Speakers

Prof. VijayRaghavan

Principal Scientific Adviser to the PM, Government of India

Prof K. VijayRaghavan is the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and he advises the government in science and technology policies and interventions that are of strategic socio-economic importance to the country. This is done in collaboration with various ministries, institutions, academia and industry.

Prof K. VijayRaghavan is a distinguished professor in the field of developmental genetics and former director of the National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bangalore. His fields of specialization are developmental biology, genetics, and neurogenetics. He is Fellow of the Royal Society and an associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 2013 and is also a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the life sciences category in 2009.

Mr. Kishore Jayaraman

President, Rolls-Royce, India and South Asia

Kishore Jayaraman is President for Rolls-Royce India and South Asia. Since taking over the role Kishore has been instrumental in driving strategic focus and significant expansion across the Rolls-Royce Defence, Civil Aerospace and Power Systems businesses.

Prior to joining Rolls-Royce, Kishore held diverse leadership roles across markets at GE for 23 years, and his last assignment was as President and CEO of GE Energy, South Asia.

With an MS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, Kishore serves on several boards and is at the helm of industry committees and associations, whilst being a champion for leadership development and strategic ecosystem evolution for the present and future.

Prof. Ashutosh Sharma

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

Ashutosh Sharma is a Secretary to the Government of India since January 2015, heading the Department of Science and Technology (DST), where he helped initiate several new programs related to: infrastructure and human capacity building; innovation and startups; R&D in advanced manufacturing, waste processing, clean energy and cyber-physical systems; industry-academia cooperation; science communication; women scientists; and major international collaborations in the areas of priority for the nation. Ashutosh received his PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB; 1988), his MS from the Pennsylvania State University (1984) and B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur (1982). He has been a professor (1997-), an Institute Chair Professor (2007-) and the Head (2003-05) of Chemical Engineering, and the founding Coordinator of Nanosciences Center and Advanced Imaging Center at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur.

Ashutosh’s research contributions are highly interdisciplinary, spanning a wide spectrum in nanotechnology; thin polymer films; nanocomposites and devices in energy, health and environment; functional interfaces; micro/nano-mechanics of soft matter; nano-patterning and nanofabrication; colloid and interfacial engineering; biomaterials & biosurfaces; wetting and adhesion. He has published over 350 peer reviewed papers, filed over 15 patents, given over 150 invited or key note conference presentations and mentored a successful nanotechnology startup.

Ashutosh is a recipient of numerous honors and awards including the inaugural Infosys Prize in Engineering and Computer Science, TWAS Science Prize of the World Academy of Sciences, Bessel Research Award of the Humboldt Foundation, J. C. Bose Fellowship, S. S. Bhatnagar Prize, Homi J. Bhabha Award of UGC, The Syed Husain Zaheer Medal and the Meghnad Saha Medal of INSA, Distinguished Alumni Awards of IIT Kanpur and SUNY Buffalo, Firodia Award, the Life-time Achievement Award of the Indian Science Congress and several Doctor of Science honoris causa, including from SUNY Buffalo, and Jadavpur University.

Ashutosh is an elected Fellow of The Indian National Science Academy, The Indian Academy of Sciences, The National Academy of Sciences, India and Indian National Academy of Engineering, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the Asia-Pacific Academy of Materials. He has also served on the Councils of the first two. He has been an associate editor of ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Proceedings of Indian National Science Academy and ASME Journal of Micro- and Nano-Manufacturing and has been on the editorial boards of several journals: Carbon; ACS Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research; Current Science; Nanomaterials and Energy; Chemical Engineering Science; Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering and Indian Chemical Engineer.

Ashutosh’s other interests are in ancient history and philosophy, poetry and art. Scientific Details: http://www.iitk.ac.in/che/as.htm/

Dr. Kris (Senapathy) Gopalakrishnan

Founder, Infosys

Kris Gopalakrishnan is Chairman of Axilor Ventures, a company supporting and funding startups. He is one of the seven founders of Infosys, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. Kris is a well-known philanthropist and the Chair of the Committee of Experts on non-personal data, advising the Government of India on their strategy which will shape how non-personal data is accessed and used to drive economic growth.  

Recognized as a global business and technology thought leader, he was voted the top CEO (IT services category) in Institutional Investor's inaugural ranking of Asia's Top Executives. He was selected as one of the winners of the 2nd Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. Kris was also selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of global business thinkers, in 2009. He was elected President of India's apex industry chamber, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2013 – 14, and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014. In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Kris the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian honor.

