Rai Foundation with its apex aim to provide equal opportunities for education to all, started a long term series, Rai Global SPARK - A Lecture Series of Professional & Radical Knowledge, where Professors and renowned Academicians from various top-ranking Universities like Harvard University, New York University, Stanford University, University of Leeds etc. come to India to enlighten students and people from related sectors or industry with current methodologies and best practices adhered worldwide.

As the name suggests, the aim of this exercise is to create a Spark of desire to excel. This exercise of International level is the first of its kind to be held here in India that provides a large number of students, aspirants, knowledge-seekers with an opportunity to listen the crème de la crème of International Academia. The Professors of international repute visit metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Rai Foundation works in tandem with these top-notch academicians in creating knowledge based society by facilitating access of global education and trends.

Rai Global Spark Lecture Series is an open dissemination of knowledge and information. This high-profile project with Rai Foundation is a vote for India's much acclaimed human resource. America and Europe's best brains from academia work with local talent here at Rai Foundation to bridge the divide between the developing and the developed countries. The initiative has clearly manifested the saying - knowledge triumphs in openness.
Rai Global Spark Lecture Series in India brings well-known knowledge leaders at various Rai Foundation Colleges and public realms. The global Gurus from varied disciplines - Management, Sciences and Technology, Social Sciences, Arts, Politics and Architecture - share the platform at Rai Foundation. Through an arresting intellectual discourse between leading thinkers in India and that of the leading Universities abroad, Rai Foundation looks forward to an ongoing public dialogue where one can engage in some of the most important scientific, political, social, business as well as arts-related issues of contemporary India vis-à-vis leading developed countries. The lecture series is a catalyst of change which hosts the best international brains.

Prof. Yvette Biro
Screenwriter, Essayist & Professor of Film
Tisch School of Arts
New York University

Prof. Yvette Biro is a celebrated screenwriter, essayist and professor of films in New York University. Yvette has to her credit international acclaims in the realm of films. Her German-French execution for Four Voices won the Public's Prize at Berlin Film Festival. She regularly holds workshops on Screenwriting in the US, Canada and Europe. As a visiting professor, she has taught at the Universities of Budapest, Paris, Jerusalem, Berkeley and Stanford University.

On her India visit under "Rai Global Spark" series, she spoke about her recent book, "Festina Lente - Hurry Up Slowly!" wherein Biro bifurcated time into two as physical time and human time. She said that it is human time that is very important on celluloid. She emphasized on the importance of hesitation in filmmaking and said that hesitation teaches to respect other's opinions, ways, methods, cultures and ideology. The respect for others and diversity is more than just important for the contemporary world. She said time is layered and events don't occur in a flash or on a single plain. Rather there is an intricate mosaic of events on every layer of the time.

Prof. Jan Katz
Senior lecturer in International Business & Marketing
Suter - Staley Director of Global Business
Johnson Graduate School of Management
Cornell University

Prof. Jan Katz is a senior lecturer in International Business and Marketing in Cornell University. Professor Katz's research and teaching center on the special issues that organizations face as they expand beyond their national boundaries - from how to best manage a multinational team to ways in which companies must adjust marketing strategies.

During her visit under "Rai Global Spark" series, Katz gave a talk on "A New Vie of India: A New Chance for Indian Products". Katz suggested three strategies for brand establishment. The first strategy is slow and low cost. She gave example of Goya; a South American packaged Food Company that started from New York catering to the needs of immigrant Mexicans and slowly consolidated its position expanding into supermarkets across North America. The second strategy Katz exemplified was high cost and fast. The third strategy she suggested was of using strategic alliances with small players. She was of the opinion that few small players can make it big together. She also praised Indian democracy and hoped for success of brand India that is towering the global market.

Prof. Michelle D Addington
Associate Professor of Architecture
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

Prof. Michelle Addington is an Associate Professor of Architecture. She teaches courses and seminars in energy/environmental systems and building technology, as well as in new materials. Addington is both an architect and an engineer whose teaching and research explore the re-conceptualization of the human thermal environment. Originally educated as a nuclear and mechanical engineer, she began her career with NASA, where she was a structural analyst designing components for satellites and rockets, and she later worked in the chemical industry for many years as a thermal process designer, power plant engineer, and, eventually, a manufacturing manager.

During her visit under "Rai Global Spark" series, she spoke on "Sustainability in Architecture". She introduced the audience to path-breaking methods she adapted during her career as engineer and architect. Expressing her concerns about the way human development is neglecting the way energy is being consumed, she expressed the view that the human developmental needs and sustainability can go hand in hand. Addington discussed the problems related to heating ventilation, air-conditioning and lighting in buildings. She said that average size of urban living has increased around the world. Addington also threw light on the human aspects of green technology. She informed about the efforts in the U.S. to build houses that are cheap and strong. She summed up her lecture by emphasizing the need to generalize principles not strategies.

Prof. H. Rao Unnava
W. Arthur Cullman Professor of Marketing
Fisher College of Business
Ohio State University

Professor Unnava's research focuses on issues related to brand loyalty, consumer response to advertising and sales promotion and consumer memory. His work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Letters, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of International Consumer Marketing and Advances in Consumer Research. The American Marketing Association named him an Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher in 1997.

