...

Mr. Mahesh Patel

Designation : Scientist G

Qualification : M.Sc. Plant Physiology and Agricultural ecology

Department/Project : VARD

Location : Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Email : mahesh@nifindia.org

As one of the Senior most Scientists, his expertise is in the incubation of innovation based enterprises which stands backed by his experience in this domain for more than two decades. His portfolio of responsibilities encompasses administration, scouting, value addition, IPR protection and business development of innovations that stemmed from grassroots and students of India. Throughout his career, he has been attempting to map Science, Technology and Innovation based solutions that exist in any part of the country with problems that citizens across the country in general encounter. This provided him with an opportunity to meaningfully network with several institutions and individuals, either on the demand or supply side of technologies and eventually deliver solutions. His initiatives have transformed several innovators into successful entrepreneurs and start-up promoters. Several students by virtue of their innovative ideas were connected with the industry after significant value addition to their innovations. He is currently leading the INSPIRE - MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) initiative, a flagship programme of Government of India aligned with Start-up India which aims to motivate school students to innovative and pursue a career in Science and Research. It’s world largest competition of ideas and innovations for school children and several lakh ideas are scouted and evaluated every year. He is well versed with latest industry trends like inclination towards social innovations and healthcare; and driving compliance with respect to Environmental, Social and Governance aspects of a given business opportunity and portfolios.