He is currently working as Asst. Professor at BIT-Mesra. He did his PhD from CDRI-CSIR, Lucknow. He has a teaching experience of 7 years and research experience of 16 years. His research area focuses on Organic Chemistry, Molecular Modelling, Small Molecule X-Ray Crystallography and Drug Discovery. He is the General Secretary, East Zone, Indian Society of Chemists and Biologist (ISCB). He is also the mentor in National Network for Mathematical and Computational Biology (NNMCB), Funded by SERB, Government of India.

Dr. Prabhuswamimath is working as scientist E in the Unit of Human Genetics, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore. She is a researcher and mentor with 8 years of experience in molecular oncology, genetics and genomics. Dr. Prabhuswamimath completed her masters in applied Genetics from Karnataka University, Dharwad and secured 1^st ranked for the university and secured the DST -INSPIRE fellowship through which she has pursued PhD, in Biotechnology in Molecular Oncology and Drug Development Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, University of Mysore. She has set up a new laboratory known as Centre of Excellence which is a next generation sequencing facility and responsible for the execution of projects, generate intra and extra mural funding. Her research is in the novel drug for targeted therapy in breast cancer and understanding the genetic basis of communication and related neuro-cognitive disorders. She is also a member expert whose clients include industry leaders such as GE healthcare, Roche, Merck, Thermofisher, Illumina etc.

Dr. Kalita is nominated Faculty for National Innovation and Startup Policy (NISP), MHRD Innovation Cell, AICTE, New Delhi. Also, holding several positions in the institute such as: Co-ordinator of Ist year undergraduate (UG) program, Department PhD co-ordinator, Safety Officer, member of ethics committee. Dr. Kalita is supervisor of PhD, MTech and MSc programmes. He is the recipients of Conference Grant from SERB, International Travel Grant Award from SERB and CSIR, Best Presentation Award, Team Spirit Award, awardee of postdoctoral fellowship in Georgia Institute of Technology and Iowa State University & Ames Laboratory in USA, and National Institutes for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan; CSIR-JRF-SRF award through CSIRUGC-NET examinations held on June 2002. Dr. Kalita is author of several peer reputed international journals, book chapter, book, cover page (ChemCatChem 2016) and for local articles. He is reviewers of couple of international journals such as: Catalysis Letters, Applied Catalysis A: General, Microporous Mesoporous Materials, Catalysis Today, Journal of Porous Materials, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, Acta Chimica Slovenica, Energy Conversion and Management, Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery and international book chapter.

Dr. Baruah is presently working as a professor in the Department of molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University. Dr. Baruah got her PhD degree in Parasite Immunology from post graduate institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. Dr. Baruah research focus to understand the molecular basis of heterogeneity and evolution of innate immune responses to understand disease pathogenesis in relation to genetic background of host. They are examining the diversity of receptors in context of migration history of the different ethnic groups as well as activation and regulation of Natural Killer Cells and of Monocytes in infectious ( P. falciparum) and non- infectious (autoimmunity and cancer) diseases. Dr. Baruah has carried out a number of external funded project from different funding agencies and help in establishment of diagnostic facilities, training of manpower, diagnostic support to malaria and fever clinics among others.

Dr Priyangshu Manab Sarma has a Ph D in microbial biotechnology with 20 years of experience in the area of Industrial biotechnology. He has developed expertise in translating lab-based research to commercialization through field trials and large-scale pilot demonstrations of technologies. Started in research career in NCL, Pune and was associated with TERI, New Delhi for 15 years. He was associated with ONGC as a Domain Expert for Biotechnology projects two and a half years. He is currently associated with two start-up companies that he founded. One of the companies is working in the area of waste management in petroleum sector and the second one on specialty agriculture products including fortification of mushrooms with Vitamin D. With 58 peer reviewed international publications and four patents, he had guided four PhD students and was the investigator for several research projects sponsored by national and international funding agencies.

Dr. Sen cofounded Ouija in April 2018 along with his friend Rituparna, which is a direct spin off from the BIRAC BIG Grant that they have received as an individual in 2017. Presently under incubation in Guwahati Biotech park, OuijaLab is the one of its kind of lab on agarwood aromatics with R&D focus on fermentation and distillation of fragrant agarwood oils. In 2019, Ouija was further supported by BIRAC SBIRI grant and venturing into the challenging flavour and fragrance sector. Apart from promoting Ouija, Dr. Sen is also unto academics and research, serving Assam Don Bosco University as Assistant Professor in Biotechnology since 2016. As the principal Investigator of DST SERB core research grant, Dr. Sen have set up the Aroma Biotech Lab in 2019, where they have taken up research and training students and researchers in the field.

