On 8–9 April 2025 I was chief guest at TECHFEST 2K25, a national-level technical symposium at Paavai College of Engineering, Namakkal, organised with AURA, the college’s student activity forum. In February 2025 The CyberDiplomat had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Paavai, and this was the first visit under it.
The best welcome we have had
The bouquet at the door was presented by a robot the students had designed and built. At a technical symposium it is the right way to begin: before anyone says a word about innovation, the students demonstrate it.
What I spoke about
A technical symposium audience does not need to be convinced that technology matters. What they rarely hear is where their skills sit in a national and international picture: that the systems they are learning to build — networks, embedded devices, AI models, industrial controls — are the same systems that states, criminals and activists now contest.
That reframing changes what a career in engineering can mean. It opens paths into security operations, OT and ICS security, standards and audit, research and cyber policy, and it gives students a reason to care about security while they are still learning to code rather than after their first incident.
Students at a technical symposium already know how to build. The useful addition is showing them who else is interested in what they build.
Our thanks to the management, principal, faculty and the AURA student team of Paavai College of Engineering for the invitation, the hospitality and the partnership — and to whoever wired up that robot.
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