Key Speakers invited and confirmed for the 17^th India Innovation Summit

Dr. Dasgupta spent more than 30 years in Biotechnology research   in various key leadership roles.  Dr. Dasgupta has contributed significantly to the discovery of various biotech traits and led many breakthrough global agriculture biotechnology programs.  Apart from being the author of more than 75 papers in several International journals, Dr. Dasgupta is also the inventor of more than 70 patents across various countries in the area of pathogen resistance in plants, drought tolerance gene expression, improved algae, high value chemicals etc

Dr Dasgupta is a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and his Post-Doctoral research was also focused mainly on genetic engineering/synthetic biology. In addition to many technical and leadership roles, Dr. Dasgupta also worked as Director, Regulatory policy and Scientific Affairs at Monsanto company, St. Louis and also in India and played a significant role in Biotech outreach and regulatory policy for Biotech traits in India. He is currently heading the Synthetic Biology and Algae to Oil R&D with a focus on biofuel, food, feed, nutrition and biomaterials.

Santanu is associated with several external bodies in India and outside including, Member for Global Council of Synthetic Biology, World Economic Forum, Member and Vice Chairman of Governing body of  BioNest, Panjab University,  Member of Board of Directors,  Innovation Hub (EEI) under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), Panjab University, Governing Board member of Institute of Biomedical Genomics, DBT, Kalyani. He is in Research and Academic advisory council of IIT-Bombay-Monash University Academy, Institute of Nanoscience and Technology, Mohali, Central Food Technological Research Institute, CSIR, Mysore and University of Kalyani, Kalyani. Member for Industrial Interactive Advisory Committee, Dept of Bioscience & Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Member,  National Committee on Biotechnology, Confederation of Indian Industry

Ravi Arora is a Vice President – Group Innovation, Tata Sons. He works with Tata companies to enhance the effectiveness of their innovation programs.

He has conceptualized Tata Group level programs like Tata InnoVista, Tata InnoVerse, Tata Ideas, Tata InnoMeter and Challenges Worth Solving. He facilitates Tata companies in experimenting, embedding and maturing these programs.

Ravi started his career at Tata Steel as a maintenance engineer. Later, after completing his executive MBA, he initiated & led the Knowledge Management program at Tata Steel, which was recognized as a Best Practice company by APQC, USA and won the MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise) award.

Most of these innovation & KM programs have been shared by Tata leaders at HBS, CEB & many global conferences.

Ravi is actively engaged with business schools like INSEAD, SMU for joint research projects related to behavior science. He is the author of two books: (1) Making Innovations Happen (Penguin, 2015) and Igniting Innovation: The Tata Way (HarperCollins, 2019)

Ravi earned his BE from IIT Roorkee PGPX from XLRI.

More details about him are available: http://makinginnovationshappen.com/

Amrish Rau is the Chief Executive Officer of Pine Labs. He leads the company’s growth and expansion in Asia and beyond.

Amrish has over two decades of rich experience in the fintech industry, having run fintech organizations and having worked with large banks to implement payments and delivery channel strategies. Prior to joining Pine Labs, Amrish was the head of financial technology investments and partnerships for Naspers where he was responsible for increasing the company’s footprint in the financial technology sector, and helped create synergies between the group’s portfolio companies. Amrish has also worked with other global organizations including First Data, NCR and Siemens Nixdorf.

In 2013, Amrish founded CitrusPay which was acquired by PayU in 2016 for USD 150 million.

Dr. Desai is the founder and CEO of Eyestem, a company aiming to democratise access to cell therapy through a scalable cell therapy platform. He brings more than 15 years of experience in growing and nurturing businesses to his newest venture. Prior to Eyestem, he was part of the global leadership team at Quintiles and headed up their cardiac safety business from 2001 to 2007. More recently, he was the CEO of Cenduit (www.cenduit.com) , the world’s largest standalone randomization company with offices in Bangalore, Basel , Philadelphia and North Carolina and a joint venture of and ThermoFisher Scientific.

Joined Accenture in 2011 and been with industry for over 25 years.

The Journey: Been a banker, a technologist in banking and payments with mindset of leveraging technology to address most of the business challenges.  Pivoted to Technology with core platforms and industry solutions. In Payments space, front ending payments hub, ISO20022,Open API, Modernization programs for global clients jointly with strategic ecosystem partners.

Family: Two amazing kids, daughter and son with whom he loves to spend time- listen and tell stories and learn their new lessons. A window to feel the future.

Areas of expertise: Payments, Retail Banking, Industry Research, Open Banking, Smart Automation, Industry Platforms

Deepak is Executive Vice President, Strategy and Chief Risk Officer at Infosys. His responsibilities include longer-term strategic planning for the organization and the management of cross functional strategic initiatives. As the Chief Risk Officer, he is responsible for the company’s risk management function, identifying and assessing the risks to the successful execution of the company’s strategies and operations. He oversees the Infosys Innovation Fund that invests in the start-up ecosystem globally. He is a member of the board of Infosys’ software subsidiaries across the world. In a career spanning 29 years, he has played various roles, including software engineering, business development, M&A, strategy and risk management. He is currently based at the Infosys headquarters in Bangalore, India.

Alok is Co-founder and CEO of Indifi, India’s leading full-stack platform for enabling debt financing for small businesses.

Alok is also an active angel investor, co-founder of Indian Angel Network, and on the board of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Delhi.

Prior to starting Indifi, Alok setup and ran Canaan Partners’ venture investment business. Earlier, Alok co-founded JobsAhead.com, a leading web-based recruitment business in India. Alok earned a BE in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and a MS in computer science from UC Berkeley.

Sam has joined Austrade as the Trade & Investment Commissioner – Benagaluru, having spent the last 10 years engaged with India through various private sector ventures.

Sam has over extensive work experience in international trade and investment, having lived and worked in India full time since 2014. During this time Sam held various Senior Executive level roles in international organisations, managing the set up and operation of these entities, as they entered the market for the first time. Sam helped sculpt market entry strategy, localize operating procedures, hired thousands of staff and oversaw the investment of millions of dollars of FDI into India.

Sam has also worked on projects across Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries.

Sam has been recognised for his achievements in the Australia-India bilateral relationship, as a member of the Australia India Youth Dialogue and at the India Australia Business & Community Awards.

Yashish Dahiya, Co-Founder & Group CEO, Policybazaar.com

In over 12 years, Yashish has grown Policybazaar to become a key influencer in consumer decisions around insurance. He believes death, disease and disability products are the future

of the insurance industry, as India strives towards social security. He is an avid sportsperson, and has worked in the past as MD of Ebookers Plc and consultant with Bain & Co in their London office.

Dr. Ezhil Subbian co-founded String and currently serves as the CEO.  String’s purpose is to commercialize next generation ingredients that enable sustainability and traceability in evolving value chains. String, as one of the world leaders in gas fermentation, has a strong IP protected platform called String Integrated Methane Platform that enables production of sustainable ingredients using methane.

Ezhil is a scientist, innovator, thinker, hiking enthusiast and a citizen of the world. Her experience in biobased product development over the last 20 years helps Ezhil bring deep technical expertise to the work at String.  Ezhil was part of the founding team at Gevo, a renewable fuels company founded from Caltech that commercialized biobutanol production. After Gevo, Ezhil worked first at Codexis Inc and then at Intrexon, helping both companies transition into the bio-industrial space. All three of the companies have had successful IPOs. Ezhil brings to String first-hand knowledge of solutions that work as well as bottlenecks that plague the biobased product commercialization.

Ezhil’s work was most recently recognized with the Women Transforming India Award 2018 from United Nations/NITI Aayog.

Prof. Sandeep Verma took charge as Secretary of Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) on 8th April 2019.

Prof. Verma holds Doctoral degree from University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago (1994), followed by Postdoctoral Stints at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, USA, and at Max-Planck-Institute for Experimentelle Medizin, Goettingen, Germany. He Joined the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur in 1997, where he is a Professor of Chemistry. He is also an affiliated faculty in Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Center for Nanoscience, and Center for Environmental Science & Engineering at IIT, Kanpur. His work has been recognized by J C Bose Fellowship, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2010), DAE-SRC Outstanding Investigator Award (2010), Swarnajayanti Fellowship (2005), B M Birla Science prize (2004), to name a few. He is an elected Fellow of Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, India. He is an associate editor of Chemical Communications and serves on the advisory board of Cell Chemical Biology, ChemBioChem and Journal of Peptide Science. His research interests include Programmable Soft Matter For Neuronal Regeneration, Peptide Nanofibers and Small molecule-Stem Cell Modulation.

Dr. Omkar Rai is Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) which is the premier government organization working for the promotion of IT/ITES/ESDM industry in India. Dr. Rai has contributed immensely in repositioning STPI with focus on Innovation and dispersal of IT/ESDM industry beyond metros. He brings 30 years of experience in IT/ESDM sector having unique distinction of working very closely with government and IT/ESDM industry. He has been instrumental in formulating an appropriate interface among Industry, Academia and IT/ESDM Industry. He is the pioneer in executing Incubation program and Centre of Excellences (CoEs) for IT/ESDM sector to promote startups, entrepreneurship, innovation and software product creation in the country.

Prior to joining of STPI, he served National Informatics Centre (NIC) in various capacities. He is serving as Chairman, AIC STPINEXT INITIATIVE and Director on the Board of Directors of MTNL-STPI IT Services Limited (MSITS), & Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (HARTRON). He has been contributing immensely in shaping up programs and policies of these entities. He is the member of Board of Governors (BoG) for the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) University, Bhubaneswar and Executive Council of Shri Vishwarkarma Skill University. He is also a member of standing committee of council of IIITs and coordination forum of IIITs(PPP) of MHRD, GoI. He is also the Chairman of IT and ITeS Sectional Committee of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Dr. Rai’s has published with various leading journals, magazines and newspapers in India including ET Government Portal, Financial Express, Organiser, The Pioneer, Millennium Post, Dataquest, ICTflash, The Telegraph. His knowledge and expertise in the technological advancement of India contributes substantially to boost the fintech startup ecosystem, CSR fund expansion, growth economics of artificial intelligence, AI on the future, Software Product Development prospects, Tech Parks of India and IT destination of the world, Catalysing India’s e-economy. Dr. Rai’s articles on IT sectors in small cities, empowerment of local youth potential, India as a digitally empowered society show his rootedness and concern for the India’s youth and its scope on a global scale.

Dr. Rai’s interview sessions with Digitalterminal, Livemint, ET Government, Aaj Tak, Express Computer portals along with Nivesh Manthan, Electronics For You, Sputniknews.com, Egov.eletsonline.com and Electronics Bazaar, speak volumes of his proficiency and role in STP’s contribution to India’s export, building a credible IT ecosystem, Wealth of Technology Product Creation, IoT open lab, Centres of Excellence, Tech Industry in Tier II and Tier III cities, Digital India mission, and government initiatives.

Dr. Rai has led several delegations of Indian IT / ITeS / ESDM Industry to the industry and innovation centres of the world.

For his enormous contributions towards exemplifying the vision of Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in public fora, BHU has conferred the distinguished Alumnus Award on Dr. Rai.

For his outstanding contributions in bringing transformative changes in IT Industry, GLA University has conferred the D.Sc. (Honoris causa) on Dr. Rai and Indian Express Group has also conferred the “Digital Icon” award on Dr. Rai. 

Dr. Rai has been educated in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) from where he earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D in Statistics.

Anirban leads Sustainability at the USD 20.7 billion Mahindra Group. Under his leadership Mahindra has developed an award-winning Sustainability framework, become the first to have a certified  carbon neutral factory in India, doubled energy productivity in a company, and enabled 21 locations to become zero waste to landfill. He has, in partnership with the World Bank, facilitated the creation of the Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium to accelerate the spread of green buildings in India. Anirban has led a shared value project that doubled per capita income for 50,000 people in rural India.

Anirban takes great pleasure in implementing projects that drive positive change in society and has been acknowledged as a “Thought Leader” and a “Distinguished Sustainability Officer”.

Akilur Rahman, CTO – Hitachi ABB Power Grids India, is leading technology, digitalization and innovation towards the market. Has more than 32 years of experience in research, R&D, technology management, engineering, business and product development in power and automation technologies.

With a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, Akilur has held various international and global roles in India, Germany and Switzerland including head of global collaborative production management, engineering, and cyber security in process/industrial automation. Was responsible for building up ABB’s global automation software product and system R&D in India. Led ABB corporate research center and technology in India with focus on power, automation, robotics, analytics, AI-ML, Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT and digitalization. Previously held the role of CTO – ABB India.

In the current CTO role, Akilur has been leading core, automation and digital technologies for power, energy and asset performance management in utilities, industries, infrastructure, and transport sectors. Co-creating the concepts and applications of smart electric grid, energy internet, smart cities, sustainable electric mobility, smart factories, digital enterprise and carbon neutral future.

Akilur has been a speaker and panelist at various international and national conferences.

Dr. Syed Shams Yazdani is Group Leader of the Microbial Engineering group and Coordinator of DBT-ICGEB Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi, India. His research Interests are in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, cellulolytic enzymes, and biofuels. He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry from Aligarh Muslim University and MSc and PhD degree in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University. His group is currently involved in development of technologies for fungal enzymes, C5/C6 sugar fermentation and advanced biofuels production, such as butanol, fatty alcohols and alkanes.

His recent achievements include development of most potent enzyme preparation for use in 2G-ethanol process with the use of synthetic biology and genome editing tools in fungal system. This enzyme technology has been scaled-up to 15,000L scale for further commercialization. Also, his effort in the genome and protein engineering led to highest reported value of drop-in fuel alkane in the bacterial system.

He serves in various committees of Government of India such as Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and many academic institutions of high reputation. His biography was featured in Biospectrum magazine with the title “Next-Gen Biofuel Engineer”. He is representing India in the Technical Expert Group of Synthetic Biology at UN Convention of Biological Diversity. He leads several multilateral international collaborative projects, including Indo-UK, Indo-Australia and Indo-US. He is a member of editorial board of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group), Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (JIMB), Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and Indian Journal of Biotechnology, and reviewers of many renowned peer review journals.

His early career research led to the development of technologies for production of recombinant streptokinase and recombinant malaria vaccine candidates, which were transferred to industries for cGMP production, clinical trials and commercialization. He was further involved in a breakthrough discovery during his research at Rice University, Houston, USA as a DBT overseas fellow, where a novel pathway was identified in E. coli to produce bioethanol from glycerin, a waste from biodiesel industry. He is author of 80 publications in high impact international journals, such as JBC, Nature Communications, Metabolic Engineering, and 15 patent applications (with 3 US patents and 2 Indian patents granted).

Deniz is an internationally recognised leader in driving digital transformations and bringing new digital banking experiences to audiences globally.

Mox is a new virtual bank backed by Standard Chartered Bank in partnership with PCCW, HKT and Trip.com in Hong Kong. As CEO of Mox Bank, Deniz is leading the team that’s bringing a new way of banking to Hong Kong, by empowering people to grow and unlock possibilities through a truly digital and personalised banking experience. Mox operates in a whole new way by listening to customers and focusing on heart share.

Deniz joined Standard Chartered in 2017 as the Global Head, Design and Client Experience, where he oversaw client journey and optimizations, digital wealth, and collaborations with tech firms and start-ups.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Deniz served as the Senior Vice President at BBVA Group’s Garanti Bank in Turkey. During his role at Garanti, Deniz was responsible for end-to-end digital assets, as well as iGaranti, the mobile only bank in Turkey. Deniz played an important role which enabled Garanti to reach 5 million active digital customers and to grow their market share in Turkey. Previously, Deniz also worked for HSBC, QNB Finansbank and DemirBank.

Deniz holds a Bachelor’s Degree in New Media and Communications from Marmara University and an MBA from Istanbul Bilgi University. In addition to being a technology enthusiast, he enjoys yoga, writing and supporting the Besiktas Football Club.

Mr Bhargav Dasgupta is the Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, the largest private sector General Insurance Company in India.

Mr. Dasgupta began his career with the erstwhile ICICI Limited in 1992 and he has held key leadership positions in diverse business areas in the ICICI Group including Project Finance and Corporate Banking, E-commerce & Technology Management, International Banking and Life Insurance.  

Mr. Bhargav Dasgupta holds a PGDBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and a B.E (Mechanical) degree from Jadhavpur University.

My current designation : CEO

Previous Experience :  Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

Handled : Motor Distribution , OEM , Claims , Underwriting and Legal Claims

Total experience in General Insurance :15 years of experience in the insurance industry.

Prior to Insurance  with : Auto  Sector (Maruti , Hyundai and Kirloskar )

Most of my carrier with :  Auto and Insurance start ups

Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed is the CEO and Director of C‐CAMP from 2009 till present. His initial training has been in neurosciences, where he received his PhD from Max‐Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany from 2002‐2006 and followed it up by postdoctoral training at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) from 2006‐2009. At the same time, he also underwent training in management for Biotech and Innovation from QB3 at UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco from 2007‐2009. He has also completed a biotech management program for biotech executives at Wharton School of Management in the year 2012. In the Bay area, he served as a Management Consultant with QB3 New Biotech Venture Consulting and in an individual capacity, he also consulted for many biotech firms in the US.

Dr. Saiyed is an Adjunct Faculty at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and also Amrita Institute ‐ School of Biotechnology since 2015. He also heads the Discovery to Innovation Accelerator program at C‐CAMP. He is actively involved in promoting innovation
in lifescience / healthcare by supporting translation of discoveries to application, entrepreneurship and technology development.

Mr. Jonathan Zadka serves as Consul General of Israel to South India, situated in Bengaluru, since September 2020. He arrived to India from Beijing where he acted as Deputy Chief of Mission since 2017. Prior to this, he was the Director of the Department for Policy Planning and Assessment (Policy Planning Bureau) in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since 2014.

Mr. Zadka is a career diplomat since 2002, when he joined the Foreign Service as a diplomatic cadet. His career took him across continents, as he completed diplomatic posts in Bucharest, Tokyo, Canberra (assigned as Israel’s special envoy to the Pacific Island) and Beijing. While in Headquarters, Mr. Zadka was Head of Workforce Planning & Inspection Section, Human Resources & Personnel Training and Development Division.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Zadka held a research and consulting position in the Israeli Parliament – The Knesset, and worked as an analyst for the PM office.

Mr. Zadka holds an MBA from Israel’s Institute of Technology (Technion) and a B.A in International relations and Political Science from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is a qualified Strategic / Organizational Consultant, credited by the Israeli Coaching association.

Born in Jerusalem in 1974, married to Hila and father of two children.

Since July 2021 Friedrich Birgelen is the Deputy Consul General for Germany in Bangalore. Friedrich moved to Bangalore with his wife and two young kids. He is a lawyer by training, he was went to law school and was admitted to the bar in Hamburg, Germany. He began his career as a corporate lawyer for the oil company Shell in Hamburg. In 2015 he joined the foreign service and was posted to Nigeria, with a responsibility for migration matters in West-Africa. In early 2019 he returned to headquarters in Berlin where he worked in human resources, before being posted to Bangalore

Mr Arvind Goel is the MD & CEO of Tata AutoComp Systems Limited (Tata AutoComp), a leading global auto component manufacturer & services supplier. With his passion for automotive technology he has been serving the automotive industry for nearly 4 decades.

He joined Tata AutoComp as President in 2008 to head a group of business units within Tata AutoComp and was elevated to the position of MD & CEO in 2018. During his tenure he headed several important portfolios including Technology, Operations, and Strategic Growth, where he was also responsible for Mergers and Acquisitions.

Under his leadership Tata Autocomp entered into 6 new Joint Ventures, 2 Technological Agreements, and acquired TitanX, a global leader in Engine and Powertrain cooling systems based in Sweden. Acquiring TitanX helped Tata Autocomp in boosting their global footprints beyond China. Keeping the current megatrends in mind, Mr. Goel ensured future readiness by realigning the focus on Electric Vehicles components. With his relentless efforts Tata AutoComp today offers solutions in the entire value chain of Electric Vehicles and for all segments ranging from Two Wheelers to Buses.

Prior to joining Tata AutoComp, he was the President and COO of Man Trucks where he started a greenfield project having a capacity of 24,000 trucks per annum. He successfully implemented this project in less than 30 months with a high degree of localization in Engine, Gear Box, and Axle as well as Vehicle assembly. Mr. Goel was earlier associated with Force Motors, Bajaj Tempo and Kirloskar Oil Engines at various leadership positions. He has actively worked in functions like Engineering, Manufacturing and also headed several business units.

Mr. Goel has been an active member of various industry bodies and currently serves on the Executive Committees of Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), Chairman of Western Region Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA), Elected Member of CII Western Regional Council and immediate Past Chairman of CII Maharashtra State Council. He has also served as President of Rotary International where he actively worked towards community service aiming at poverty alleviation.

Mr. Goel holds a BE degree in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Kurukshetra. He has undergone several advance leadership and management programs from institutes like Harvard, NYU Stern and Center for Creative leadership at Singapore.