Dr. Goswami is working as assistant professor in the Assam Institute of management. Dr. Goswami obtained PhD., degree and MBA from Tezpur University and has 12 years of teaching and industrial experience. His area of research is on consumer behaviour, service marketing, tourism and hospitality management and sustainable management. Till now he has supervised 164 post graduate students.

Dr. Sinha has over ten years of experience in oncology, biopharmaceutical drug development and epidemiology. She earned her PhD from CDRI, Lucknow in 2009 in malaria epidemiology and population genetics. Dr. Sinha completed her postdoctoral fellowships at Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal (IRCM), Canada and Colorado State University, USA where her research was focused on various aspects of gene regulation during cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Swapnil moved back to Guwahati in 2014 as a DST Women Scientist at NIPER-Guwahati from 2014 to 2017. During her time at NIPER, Dr. Sinha shifted her research interest to biopharmaceutical development. She worked on projects that were focused on generating Aptamers (DNA, Riboswitches and DNAzymes) for applications in cancer immunomodulation and Mtb pathogenesis. She nurtured the idea of using the Aptamers being developed as ‘Aptasensors’ as diagnostic tools and conceptualized 'BioAptagen Laboratories'. Swapnil founded the start-up "BioAptagen Laboratories Pvt. Ltd." in September 2018. Her company is an innovation driven startup where they combine molecular biology, nantotechnology and electrochemistry to develop DNA based Aptasensors for use in healthcare. She secured the necessary early stage funding, BIG (Biotechnology Ignition Grant) sponsored by BIRAC, Govt. of India in 2018 for development of DNA Aptasensor based UTI detection kit.

Dr. Roy is currently working as Incubation manager at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) – Guwahati. Dr Roy completed her Masters and PhD (Molecular Toxicology) from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. While working as Research Associate she was selected for the prestigious JSPS Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Japan Government and moved to Atmospheric and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo in 2007. After returning to India she joined CSIR-NEIST as a Quick Hick Hire Scientist and continued till 2017. Later she joined Visva Bharati University as a Guest Faculty and served till 2019. She Moved to NIPER-Guwahati in 2019 as Incubation Manager and continues till now. She has undergone various Startups experiences with different capacities, and also working as team member or advisor for several Startups in NE India. She also got professional training for IPR in Pharma R&D and Technology Transfer from FICCI and National Bio- Pharma Mission. She also served as PI of R&D projects from National funding agencies. She is having keen interest in Technology Commercialization, Product Development, Cell and Molecular Signalling, Molecular and Mechanistic Toxicology and related subjects. She published more than 30 research papers in reputed international journals, books, proceedings etc. and has 2 patents (International and National) as an inventor. She is having experience in Mentoring the start-ups/ individual for innovation management and IPR management. Also mentoring them for applying different grants such as BIG, SASACT etc.

Dr. Banerjee is working as Assistant Professor in the department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. She is an industrial designer with an experience in working in collaborative innovation and sustainable product design. Her area of PhD research is Design for Sustainability in the arena of scale-appropriate agricultural equipment design. She has co- founded the Sustainability and Social Innovation Lab at Department of Design, IIT Guwahati. The lab focuses on creating systems for sustainable human consumption and production through a complete revamp of the consumption structure with our design interventions. The lab is part of the global network on sustainability, the Learning and Education Network in Sustainability (LeNS) consisting of 150+ global universities. Currently a large part of our sustainable product-service development projects is in the domain of agriculture. At IIT Guwahati she teaches courses like System Design for Sustainability, Usability Engineering, User Research Techniques, Product Detailing, Interaction Design, Design Management, Plastics and composites and Design Semantics. She has also developed a MooC course on System Design for Sustainability which had more than 600 subscribers in the academic year 2018 - 19. In the past few years, she has worked in India, Bangladesh and Netherlands with companies like Philips, Infosys, MIDCO, VU Medical University Amsterdam, Conpax Verpakking, Beat Belly, Botanische Tuin Delft, ACC Ltd, educational institutes like IIT Guwahati, MIT Institute of Design Pune, IDC, IIT Bombay and L'Ecole de Design (Indian Operations), Nantes-Atlantique, France and NGOs like International Development Enterprise Bangladesh.

