Dr. Andrea Colaco is a computer scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur known for her pioneering work in gesture-recognition technology and real-time 3D sensing. She co-founded 3dim Tech, a company dedicated to integrating low-power, real-time depth sensing into consumer electronics, significantly enhancing gesture-based interaction. Google later acquired 3dim Tech, incorporating her technology into its advancements in computer vision and AI-driven user interfaces.
Her research focused on real-time 3D sensing for mobile devices, enabling seamless, touch-free interaction. In 2013, she won the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, one of the most prestigious startup competitions, for her innovative work in mobile 3D gesture recognition.
Andrea Colaco’s work has had a profound impact on computer vision, augmented reality (AR), and AI-driven human-computer interaction.
Andrea works at Google, specializing in computational sensing technologies. She has also been involved in Project Astra, a research prototype exploring future capabilities of a universal AI assistant that can understand the world around users.
Ankit Agarwal is the Founder-CEO of Phool. co, a social enterprise that has pioneered the ‘flowercycling®’ technologies to reduce the pollution in the Rivers Ganges, by up-cycling the vast quantities of flower temple waste in India. At Phool.co, over 11.4 tons of temple waste is collected daily in Uttar Pradesh & Bihar and converted into charcoal-free incense and an animal-free alternative to leather called Fleather (PETA’s Best Innovation in the Vegan World 2020).
Chandrashekhar Mandal, Founder, Gaudrika Digital Labour Chowk (DLC), has been selected as an INK Fellow for his groundbreaking work in digitizing India’s informal labor market. His innovative platform not only connects daily wage and domestic construction workers with job opportunities but also offers crucial benefits such as health safety, insurance, and financial assistance. By formalizing the informal labor sector, DLC aligns with multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including poverty alleviation and economic growth. Chandrashekhar’s commitment, creative business model, and the platform’s significant impact—already benefiting over 1 lakh workers—demonstrate its strong potential to scale its reach and ensure even more workers benefit from its innovative solutions.
Dhairya is a researcher and designer at the MIT Media Lab who draws his inspiration from cultural myths and stories. His work can be seen through his fascinating projects: ThinkerToys – creating fun toys out of eWaste, Cheers – ice-cubes that change colour depending on how much you drink, Obake – an elastic shape-changing screen, SuperShoes – shoe soles with a sixth sense, and much more.
Dhairya’s work is a mix between innovative engineering, thoughtful design and delightful experiences. This can take form in objects, installations, web, prosthetics, toys, experiences and education. He is interested in the areas of wearables, toys and learning, mindfulness, superpowers, urban exploration, and more. He is currently working on wearables that help people get lost and be in multiple places at once, imparting new skills and capabilities.
WEBSITE: dhairyadand.com
Vivek Nair is a visionary inventor, entrepreneur, and investor known for his groundbreaking contributions to nanotechnology and energy storage solutions. With a stellar reputation in the field, he has carved a niche for himself through pioneering advancements in advanced lithium-based battery technology and cutting-edge material sciences.
At just 23, Nair co-founded Damascus Fortune, a revolutionary company that developed an eco-friendly, cost-effective method to convert industrial carbon emissions into valuable carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Building on this success, he launched multiple ventures pushing the frontiers of nanotechnology.
His company, Salus Nanotechnologies, specializes in advanced coatings with transformative applications, while Elektron Lab focuses on preventing electric vehicle fires by leveraging AI-driven electrochemical analysis to predict cell failures in real-time. In recognition of his contributions, Nair was featured in Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list, highlighting his impact on technology and entrepreneurship.
He has also received accolades such as the National Research Development Corporation’s award for meritorious invention from the Government of India. Beyond entrepreneurship, Nair has played key roles in the tech sector, including leading strategy and research functions at Hyundai Cradle.
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Elishai is the principle investigator of the Neuro & Biomorphic Engineering Lab (NBEL-lab.com) and an Assistant Professor at the Open University of Israel. In his research, Elishai studies the realm of brain-inspired machines, using artificial brains to develop new frameworks for robotics and vision processing. He is also the founding director of NBEL Innovation Workshops at Biohouse, Hadassah Medical Center — a design and engineering company which integrates computer-aided design, electrical and software engineering to develop novel medical solutions.
Elishai is an academic consultant at the Weizmann Institute of Science for Computational Neuroscience and a university lecturer for artificial intelligence, mathematical modelling, software engineering and computational biology. He is a graduate of Singularity University (2012, NASA Ames Research Center, California), INK fellow (2013, India), INK Trailblazer (2014, USA), Aeroli.to speaker (2016, Brazil), and Dean fellow for Neuroscience (2018, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel). Elishai Holds degrees in Life sciences (B.Sc), Philosophy and History (B.A), Computer Science (M.Sc), Bioengineering (M.Sc, PhD) and Computational Neuroscience (Post Doc).
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Hind Hobeika is a self-tracking engineer who believes biological parameters are the most fascinating input for technological systems. She is the founder of Instabeat, an award winning startup that creates high-tech tools that track and improve athletes’ performance and well-being. Hind is also the founder of the Quantified Self, Beirut chapter.
