ISHRAE President Sachin Maheshwari hosted a luncheon with fraternal associations on February 23, and another with industry captains on February 24. During the luncheon with associations, ISHRAE President welcomed the heads of 19 worldwide associations and several domestic associations present, and briefed them on the activities of ISHRAE. Sushil Choudhury, Chair – Apex Advocacy Committee and Ashwini Mehra, Executive Secretary also addressed the audience. MoUs were signed with RATA and IAPMO during the meeting. Du ring the luncheon with industry captains, ISHRAE President welcomed the large number of heads of leading companies in the HVAC&R and building automation industries present, and thanked them for their support to ISHRAE’s activities – financial and otherwise. D. Nirmal Ram, Chair – ISHRAE Institute of Excellence, apprised the audience of training activities, ISHRAE Certification Program – classroom based and online, Advanced Engineering Diploma course and blue-collar workers’ program to support the industry. He requested the industry to avail of these opportunities by getting their engineers certified and employing the diploma holders who suit their needs. He suggested that the exhibitors might donate the exhibited products for training purpose instead of taking them back. Nitin Deodhar, member, ISHRAE Technical Committee, apprised the audience of the research promotion activities of the Committee, trying to bring about industry-academia partnership. He exhorted the industry to provide inputs to the Committee by identifying problem areas that need to be researched. President-Elect Vishal Kapur mentioned that the research being promoted is generic, not product-based. Chirag Baijal (Director, Commercial Sales, Climate Controls & Security, India, UTC) suggested the formation of self-nominated committees for products. The meeting was interactive, and suggestions came from quite a few participants.