Dr. Saha is professor and Head, department of Information Technology, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Dr. Saha completed his PhD., from IIT Kharagpur. Dr. Saha is credited with the development of software for filtering a CDNA sequence known as Red Algel. 11 PhD., student was currently working under his supervision in various areas of system Biology and Computational biology and Bioinformatics. Dr. Saha has more than 22 scientific publications in his credit, 2 books and 12 book chapters and 4 patents were filed of which one was granted. Dr. Saha was started a startup in 1987 known as Aston Electronics corporation and the technology is used in railway engines till today and it has been recognized with ISO9000 firm.

Dr. Joshi is currently working as professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Dr. Joshi has more than 32 years of teaching and 30 years of Research and completed 14 Extra Mural Research projects. He has mentored 22 Ph.D., students and 8 are currently working. He has published more than 136 research papers, 12 books, 31 book chapters and 1453 NCBI Accessions and a patent was filed on consolidation of sand in petroleum mining using bacteria. Dr. Joshi was credited with the development of web based microbial database of soil microbes of NE India

Dr. Ahmaruzzaman is currently working as associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and received his postgraduate degree in M.Sc. (Chemistry) from North Bengal University. He also received his postgraduate degree in M.Tech. (Energy Science & Technology) from Jadavpur University and obtained his Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He has supervised several projects at the post graduate level. He has produced seven PhDs and six PhD scholars are working under him. He has published more than 150 research papers in international journals as well as in various national and international conferences. He has more than 7000 Citations in International Journals. He is a reviewer of various peer- reviewed reputed International and National journals. He has published several book chapters in renowned publisher, such as Elsevier and Wiley publisher. His area of interest includes bio- energy, bio-nanocomposites, nanocomposites, water treatment, removal of pollutants/contaminants from water and wastewater, waste plastics recycling via pyrolysis.

Dr. Joshi is currently working as professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Dr. Joshi has more than 32 years of teaching and 30 years of Research and completed 14 Extra Mural Research projects. He has mentored 22 Ph.D., students and 8 are currently working. He has published more than 136 research papers, 12 books, 31 book chapters and 1453 NCBI Accessions and a patent was filed on consolidation of sand in petroleum mining using bacteria. Dr. Joshi was credited with the development of web based microbial database of soil microbes of NE India

Dr. Kalita is currently working as the professor and Head of Biotechnology Department, Guwahati University. He completed his PhD from Guwahati university and Post-Doc from Indian agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and fellow of Linnean Society of London. He has more than 34 years of teaching and 27 years of research experience. He has transferred 6 technologies, published 162 papers, 5 books, 12 book chapters, 2 reports published and 3 patents have been granted and 5 have been filed. For his scientific contribution, he was awarded the Biotechnology National Associateship award, and till now 51 PhD students were awarded and more than 10 students carried their post doc under his guidance. He is the PI of more than 23 funded project proposals and presently working on Indo-Brazil Research collaboration in the area of Biotechnology and also member for a number of academic bodies.

Dr. Kumar is a Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University with 21 years of teaching and research experience. His field of interest includes Genomics, Molecular phylogeny and Bioinformatics. He is presently working on Molecular Epidemiology, Human disease Genomics and Metagenomics. During his postdoctoral stint at Sun Yat-sen University, China he was involved in RNAi studies. He has authored more than 90 research papers and he is investigator of various National research projects. He is the Co-coordinator of DBT- BIRAC BioNEST (Bioincubator Nurturing Entrepreneurship for Scaling Technologies in the field of Bioprospecting and Environmental Management), a biotechnology incubator related Social entrepreneurship initiatives in the area of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Community based rural livelihood resources at Mizoram University. Prof. Kumar is also a Co-coordinator in the DST- Technology Enabling Centre (TEC), Mizoram University which aims to create an ecosystem for technology transfer and training, assessment of technologies required for MSMEs and engage in technology transfer for diagnostics and ICT for Health and wellbeing.