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Isabel Pedraza is a seasoned educator, researcher, and innovator at the intersection of physics, data science, and technology. With a strong background in Computational Physics and a passion for advancing scientific discovery, she has made significant contributions to higher education and research.
She has worked on cutting edge science such as the search for the ‘God particle’ at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Her research primarily focuses on the search for charged Higgs bosons, dark matter, and the development of muon detection technologies within the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). She has co-authored over 650 publications in indexed journals, accumulating more than 40,000 citations. Combining her scientific acumen with business strategy, she holds an Executive MBA in Business Administration and Management, bridging the gap between research and real-world impact.
Judith is a Ph.D student and Research Assistant in the Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT MediaLab. She graduated from MIT with a Masters in Media Arts and Sciences, she helped run VR/AR at MIT as a co-president. She holds a Multimedia Engineering degree from LaSelle University, Barcelona, Spain and has a Computer Science background, design focused on UX, UI and filming.
She previously interned as a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher at Microsoft Research and at R&D at URL Barcelona developing Augmented and Virtual Reality experiences and at the Google Creative Lab as a creative Technologist. Her grants, awards and publications include over 19 scientific papers, 3 patents, a 2016 Facebook Graduate Fellowship, 2015 Lego Foundation sponsored research, 2016 Finalist Innovation by Design Awards. She also received the 2017 Scent Innovator Award by the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) and IFF (International Flavours and Fragrances)
Growing up, math and genetics were always Kavita’s favourite subjects in school. She completed her undergraduate degree in chemistry, physics and math, attended the MSc Biotechnology programme at Maharaja Sayajirao University, but left partway to pursue her doctorate at Professor William Chia’s laboratory at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore and King’s College in London.
She conducted her Post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts General Hospital where she discovered an Immunoglobulin superfamily molecule that is required for normal synaptic potentiation at the C. elegans neuromuscular junction. Kavtia is a Wellcome DBT Intermediate Fellow and a recipient of the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award.
Currently, Kavita holds a teaching and research position at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Mohali. This position allows her to pursue her interests in genetics and neurobiology as well as teaching bright young undergraduate and graduate students.
Dr. Krithi Karanth is a renowned conservation scientist, environmentalist, and Chief Conservation Scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) in India. She is known for her extensive research on human-wildlife conflict, land-use change, and biodiversity conservation.
With over 27 years of experience, she has conducted pioneering studies on the impact of habitat fragmentation, voluntary resettlement of forest communities, and the effectiveness of wildlife corridors. She has collaborated with global organizations such as National Geographic and the Wildlife Conservation Society and has received numerous accolades, including being recognized in the BBC’s 100 Women List and the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Her work has been featured in over 1000 media outlets including Washington Post, Time magazine, among others.
Apart from research, she has led projects that focus on educating and engaging local communities in conservation efforts. One of her notable projects, Wild Shaale, aims to educate children in rural India about wildlife and conservation, nurturing a generation that values and protects biodiversity. In recognition of her innovative approaches, Dr. Karanth was honoured with the 2021 WILD Innovator Award by the Wild Elements Foundation, becoming the first Indian and Asian woman to receive this accolade.
She also co-starred in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic.
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Passionate about solving environmental and social challenges with innovative technology and design, Iseman is on a mission to “Cool the Earth.”
Madhu Acharya is one of the key founding members of Antenna Foundation Nepal and served as its Director from 2006 to 2010. Antenna (est. 2002) is a vibrant production and training facility catering local and community radio stations in Nepal. Madhu’s pioneering work includes introducing mobile radio-Doko Radio into remotes villages of Nepal. He began his career as one of the founding producers of Radio Sagarmatha in 1996 and worked there for five years. Madhu, as a Knight Fellow 2010-11 at Stanford University, is studying share-casting, two-way communication, as a tool for development and democracy.
Mainak is the co-founder and Co-CEO of GPS Renewables (Green Power Systems). GPS is one of Asia’s most promising cleantech firms, having received awards from various international and national platforms. He was listed as one of the top Indian innovators under the age of 35 by MIT Technology Review. Fortuna Media recently named him as “The Bioenergy person of the year, 2015”. He is also a Global Shaper, World Economic Forum, as a part of which, he works towards making Bangalore a better place for its citizens
Manvendra is a visionary in the climate change/sustainable development space and also has a fascination for distant lands, their heritage, and extraordinary stories led him to establish boutique hotels – Suryagarh-Jaisalmer, Narendra Bhawan-Bikaner, and Mary Budden Estate- Binsar.He started restoring old forts and palaces to make them into culture hubs and incubation labs and for the past decade, he has immersed his efforts in the Dhun project. Dhun is envisioned as an intentional community and sustainable habitat for 8,500 individuals.
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Neil Gaikwad advances the field of societal and urban computing, through the lens of human-centered machine learning, design, and evidence-informed policymaking for sustainable development. His research at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology seeks to understand and reform broken urban systems and markets (e.g., financial, gig-economy, and agricultural) that continue to endanger socioeconomic and environmental sustainability. His human-centered machine learning research is targeted to improve global food security by helping marginalized farmers and policymakers mitigate the impact of meteorological disasters and institutional breakdowns. His honors include the Facebook Research Fellowship, MIT Arts Scholar, and Karl Taylor Compton Prize, MIT’s highest student award.