In the course of his talk, Prof. Rao touched the various aspects of Marketing Strategies relating to Consumer Behaviour at the time of introducing a new product in the market. He also emphasized the importance of 4 P's - Product, Price, Promotion and Place particularly the promotion aspect. Prof. Rao gave practical orientation to his lecture by quoting several case studies like www.angieslist.com for products like humidifiers. He has shared his vast experience and knowledge in marketing with the students by quoting several practical examples, which have helped the students in understanding the concepts of management in the present competitive marketing scenario.

Prof. Frederic Schwartz
Professor of Architecture
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Harvard University

Prof. Frederic Schwartz is a practicing architect and city planner in New York City and a Professor of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (as well as a graduate of Harvard and Berkeley).

Frederic Schwartz has won numerous international and national competitions including the new Staten Island Ferry at the tip of Manhattan, the recent Fortune World Tower (one million sf) in the heart of Shanghai and the September 11th Memorial Competitions for both New Jersey State and Westchester County. As the founder of THINK, he collaborated on the design of the internationally popular World Cultural Center at Ground Zero. The New York Times profiled Schwartz as "The Man Who Dares the City to THINK Again."

Dr. Akhilesh Lakhtakia
Distinguished Professor of Engineering Science & Mechanics
Pennsylvania State University

Dr Akhilesh Lakhtakia is a distinguished Professor of Engineering Science & Mechanics in Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include scattering and propagation of electromagnetic waves, numerical technique, optics, antenna arrays, carbon nanotubes, electromagnetics etc. His teaching interests include wave propagation, applied mathematics, electromagnetics and green engineering.

Prof. Jeffrey Ford
Associate Professor of Management & HR
Fisher College of Business
Ohio State University

Professor Jeffrey D. Ford is an expert on Organizational Change and Management. His research focuses on breakdowns in communications links and the role of communications in organizational behavior and change.
His work has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Education and Journal of Marketing Research. He was elected as a charter member in the Academy of Management Journal's Hall of Fame. He also received the Academy's Bronze Award for research and a Best Paper Award.

On his visit to India under "Rai Global Spark" series, he spoke on "Closing the Gap in Your Reputation: The Key to Being a Star Performer" which emphasis on the fact that the high performance people are "Stars" who have found a way to close the gap between what they say and what they do and they have grown a reputation for producing high quality and timely results.

Prof. Richard D'Aveni
Professor of Strategic Management
Amos Tuck School of Business
Dartmouth College, USA

Prof. Richard D'Aveni is a professor of Strategic Management in Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. He is the winner of the prestigious A.T. Kearney Award and has been named by the Washington based Corp Executive Board as one of the 7 most influential Strategy Thinkers. His consulting activities cover Fortune 500 Companies.
During his visit to India under "RaiGlobal Spark" series, Prof. Daveni spoke on "Indo-US Strategic Relationship- A New Global Perspective". He said that access to Indian markets and India's intellectual capital will become a necessity for the long-term health of the US economy. India, in turn, will be forced to leave behind its role as a leader of the non-aligned movement, and join the ranks of the great powers in close alliance with the US. America will finance the future of India if India allows it. He concluded his talk by emphasizing on the fact that India will be the "New Europe" for America, as it is pivotal to continued American Strategic Supremacy and will be developed the way Europe was developed after WWII by American business interests.

Prof. Alexander Fedorikhin
Associate Professor of Marketing Kelley School of Business Indiana University

Prof. Alexander Fedorikhin is an associate professor of Marketing in Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. His research interests concentrates on the intersection of the areas of affect and consumer decision making. According to Prof. Fedorikhin, the judgment and decision making literature has been overly cognitive in nature and the role of affect has been traditionally under-emphasized. His area of interest also lies in knowing how the relationship between effective and cognitive aspects of consumer decision making vary internationally.

He is also an Ad Hoc Reviewer of various Journals and Associations such as Journal of Consumer Research (2001 - present); Journal of Marketing (2002 - present) Journal of Marketing Research (2005 - present); Marketing Science (2004 - present) Journal of Advertising (2005 - present); American Marketing Association Summer Educators Conference (2003-present); Association for Consumer Research Conference (2002-present) and Society for Consumer Psychology Conference (2004-present).

Prof. Ikuko Acosta
Director - Graduate Art Therapy Program
New York University

Prof. Ikuko Acosta, Ph.D., ATR-BC. Director of the Graduate Art Therapy Program has extensive clinical experiences as an art therapist as well as an art therapy educator for the past twenty years. She has worked with a wide range of populations including geriatrics, adults, adolescents and children. She has lectured widely, and has presented workshops and in-services throughout the United States and other countries including Italy, Korea, Iceland, and Turkey. She has published articles in "American Journal of Art Therapy" and currently serves as an Educational Committee Member at American Art Therapy Associations, Inc
Her research interests include New Directions in Art Therapy; Art Therapy in Non-Clinical Settings and International Development of Art Therapy. Prof. Acosta received degrees from Rutgers University (BA - Fine Arts) and New York University (MA - Art Therapy and Ph.D. - Arts & Humanities).