Aakash Guglani

He’s a senior policy associate at Digital India Foundation, working with Mr Arvind Gupta to democratise the e-commerce landscape in India through ONDC. He has  provided policy inputs on diverse domains like API pricing strategy, nudge strategies for mask adherence in India, regulation of online gaming platforms etc. In addition, he has made policy presentations to senior leadership teams at World Bank, Gates Foundation, Pepsico, Publicis Groupe, NITI Aayog and a research presentation for the NeurIPS2021 workshop on AI for Credible Election: A call to Action. 

He’s a regular participant in the policy dialogues organised by the Observer Research Foundation, Ministry of External Affairs of India, Ananta Centre, Indian School of Business, Hindu College, Carnegie India, La Trobe University, etc. At DIF, we have partnered with leading organizations like the World Bank, OECD, NITI Aayog, US-India Business Council, and Gates Foundation on multiple projects linked with digital transformation. We have led startup conversations and knowledge partnerships at the Raisina Dialogues, Ananta Centre, and CyFy Conference in New Delhi. In addition, we have provided policy inputs to the senior leadership levels in New Delhi, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, etc. at the Ministerial levels. 

He was one of the panellists at the Public Policy Dialogues organised by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and Hindu-ORF Policy Conclave–a t20 side event under G20 presidency of India–Hindu College, University of Delhi. He has presented working papers at Oxford University’s Department of International Development. Recently, he was one of the sixteen delegates at the QUADMIN conference organised by La Trobe University and supported by the  U.S. Embassy in Australia to discuss emerging challenges facing the QUAD countries and the publication is forthcoming. 

He has published articles and appeared in the Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (JICPR), Social Science Research Network (SSRN), ThePrint, Valdai Club, and PressTV, respectively. I’ve co-authored a chapter in the forthcoming The Palgrave Handbook of Malicious Use of AI and Psychological Security edited by Evgeny Pashentsev. He has co-authored a report on ONDC with Publicis Groupe as well. 

He has a keen interest in the political theory of technology deployment, science and technology policies, malicious use of emerging technologies and their intersection with geopolitics. In his previous role, he worked as a teaching fellow at Ashoka University, India. 

He’s a Young India Fellow and Liberal Studies postgraduate from Ashoka University and a Management Studies graduate from the University of Delhi.