Dr. Tangjang is working in the department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar. Dr. Tangjang completed his PhD years from Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh, India and Post-Doctoral studies from School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. Prof. Tanjang was the former Head, Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University. Presently, He is the Dean, Students’ Welfare (DSW) and Dean, Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi University. He is the Co-ordinator of the Department of Agricultural Sciences and Food Technology, Rajiv Gandhi University. Prof. Tangjang is the Deputy Chairperson of the Institutional Ethics Committee, Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (TRIHMS), Government of Arunachal Pradesh, India. He is also appointed as a Vice- Chairman of the Institutional Ethics Committee of the North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine (An Autonomous Institute under the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India). Prof. Tangjang is a member of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore, Government of India. He has published more than 50 research papers in many International and National Journals of repute. He is serving as a Reviewer for a number of Journals of repute and is a Member of some reputed societies such as American Society of Agronomy (ASC), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), Life Member, National Environmental Sciences Academy (NESA), Life Member, Vijnana Bharati. Prof. Tangjang has completed many major projects funded by different funding agencies like, DBT, UGC and NMPB. Prof. Tangjang is a recipient of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Fellowship and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Overseas Associateship. He was also awarded PEARL Foundation Lifetime Achievement Awards for Outstanding Research Award in Tribal Farming Systems, 2016. Prof. Tangjang was nominated to represent Rajiv Gandhi University on the occasion of the Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2018 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, India. He also represented Rajiv Gandhi University and participated at the Asia first ever science conclave featuring Nobel laureates at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-A) in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India in 2008.

Dr. Roy is working as Senior Scientist and Incharge for the Entomology Department for the Tocklai Tea Research Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. (Entomology) in 2009 from North Bengal University, West Bengal and Joined as Asstt. Entomologist in the Entomology Department. Dr. Roy has notably contributed in upgrading the existing Management (IPM) package in tea crop by using varieties of eco viable, easily adaptable non-chemical methods which are greatly adopted and tea planters of North east India. His research program on IPM mainly emphasizes monitoring techniques, pest calendar, pest population dynamics, identification of control applications and others. The pest management largely banks on manipulation of chemical, physical and cultural practices to enhance the conservation and impact of natural enemies. His research activity is documented in 9 international journals and articles in 10 books. He received Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London, Fellow of the Linnean Society, Prof. T.N. Ananthakrishnan young scientist award and many more. He is also working on a number of funded research projects from various organizations as PI .

Dr. Vaiphei completed his Ph.D. from School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India (2006). He did his postdoctoral training at the Department of Biochemistry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA (2007- 2010) and Temple University, Pennsylvania, USA (2010-2012). He worked as Principal Investigator under SERB (India) sponsored project at the Department of Biochemistry, North- Eastern Hill University (NEHU) before joining as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Central University of Rajasthan (CURAJ), Ajmer, India. Presently, he is working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Mizoram University (MZU), Aizawl, India (2019 onwards). He authored/co- authored several papers in international & national peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and held 2 patents. He has worked in areas of molecular biology covering functional genomics, proteomics, and structural biology. At present, his research area of interest includes cellular stress responses, microbe-host interactions, and molecular diagnostics.

Dr. Roy is working as Senior Scientist and Incharge for the Entomology Department for the Tocklai Tea Research Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. (Entomology) in 2009 from North Bengal University, West Bengal and Joined as Asstt. Entomologist in the Entomology Department. Dr. Roy has notably contributed in upgrading the existing Management (IPM) package in tea crop by using varieties of eco viable, easily adaptable non-chemical methods which are greatly adopted and tea planters of North east India. His research program on IPM mainly emphasizes monitoring techniques, pest calendar, pest population dynamics, identification of control applications and others. The pest management largely banks on manipulation of chemical, physical and cultural practices to enhance the conservation and impact of natural enemies. His research activity is documented in 9 international journals and articles in 10 books. He received Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London, Fellow of the Linnean Society, Prof. T.N. Ananthakrishnan young scientist award and many more. He is also working on a number of funded research projects from various organizations as PI .