He serves on the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT, Bangalore, and is also on the Board of Trustees of the Chennai Mathematical Institute.

Dr. Alicia Greated

CEO, KTN

Dr Alicia Greated is the Chief Executive Officer for UK Knowledge Transfer Networks. KTN exists to connect innovators with new partners and new to accelerate ideas into real-world solutions. Previously Alicia was Global Director, Research Engagement at Heriot-Watt University and prior to that, led the Newton Fund (a £735 million research and innovation fund to enhance the UK’s engagement with global emerging economies) delivery team at the UK’s Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In 2008, Alicia moved to Delhi, India where she was founder and Director of Research Council UK (RCUK) India at the British High Commission. After four years in India, she moved to Beijing to become Director RCUK China at the British Embassy in Beijing.

Alicia has worked as acting Director of Research for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). She also spent five years at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) where she was Head of Engineering. Alicia has a PhD in Molecular Genetics. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a representative on the UK Government’s Jet Zero Council.

Prof. B Gurumoorthy

Chief Executive, SID, Indian Institute of Science

Prof. B Gurumoorthy is the Chief Executive, Society for Innovation and Development at the Prestigious Indian Institute of Science, and also a professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department and Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing at IISc. His research interests are in the areas of CAD, Product Information Modelling, Computational Metrology and, Product design and prototyping. He did his B.Tech at IIT Madras in 1982 followed by M.E. and Ph.D at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA in 1984 and 1987 respectively (all in Mechanical Engineering).

Prof. V Ramagopal Rao

Director, Indian Institute of Technology

Ramgopal Rao is the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He was a P.K.Kelkar Chair Professor in Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Ramgopal Rao has more than 475 publications in various journals, and 47 patents in the areas of Electron devices and Nanoelectronics. Ramgopal Rao was the first elected chairman for the Indian Section of the American Nano Society. He is also the recipient of multiple prizes including the Swarnajayanti Fellowship Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Infosys Prize, Techno-Visionary award from the Indian Semiconductor Association in 2020, the IBM faculty award in 2007 and the IEEE EDS Education award in 2020 besides many others. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), National Academy of Sciences (NASI) and the Indian National Science Academy (INSA).

Dr. Amy Hochadel

Director of Global Business Growth, Connected Places Catapult

Dr. Amy Hochadel is the Director of Global Business Growth at the Connected Places Catapult. Amy has over two decades of experience in politics & public policy and community & government relations. She develops projects and works with private clients and governments in the United Arab Emirates, India, Malaysia and across the United Kingdom and European Union.

Her Doctorate is from King’s College London in Global Political Economy, and she specialises in enabling local governments around the world to build international economies and future resilience. Her book, Local Leadership in a Global Era focuses on the types of policies local governments need to adopt and the behaviours they need to exhibit if they hope to thrive in the global innovation economy.

Dr. Mike Short

Chief Scientific Adviser, DIT

Dr Mike Short CBE, after 30 years in telecommunications with Telefonica, joined the Department for International Trade (DIT) as the department’s first Chief Scientific Adviser in December 2017. Mike leads the science and engineering profession in the department and ensures its policy is informed by the best science, engineering and technical advice. He advises on the technical aspects of future trade deals as DIT looks to create new arrangements following Brexit, and works with the UK’s research, development and academic communities to boost scientific and engineering exports.

Mike has over 40 years’ experience in electronics and telecommunications and served as Vice President of Telefonica, the parent company of the O2 mobile phone network, for 17 years to December 2016. In this post, he managed the launch of 2G (GSM) and 3G mobile technologies in the UK, and led research and development for Telefonica Europe.

Dr. Robin Clark

Dean of Warwick Manufacturing Group

Having gained his Bachelors and PhD at UCL, both in Mechanical Engineering, Robin then spent 14 years in industry. Having completed a PhD in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) sponsored by the nuclear industry, his first role in industry was at Rolls Royce and Associates, the part of Rolls Royce responsible for the nuclear plant on submarines. This was followed by a period at British Rail in the UK focusing on the testing of traction and rolling stock.

In 1995 Robin moved to the USA, to a company called Sperry Rail, leaving in 2003 as Vice President of Engineering and R+D. Whilst in the USA he gained his MBA at the Ancell School of Business at Western Connecticut State University.

On Robin’s return to the UK in 2003 he changed direction and entered academia at Aston University. Education soon became his major interest. He gained his PGCHE and then worked through several positions becoming a Professor of Engineering Education and Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching for the School of Engineering and Applied Science. On the way he became a National Teaching Fellow and founded the UK and Ireland Engineering Education Research Network (which he still leads today).

In 2017, Robin moved to WMG (formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group) at the University of Warwick, became Director of Education in August 2019 and then Dean in October 2020. WMG is the largest Department of the University of Warwick (77th in the THE World University Rankings) with a turnover of just over £100m per year, with 850 staff, 3000+ students and 250 PhD students.

Robin has published 20 journal papers and 150 conference papers, has edited one 2 volume book (Handbook of Research on Engineering Education in a Global Context), has 4 US patents, supervised 6 PhD’s to completion (has 3 in progress), and has supervised 75 MSc and Bachelors projects to completion.

Dr. Jonathan Hague

Vice President – Science and Technology, Unilever Homecare

Dr. Jonathan Hague has long experience of delivering innovation across Unilever’s categories, working in all aspects of R&D leadership. He became Vice President Global R&D for Homecare Discover in Jan 2018, and is currently Chair of the Innovation Board for the Liverpool City Region, a position that extends his experience and abilities to important developmental projects that benefit wider society.

Prior to this he was Unilever’s first Vice President Open Innovation, and successfully embedded a unique model in the company, which today generates several hundred million Euros of impact each year. His experience in R&D includes two international postings, to Jakarta Indonesia from 1997 to 2001, and to Chicago Illinois from 2001 to 2006, both in Unilever’s Personal Care business.

Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee

Vice President Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel

Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee completed B.E. in Metallurgical Engineering from Jadavpur University in 1986, M. Tech in Metallurgy from IIT Kanpur in 1989 and PhD in Materials Science & Metallurgy from University of Cambridge, UK in 1993.

He joined Tata Steel in the R&D function in 1996 and headed the function as Chief Research & Development and Scientific Services between 2002 and 2009. In 2009, he was seconded to Tata Steel Europe as Group Director Research, Development & Technology for Tata Steel Group. Dr Bhattacharjee is an expert in development of materials and associated technologies. He has more than 50 international peer reviewed journal publications and 20 patents.

Dr Bhattacharjee is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and of the Indian Institute of Metals. He is Visiting Professor at the Imperial College London, at the University of Warwick, UK, and at the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China. Currently he is Vice President Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel based in Kolkata.

Dr Bhattacharjee’s hobbies include playing cricket and acting in plays.

Prof. Monica Lakhanpaul

Professor of Integrated Community Child Health, UCL

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul is an academic researcher, specialising in child health, practising paediatric consultant and has held numerous national and international leadership positions. She is currently a Professor of Integrated Community Child Health at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health where she is Pro-Vice-Provost for South Asia at UCL and previously Clinical Director directing guidelines for NICE , UK. She is committed to improving the lives of those in the most vulnerable communities through holistic, cross-sectoral interdisciplinary interventions that encompass health, environmental and educational factors. She focuses on participatory and citizen science approaches in her work, ensuring that the communities she works with are involved at every step to provide the best outcomes for them. She has been recognised for her work in the public sector by the presentation to her of the Asian Women of achievement award and continues in her advisory roles not only to the UK local government authorities but is also an important member of the International Advisory to the Indian Ministry of Health. She has over 180 publications to her name and a number of book chapters.

She works in the UK and globally providing leadership as Co – Director to the Childhood Infections and Pollution (CHIP) consortium, which is active in India, Indonesia, Chile, Sierra Leone and Nepal. Among her many research projects, improving child health and early life, bidirectional knowledge exchange is a common theme: her NEON project improves childhood feeding and care practices in South Asian communities in East London, whilst PANChSHEEEL addresses malnutrition and wash practices at a village level in rural India.

Professor Lakhanpaul works across multiple sectors, bringing figures from health, engineering, and creative arts backgrounds together to collaboratively solve complex problems. Her involvement in MeHeLP, a project exploring mental health through theatre in India, is a prime example of this. She has presented her work globally, published extensively and shares her knowledge by engaging with teaching activities at all levels. She has recently been awarded a BSA media fellowship in recognition of her seminal work which has global application.

Outside her academic work, she promotes equality for all through her work with Women of the Future, the UCL South Asia Network, and the Black Female Professors Forum.

Twitter: @ProfLakhanpaul 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-monica-lakhanpaul-62b7439/

Dr. B Ravi

Institute Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Dr. B. Ravi is a product of three well known institutions: NIT Rourkela where he did his B.E. in 1986, IISc Bangalore for Masters and Ph.D., and IIT Bombay, where he is Institute Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He held visiting appointments at West Virginia (in 1996), Purdue University (in 2006), and at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore (in 2016).

Prof. Ravi works in two areas: metal casting and medical devices, and heads the twin labs E-Foundry and BETiC (Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation Centre) with several multi-disciplinary multi-institution R&D projects with over Rs. 500 million of R&D funding. He has guided 14 PhD & 75 Masters students, published 250 technical papers, filed 18 patents, and a book ‘Metal Casting’ with 10,000 copies in circulation. He gave 300 talks in conferences and institutes, and conducted 60 training courses benefitting over 2000 engineers and teachers.

During the last 25 years, Prof. Ravi developed several novel technologies: design for castability (in 1992), rapid tooling (1996), 3D printed medical models (2006), and Cloud-based simulation (2012). His AutoCAST software is used in 100+ SME foundries, and online E-Foundry has over 70,000 visitors worldwide. He has mentored several medical device innovators like digital stethoscope, laparoscopic cauteriser, orthopedic surgery planner and prosthetic leg, which have been transferred to industry, NGOs or hospitals.

The above work won several prestigious awards, such as DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Gold Medal- twice, and covered in the media. His book: ‘Made in My India: The Past, Present and Future of Indian Manufacturing Industry’, received an award by then-Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee in 2003. At the national level, Prof. Ravi serves as advisory committee member for several Government agencies (like DST, DBT and DHI), as well as institutes including BKL Walawalkar Hospital, Dervan; LN Mittal Institute of Info Tech, Jaipur; and VJTI, Mumbai. He is Associate Editor of Indian Foundry Journal as well as Sadhana, and editorial board member of several international journals.

Dr. Jugnu Jain, PhD

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Sapien Biosciences

Dr. Jugnu Jain is a molecular geneticist and cell biologist by training. She obtained her PhD from Cambridge University (UK), followed by a post-doc and Instructorship at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School at Boston. Her area of research was cytokine gene regulation.

After her post-doc, Dr. Jain joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals where she steered multiple drug discovery projects. She led Vertex’s global Immune-Inflammation team, and has significant experience in cancer and diabetes area as well. Prior to founding Sapien and Saarum, Jugnu was a Research Fellow & Disease Area Expert for Multiple Sclerosis helping guide research strategy, evaluating innovative technologies and forging productive scientific collaborations.

Dr. Jain returned to India in 2011 to launch Sapien and Saarum along with her co-founders, Prithi and Sreevatsa. Jugnu has published over 20 papers in leading journals including Nature and Science and has two patents in her name.

Mr. Kamesh Gupta

Sr. Vice President, Group Technology & Innovation Office – Tata Sons

As part of Group Technology & Innovation office, facilitates Strategic Collaborations and Technology programs. Focuses on creating technology ecosystem with Indian industry, startups, research labs, government, global players to nurture and enable high impact technology, innovation & societal programs. Kamesh has held number of executive positions over 3-decade stint with Tata group and multiple group companies. In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer established Tata’s Aerospace & Defence startup.

Has multi-sectoral, global exposure across Strategy and Business, Strategic Collaborations, Technology and Innovation Management, Technology Collaborations and contribution across Start-up’s, Operations, Exports, Strategic Sourcing and New Product Development.

Works closely with Industry, Academia, Foundation & Trusts, Societies, Start-up’s and Governments to curate impact programs. Credited for establishing and managing business across geographies, creating high impact strategic business opportunities in Aerospace & Defence, Industrial and Automotive Sectors, JV collaborations and initiatives beyond business for societal cause. Member of CII Karnataka Technology forum, ACME Defence Committee, CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation promoting ethical leadership. Supporting WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustained Development) water initiative. Held position of Co-Chairman ASSOCHAM Aerospace & Defence committee & member of CII National Technology Committee.

Kamesh is a Chevening Fellow from Oxford, Mechanical Engineer with Management Education Program from IIM-A and was selected for Carnegie Mellon Fulbright scholarship (2005).