IDFC Institute hosted Sharad Sharma of iSPIRT in an illuminating discussion about IndiaStack and the "Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture" (DEPA) on Tuesday, 9th January. The discussion was centred around Electronic Data Consent (EDC), a mechanism to abstract consent flows from data flows. The technology aims at allowing individuals to retain autonomy over their data preventing non-consensual sharing of personal information available digitally. The discussion was centred around technology, policy and law with fruitful recommendations for further democratisation of consent by pushing for a wider implementation of DEPA.
Sharad Sharma co-founded Teltier, a wireless infrastructure startup now part of CISCO and is an active technology angel investor through LetsVenture. He has co-founded iSPIRT, a think tank focused on building the software product ecosystem in India. He has also chaired the Product Forum at NASSCOM. Prior to this, he headed Yahoo! India R&D where he led product engineering for all emerging markets and some global products. He has also held senior R&D role at VERITAS, Symantec, Lucent Technologies and AT&T. Sharma is an Electrical Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering.