Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, J. C Bose National Fellow, is currently also the Academy Professor of Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research and Chief Mentor of Open Source Drug Discovery. He served as the Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the largest chain of publicly funded industrial research and development institutions in the world, for over six years (2007-13). During his tenure he envisioned and created the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research to generate human resource for transdisciplinary research by leveraging the infrastructure and scientific strength of CSIR and pioneered several inclusive innovation models. He is also the Founder Director of CSIR-Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, Delhi (1997-2007) and championed genomics research in India. Prior to this, he was a professor of Biophysics at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. With vast experience in pioneering transdisciplinary research in the country, Prof. Brahmachari mentors young students and is actively involved in promoting innovations through application oriented education and research. Championing Open Source Research, he has conceptualized and established the Open Source Drug Discovery - a collaborative translational research platform for affordable healthcare and a model for Science 2.0. In addition, Prof. Brahmachari is presently mentoring some startups in the area of healthcare, genomic medicine and big data analytics.

He has been a member (2014 - 2023) of the international scientific advisory board of Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI), Paris University V for design strategic plan implementing school and college education through research using collective intelligence. He also serves in the advisory board of the U.S National Center for Biomedical Ontology, Stanford University and the ‘Access and Delivery Partnership for Neglected Diseases’ project of United Nations Development Programme. He has been the member of National Innovation Council, Government of India (2010-14) .

He is an elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences and member of all four National Academies of Science & Engineering in India. He is also the recipient of honorary doctorate from five Indian universities and a large number of awards and honors including the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Biological Science (1990). He has been conferred Banga Bibhushan, the highest civilian award by West Bengal Government in 2013.

Kalyan is the Co-Founder & Director of InQube Innoventures, which incubates “Innovative Inclusive Initiatives”. Kalyan firmly believes that innovative and effective utilization of technology can lead to Equitable, Inclusive & Sustainable growth for the society at large. Currently, Kalyan is involved in incubating several start-ups in the areas of Technology, Education, Healthcare, BPM, Skill Development, Data Analytics and Agriculture.

Earlier, Kalyan Co-Founded an US based Healthcare Services company which was finally acquired by the World’s largest employee benefits organization for US$ 140 Million. His ventures have won “Great Place to Work” award in India for 3 continuous years, as well as “Exciting Emerging Companies to Work for” by NASSCOM and was the All India Finalist for “NASSCOM Innovation Awards”.

Kalyan graduated from St. Xaviers’ College and is a Chartered Accountant as well as a Cost Accountant by Profession with All India Merit Rank in both the examinations. He is a regular Speaker in various Forums and is known for his business and social views and opinion in the Press, Electronic & Digital Media.

Kalyan is currently the Chairman of the National Education, HR & Skill Development Expert Committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce as well as the Executive Committee of Bengal Chamber and Innovation & IT Sub-Committee of CII. He is also the Governing Body Member of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) & Vice President of the Sector V Stakeholders’ Association. Kalyan has served as the Jury for the CII Industrial Innovation Awards and is a Trustee of Sahaj Path, an initiative towards “Inclusive & Quality Education for All”.

Kalyan has also been a part of Government and Business Delegates to overseas countries promoting the “Make in India” & “Bengal Global Business Summit” initiatives.

Mr. Aloke Mookherjea, a graduate electrical engineer, fellow, Inst of Engineers, etc, has served as Managing Director, Flakt India Ltd, the then largest group in the world on Air Pollution Control & Air Handling. He has been Chairman/ MD/ Director of SAE (India) Ltd, ABB ABL Ltd, ABB ABL Projects Ltd, ABB Ltd, WEBEL and also as independent director of other listed and unlisted companies. During his past engagements as also later, he received specialized, advanced training in various areas, associated with projects, including renewable energy in many countries, notably Sweden, Norway, Denmark, UK, USA and others.
He is also Past Chairman CII (eastern region), Past President Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, past (only private sector) member of CPCB and has held many others positions of great eminence. Twice awarded by the King of Sweden for promoting Indo-Sweden collaborations, he was also the Swedish Consul for Eastern India. He continues to mentor committees on skill, innovation, start-ups (chairman of Jury also for innovation, startup pitching award etc), quality and such others. He also continues to be engaged with the world of industry (as independent director of boards) as also education, teaching (as adjunct professor/visiting faculty/ member of governing body) in MBA, Engg. colleges (including CU M.Sc classes), JU & other Univs, IIM, ASCI, IIT etc.
A technologist at heart, He is held as an Energy & environment specialist in technology/innovation/climate change etc as also in management such as Leadership, Ethics, quality/change mgmt., disruption leadership etc. He had been advisor to UNIDO, UNEP, ZERI (zero emission research initiative) of the University of United Nations (UNU). He is currently in the board/governing bodies of eminent higher educational institutions for MBA and Engg. At the very beginning of his career in the early days, he was Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering in North Bengal University.
He has received awards, which include AIMA Calcutta chapter (CMA) award of lifetime achievement for excellence in management, Bengal chamber award of lifetime excellence in work relating to energy & environment.

Amit is one of the co founders and brings in a rich and varied corporate experience as a business leader and functional leadership in the field of technology and supply chain. Amit is one of the few who has a very deep understanding of business coupled with his domain knowledge of technology. Amit brings in this unique capability of offering sharp and demystified technology and process solutions which are implementable to complex business problems. He started his career in Tata Steel where he worked in planning , supply chain and in the technology group. His subsequent stints were with SAP India, Hewlett Packard, Reliance Energy , RPG group as Group CIO and Executive Director.

During his tenure at RPG group, he transitioned from a functional head to a business head and managed the Spencer’s Retail business as Executive Director responsible for four functions namely : Operations, IT , Supply Chain and Projects. His last assignment was as the Chief Operating Officer of Srei Sahaj e-Village Limited , a company formed under the aegis of NEGP for providing online government and consumer facing services to the rural population using ICT. Amit is a well known speaker in industry forums and has been winner of many professional/industry awards. He also runs a foundation called “Foundation for Innovation in Health” along with renowned doctors with the objective of bring in affordable health care to the rural populace of India. Amit is a post graduate in computer applications from B.I.T (Mesra).

Dr. Kunal Ray did his PhD from Bose Institute, Kolkata. Then he moved to USA where he spent many years in University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Cornell University, New York for advanced studies in Biology.

On returning to India in 1998, he joined CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata to lead the division of Human Genetics from where he retired as a Chief Scientist. On his superannuation from CSIR-IICB, he joined Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi (an Institution for National Importance) in 2013 to provide leadership and oversee academic programs for approx. 3000 PhD students registered with the Academy.

So far 20 research scholars have completed PhD under his supervision. He is co-inventor in two US patents that led to formation of a biotech company where he was one of the founders. He has published approx. 200 research papers in peer reviewed journals. He is a Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and National Academy of Science, India.

   

Mr. Surajit Roy, FCA, DISA (ICAI) is the Founder Partner of Surajit Roy and Associates, Chartered Accountants with 27 years post qualification experience including 10 years industry experience in Power Utility Company (flagship Company of a leading Industrial group) and Company with diversified business activities in plantations, textiles, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, chemicals, machine tools, engineering, real estates and trading.