Dr. Sharma is presently working as Deputy Registrar (Academic) in the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, an institute under department of Science and Technology. Dr. Sharma is actively involved in managing academic programmes, scientific research management, and also in scientific research for the last 14 years with more than 4 years of teaching experience in Life Science and Ecology at postgraduate level. He has experience of managing multi-institutional and multidisciplinary programs funded by the Government of India and has over two years’ experience of handling and managing international projects funded by US-AID, GIZ and ICIMOD. He was instrumental in developing a detailed project proposal of Rs. 30 crore for Telangana's Climate Change Adaptation project which was funded by GOI in the year 2015. Dr. Sharma is the PI of a recently funded DST project of Rs. 1.6 crore on “Lab Experience Based Science Education for SC & ST Students” in Assam. He was involved in designing the benefit sharing mechanism for REDD+ in the state of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam. Dr. Sharma has trained more than 1000 forest officials and 1500 rural community members in the state of Karnataka, Telangana and eight northeastern states of India on forest management, alternative livelihoods and NTFP value addition. He is an expert in monitoring and evaluation of national level programs and documentation of success stories. He has gained expertise in developing indicators of success and failure of afforestation programs in North East India. He was actively involved in disseminating the concept of convergence of state and national schemes/programs for successful implementation and enhancement of livelihood opportunities for the rural poor.

Dr. Singh is working as Scientist C in the Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India and presently posted at Central Muga Eri Research & Training Institute, Jorhat. Dr. Singh completed his Ph.D. in Zoology with specialization in Applied Entomology from ICAR- National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. His research expertise is Vanya Sericulture (Non mulberry sericulture, specially Muga and Eri culture in North east India), Silkworm seed production, In-situ conservation of wild silkworm, CBT, Insect pest management, IPM, Pest Risk Analysis, Plant Quarantine procedures etc. Dr. Singh was awarded the Dr. SN Choudhury Award for Best Scientist for 2020. At present Dr. Singh is handling 4 research projects as PI and another 4 as Co-PI and is also associated with number of professional bodies.

Dr. Mishra is working as Assistant professor in the Department of Rural Development and Agricultural production, North Eastern Hill University, Tura Campus. His field of specialization is dairy science & Technology and food Microbiology with more than 14 years of research and teaching experience. Dr. Mishra has published more than 60 publications, 8 book and 21 book chapters and supervised 5 Ph.D students and 3 in progress. He is associated with a number of research projects and consultancy projects for Meghalaya and members of various organizations.

Dr. Tamuly is presently working as Assistant Professor in the department of Soil Science and also holds the Director on Board, Northeast Agriculture Technology Entrepreneurs Hub at Assam Agricultural University Jorhat. He became the Director on Board of Northeast Agriculture Technology Entrepreneurs Hub (NEATEHUB) an AIC-AAU Incubator and involve executing RKVY-RAFTAAR scheme for agri innovation under MoA & FW, GoI as the Co-principal Investigator and member of selection committee for startups selection of 3 Institutes in the Northeast viz., College of Fisheries, Tripura; College of Veterinary Science, Aizawl and College of Horticulture and Forestry, Arunachal Pradesh. In the past one and a half years Dr. Tamuly has associated with agritech incubation, in screening and selection of nearly 80 entrepreneurial ideas and ventures and actively engaged in their curation and refinement. Dr. Tamuly is associated to raise close to 160.42 lakhs of government funds for NEATEHUB incubates both as pre-seed (idea to MVP) and seed funding (MVP to market) under RKVY- RAFTAAR scheme of MoA & FW, GoI. This experience helped him in mentoring innovative projects in the field of food processing and value addition, supply chain management, agri input, precision agriculture, agri waste to wealth, FAAS, farm mechanization, packaging and e-commerce in the last one and half year.

Dr. Kishore is presently working as Managing Director and Chief Scientist at Kwaklei and Khonggunmelei Orchids Pvt. Ltd., a company funded by BIG and SBIRI of BIRAC. Dr. Kishore is among the few first-generation entrepreneurs in Biotechnology and Life Sciences in NE India. He obtained his Ph.D. (2003) degrees from Manipur University in Life Sciences on ‘Production of orchid hybrids using certain rare, endangered/endemic species of Manipur and micropropagation of elites’. In 2005 he was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship of the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India and worked at the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD). Dr. Kishore focuses on breeding of orchids using Indian species as parents and their micropropagation. The present effort is on breeding of orchids having potential for cut flowers, potted plants and fragrance. Dr Kishor has registered thirteen

(13) hybrid orchids with the Royal Horticultural Society, UK, which is the international authority for hybrid orchid registration. The Company was granted Biotechnology Ignition Grant (2nd Call) of BIRAC to work on the topic ‘Clonal propagation of elite genotype of orchid hybrids synthesised in Manipur for commercial cultivation’. BIRAC granted a project under SBIRI scheme as follow-up funding in 2017. Besides, K&K Orchids is associated with IBSD Imphal undertaking a partnership venture on commercial Dendrobium breeding.

