers around 130-140 countries. GII uses around 80 metrics spanning seven pillars (Institutions, Human Capital & Research, Infrastructure, Market Sophistication, Business Sophistication, Knowledge & Technology Outputs, Creative Outputs), to measure innovation performance of countries every year.

Educational achievements of Soumitra Dutta , Oxford Dean (Former)

Soumitra Dutta, who was born in Chandigarh, is an alumnus of IIT-Delhi; he completed his B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science in 1985. In 2017, Dutta received a Distinguished Alumnus award from his alma mater. Dutta also holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Entrepreneurial Journey of Soumitra Dutta

As the co-founder and founder respectively of two major global technology/innovation indices, the Network Readiness Index (published for 16 years by the World Economic Forum) and the Global Innovation Index (published for 12 years by the World Intellectual Property Organization), Soumitra Dutta has worked with global corporations and governments on formulating their technology and innovation policies.

Having served on the boards of major international corporations including Sodexo, Dassault Systemes and ZS Associates, he is at home dealing with strategic business issues at the highest levels.

Soumitra Dutta also enjoys working with smaller startups (many started by his students) and he has co-founded (as majority share-holder) two technology startups – Fisheye Analytics (a social media analytics firm that was sold to the WPP Communications Group in 2013) and Igesia (an Edutech firm started in 2019).

He is deeply involved with non-profits and is on the boards of several global business schools including Centrum Catholica (Peru), HEC Montreal, University of Los Andes (Colombia) and ESADE (Spain). He has chaired the leading global business school accrediting agency, AACSB and is currently the chair of GBSN (the Global Business School Network). He has been involved for more than a decade with the activities of the World Economic Forum and has served as the co-Chair of the Forum’s Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems.

Soumitra Dutta's Awards

Soumitra Dutta is a powerful public speaker and brings a refreshing global perspective from his deep personal knowledge of Asia, Europe and the Americas. In 2017, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. In 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Amity University, India’s largest and leading private university.