Dr. Mathew is working as Assistant Professor in Horticulture in the Department of Rural Development and Agricultural production, North Eastern Hill University, Tura Campus. Dr. Mathew holds PhD in Horticulture with specialization in fruits & Orchard Management. His area of research specialisation is plant biotechnology, organic management of horticulture crop, standardization of technologies for fruit production and Biodiversity study and characterization of plant species. Dr. Mathew has guided 3 Ph.D scholars and 4 are under guidance and published 53 research papers, 6 book chapters and 1 book. His is associated with a number of funded projects and consultancy projects for different agencies.

Dr. Kishore is presently working as Managing Director and Chief Scientist at Kwaklei and Khonggunmelei Orchids Pvt. Ltd., a company funded by BIG and SBIRI of BIRAC. Dr. Kishore is among the few first-generation entrepreneurs in Biotechnology and Life Sciences in NE India. He obtained his Ph.D. (2003) degrees from Manipur University in Life Sciences on ‘Production of orchid hybrids using certain rare, endangered/endemic species of Manipur and micropropagation of elites’. In 2005 he was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship of the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India and worked at the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD). Dr. Kishore focuses on breeding of orchids using Indian species as parents and their micropropagation. The present effort is on breeding of orchids having potential for cut flowers, potted plants and fragrance. Dr Kishor has registered thirteen

(13) hybrid orchids with the Royal Horticultural Society, UK, which is the international authority for hybrid orchid registration. The Company was granted Biotechnology Ignition Grant (2nd Call) of BIRAC to work on the topic ‘Clonal propagation of elite genotype of orchid hybrids synthesised in Manipur for commercial cultivation’. BIRAC granted a project under SBIRI scheme as follow-up funding in 2017. Besides, K&K Orchids is associated with IBSD Imphal undertaking a partnership venture on commercial Dendrobium breeding.

Dr. Konwar is working as Principal Scientist in the Biotechnology Division of CSIR-North East Institute of Science & Technology. Dr. Konwar is a veterinary science graduate with advanced training in animal biotechnology and molecular endocrinology. He served as a scientist at CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow from 2005-2019 where he was involved in drug discovery research in the area of cancer biology and reproductive biology. During the past 15 years, he has been engaged in in vitro screening of anti-breast cancer agents and exploring mechanisms of action of new identified lead molecules. His anti-breast cancer drug discovery approach involves in vitro cancer cell line models and in vivo animal mammary tumor models. He has identified several compounds of plant as well as synthetic origin as new anti-breast cancer candidate molecules. Dr Konwar has executed several scientific R&D research projects successfully as Principal Investigator or Co-PI. He has mentored several Ph.D., M.Sc., Ms (Surgery), Ms (Gynaecology & Obsterics) candidates where he supervised them in several fundamental research projects in the area of cancer biology and reproductive health. He has also served as reviewer of funding agencies like, ICMR, DBT, DST as ad hoc member. Dr. Konwar also served as a member of DBT Task Force on Cancer Biology for a brief period. Currently, in addition to leading several other R&D project proposals, he is serving as nodal officer for technically executing Covid-19 diagnostic testing services as a response of CSIR- North East Institute of Science & Technology, Jorhat towards pressing pandemic.

Dr. Devi is presently working as Scientist-E in the division of medicinal plants and horticulture resources in the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, Imphal. Dr. Devi completed her Ph.D. in the area of plant biotechnology and radiation biology from Manipur University, Imphal and did her Post Doc from CREC, University of Florida. Dr. Devi research focus on vitro propagation of economically important plant species of North eastern region of India, study the plant genetic diversity and ascertaining the clonal fidelity of tissue cultured plants and genetic improvement of selected plant resources of North-eastern region of India through cellular and molecular approaches. Dr. Devi has more than 36 research publication and involved in a number of funded projects.

Dr. Nongthomba is presently working as a professor in molecular reproduction development and Genetics in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Dr. Nongthomba received Ph.D. from Department of Studies in Zoology, University of Mysore in 1999, worked as post- doctoral fellow at University of York, UK, between 1998-2004 and joined IISc in 2004 as assistant Professor. His group is interested in muscle and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Nongthomba is working as scientific advisor to Genophe Pvt. Ltd., a company involved in modelling human disorders/diseases in Zebrafish and developing a platform for screening drugs. Also, serving as a member of Technical Advisory Resource Group (TARG) and BIRAC seed fund selection committee for Bangalore Bio-incubation Centre (BBC).

A professor in the department of Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology and Director of Design Innovation Centre, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Dr. Sharan completed his PhD from JNU, New Delhi and a post-doctoral Research from Institute of Medicine, KFA, Germany and holds more than 35 years of teaching and research experience in the field of Molecular Biology, Biochemist, Biotechnologist and Cancer & Radiation Biologist. Dr. Sharan is also the founder member of the international research collaboration like Indo-German Bilateral Research Collaboration with KFA, Juelich, Research for the Future Project at the department of Human Genetics & Radiation Biology, Osaka University, Japan. Dr. Sharan has supervised 16 doctoral students and published more than 110 research articles and also granted two patents to his credit. Dr. Sharan is having vast experience in innovative projects as he takes the lead role in establishing the Design innovation Centre at NEHU with support from National Initiative for Design Innovation.

Dr. Bora is working as professor in the department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Dr. Bora completed his PhD in Biotechnology from Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi. Dr. Bora is interested in the research area of Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering, Diagnostics, Agro and Seri Biotechnology. Dr. Bora has more than 79 research publications and got 8 patents. He is also associated with a number of academic, societies and professional bodies.

Dr. Borah is working as the professor and Head, department of Animal Biotechnology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara. Dr. Borah completed his PhD degree in 1994 and Post Doc from the USA in 2010. He has 33 years of working experience and published 145 scientific papers including 2 books and 7 book chapters and 164 guest lectures. He has guided 15 M.V.Sc, 1 MDS, 5 PhD and 2 post doc. He is associated with a number of national level committees including 18 task forces. He is also the PI of 5 external funded projects and 3 as Co-PI.

Dr. Shrivastava is presently working as the Head of Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli. Dr. Shrivastava has completed her doctorate degree from Jabalpur University and joined as faculty of Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in 1996 and since then, actively involved in teaching and research activities. Her research interests include ‘Fungal Diversity & Plant Pathology, Fungi-Plant Interaction, Traditional Fermentation and Plant Tissue Culture, etc. She has successfully completed seven major and one minor R&D schemes and presently working with several other research projects. She has been a recipient of SERC Visiting fellowship of DST, Government of India. She has got six Ph. D. awarded and eight more ongoing under her guidance. She has published more than 50 research papers and articles in reputed national and international journals. She is a life member of various academic and research associations and currently has been nominated as “Coordinator‟ of Microbiologists Society of India for Arunachal state. Dr. Shrivastava is also working on innovative aspect of high altitude medicinal and nutraceutical macrofungi that are so far unculturable and investigating the possibilities of growing them artificially.

Vice President at Jananom Technologies (formerly the Indian arm of the Swiss MNC Evolva Biotech ) with about 18 years of corporate research experience spanning diverse life science segments. He is closely associated with Central & State governments, Governments in Asia (including Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia) for nurturing entrepreneurs to success. He helps in identifying and nurturing young talents via several forums such as TED, “The Bait”, “Changemakers Forum”, talent crowd sourcing, Mission Mars 2033, etc some of which have him as a judge on their panels of leading experts.

He is a Business advisor to technology parks and drafts framework policies to help government and companies for boosting the economy via bio-entrepreneurship and nurturing start-ups.

Dr. Lipika Sahoo, Founder & CEO of Lifeintelect Consultancy Pvt. Ltd., having 20 years of experience in academia and industry in the areas of technology, innovation & intellectual property. Her specialties include product development, strategic management, mentoring, entrepreneurship, and technology consulting.

She has been associated with many start-up ecosystems; trained Start-up/Inventors throughout the country and mentored various innovation programmes facilitating Start-ups.

Pankaj Thakar is a Serial Entrepreneur with 30 years of Corporate and Start-up Experience. He is the founder of multiple start-ups globally, he has also built, advised and transformed, both corporate and start-up companies to become highly successful. Pankaj enjoys mentoring, coaching and advising start-ups at various stages, from idea to growth & currently is engaged with many of them.

He is a Scientist at National Institute for Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi. His areas of interest are architecture and function of plant mediator complex, epigenetic regulation of seed development and characterization of novel phytochemicals and processing anticandida activity. He has been awarded various national and international awards for his research work. He is currently focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship career.

Group Leader/Head, Research group at ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology). His areas of expertise are structure, dynamics, function and folding of proteins and nucleic acids; development of multidimensional NMR techniques and metabolomics.

He has 18+ years of experience with recognized proficiency in: Startup Ecosystem Development, Investment management, Angel Investing, Startup Acceleration & Incubation, Incubator Management, Research & Analysis, Team Management, Process Migration, Operations, Business Analysis.

Rajeev Aiyappa is an agriculturist from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore who also holds a masters degree in management. He has since worked in the agricultural technologies space for over 2 decades and is an expert in global best practices related to diverse aspects of crop care, animal care and overall agricultural productivity enhancement.

He advises a wide range of agricultural companies - ranging from large corporations to start-ups on business growth strategies in addition to being the founder and owner of a highly successful agri-technologies brand with global footprint. His specialist area of expertise is IoT for agriculture.

CORPORATE TRAINING/CONSULTING FOR DESIGN THINKING & STRATEGIC INNOVATION

An individual has infinite potential to achieve the extraordinary. This potential lies dormant within oneself stifled by the dos & don’ts of society.
Similarly, an organization (a business entity or otherwise) too has a limitless ability to influence society positively and achieve its commercial interests.

Potentials and Possibilities is a platform through which a design thinker, an innovation evangelist, a futurist and a quirky professor (all rolled into one)communicates his views on multiple issues related to technology, design, and business.

Dr Ambuj Chaturvedi is Head-R&D for Emerging Markets at Medtronic, based out of MEIC(Medtronic Engg & Innovation Center), Hyderabad where his mandate is to build a portfolio of InCountryForCountry products and services in healthcare. A trained clinician (neurosurgery), Dr A moved to the corporate world around a decade back after studying management and has donned multiple hats in marketing, medical affairs, education, strategy, innovation and now Engg. R&D. 

Experience in mentoring start ups/ innovators (if any): Mentor across BIRAC/ T-Hub/ CiE/ IIM-Calcutta/ IIT-Hyderabad/ Atal Incubation Center (CCMB)

He is the Chief Executive Officer of Startup Buddy with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. Skilled in Internal Audit, Corporate Finance, Managerial Finance, and External Audit.
He is a strong business development professional, graduated from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is very passionate about contributing to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in East and North-east India.

A Business transformation expert and startup evangelist, actively engaged in innovations in BFSI, Retail, Wellness, entertainment and many more industries. Post a corporate career spanning 10 years in innovation and problem solving, he has been running a consulting practice (Project GK) for 7 years. A strong believer in defining and creating resilient organizations to create self-sustenance culture. He is also an active contributor to startup ecosystem through investments at ah! ventures and creating impactful ecosystem drivers for the startup support. 

Dr. Shaon Raychaudhary is an Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tripura University. She is also the Founder Director of RCM Biosolutions Pvt. Ltd and the Founder Partner of Waste to Wealth Innovative Technologies LLP. In the past 5 years, she published 10 book chapters,  11 papers, filed 15 patents and proposed 15+ research projects successfully.

She has a Ph.D. degree from Calcutta University and her area of expertise is Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics. She is extremely passionate about helping social enterprises deliver impact and achieve commercial success.

He is the Director of Lifesciences at Ainvent Capital, Mumbai. Prior to this, he was the Director- Lifesciences at Pioneer Investcorp. He was also the Head of Pharma and Lifesciences at SBI Capital Markets Ltd. He has a diverse experience in Medicine, Surgery, Industrial Medicine, finance and marketing. He acts as an advisor and mentor to upcoming companies and start-ups.

He is involved in developing and commercializing novel technologies having some social impact.

Dr. Parthjyoti is the Director of the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory, CDSCO, Guwahati and also the Sr. Regional Director for Health & Family Welfare. He has been the  Director of the State Drugs Testing Laboratory, Guwahati and also Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Health & F.W Govt of Assam. He was also a part of India Pharmacopoeia Commission under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Dr.Gogoi worked for World Bank and European Commission for preparation Projects for International Development Agency.

His domain of expertise includes pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical analysis. He is intensely involved in discovering innovations and entrepreneurs.