Nidhi is the Co-Founder of Science For Society – S4S Technologies. She works at the intersection of agriculture, gender, energy access, and financial inclusion. S4S Technologies is a near-farm gate food processing platform converting farm losses to value-added products for the F&B Industry.
The organization helps transform smallholder women farmers into entrepreneurs by providing the right combination of technology, finance, and market and increasing their household income by 100-200% annually. S4S Technologies is working with over 100,000 farmers and 2000 women entrepreneurs. In the process, they help save over 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the environment.
Prerna Sharma is a scientist and Assistant Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. She is an experimentalist in the area of soft matter and biophysics. She studied at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai for a Ph.D degree and followed that up with a three-year post-doctoral fellowship at Brandeis University, USA.
She has been one of the youngest in the recent history to join IISc as a Professor at the age of 28. Her early research was focused on quantitative understanding of variety of interfacial phenomena such as adhesion, peeling and flow through porous media. She is currently involved in using tools of physics to address problems in membrane biophysics and ciliary beating.
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Priyanka is a Ph.D. in environmental nano-biotechnology with a great aptitude towards biotransformation and biomonitoring of environmental pollutants . Her research focuses on the development of low cost immunosensors for pesticides detection. She has published many research papers in prestigious international journals cheering high impact factors. Recently, she has been selected as a sole women MIT TR35 young innovator award. She was also among the top innovators under the DST – Lockheed Martin India Innovation Programme 2012. Her innovation has been covered worldwide in many prestigious magazines and newspapers (CSIR News, Technology review, India today, Tehelka, Elektor, Femina, Chemical industry Digest, Good News Tab, BBC etc.). She has also been invited by Northwestern University, IL (USA) as a visiting research fellow .
Sandith is an ambitious marine transport solution provider and as the founder of Navalt group, he is aiming to help save fuel and money by using better design, renewable energy, and analytics. He completed his Naval architecture from IIT Madras and has worked in the best shipyards in South Korea and Japan. After INSEAD, he started a design consultancy to offer better ship design. A chance encounter led his team to make the first solar boat in their garage that also won the Limca Book of Records for the “Fastest Solar Boat in India” in 2011.
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With more than 20 years experience as a chemical ecologist, Shannon combines cutting-edge science with compassionate listening to help communities, organizations, businesses, and governments develop sustainable climate resilience that incorporates their needs and values. Shannon is the founder and Global Director of the echo network, an international social innovation model that uses the scientific process to ensure better translation of new knowledge & technologies to enhance sustainable development in emerging economies. Shannon also serves through the echo network’s international hub as Special Scientific Envoy to India with the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV).
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A certified Bitcoin professional and co-founder of MainChain Research & Consulting, Shikha Mehra holds a degree in Bachelor of Economics and Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as LLB and LLM from the Jindal Global Law School, specializing in Tax Law. She is on the advisory panel to IMAI’s (Internet Mobile Association of India) sub-committee on crypto currency and blockchain. As a subject expert, her expertise is sought from audiences as varied as the OECD, the Russian Parliament, the UK Government (F&CO), Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), YPO, and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, amongst others.
Shilo Shiv Suleman is an Indian illustrator, animator and visual artist based in the city of Bangalore. Her primary area of interest is visual storytelling through multiple mediums. She illustrated her first book for children at the age of 16 and has illustrated eight others since with some of the most well known publishing houses in India. She has also been actively involved in setting up community art projects and collectives that get people to appreciate and create street art in their surroundings as well as use art and design to bring socially relevant issues in India to the forefront.
She is currently working on creating interactive narratives for children on the iPad called Khoya, an experiment with the links between magic, earth and technology as well as the potential that touch has as a new integral part of storytelling. It attempts to use new and mobile technologies like Augmented Reality and the iPad to bring out the fantasy in an Indian contemporary story and create interactions that make you actively seek out natural environments.
Earlier this year she was chosen by TED and Levi’s as an ambassador of the shape of things to come – one of three Indian women to be felicitated with this honour at the TED Global Conference 2011, Edinburgh. In 2010 she was selected for an INK Fellowship for her work as a young innovator in her field and now continues her work with the INK community.
In her spare time Shilo gypsies around the country, driven by Love, magical realism and everything that shimmers, pressing flowers between the pages of her many notebooks while losing herself in watercolor wonderlands.
WEBSITE
Samples of her work are available at http://www.shiloshivsuleman.com
Steve, a conservation biologist featured by National Geographic, is the Scientific Director of the Wild Bird Trust in South Africa, an organization that works to preserve wildlife and advance the research and education on the conservation of all birds in Africa. The organization’s work has been instrumental in getting the Okavango Delta wilderness in northern Botswana listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its annual expeditions across the wilderness represent the most comprehensive biodiversity survey ever undertaken in this remote area. Steve recently completed a major National Geographic-sponsored expedition across the Okavango Delta to promote broader protection for the watershed and its wildlife
Suranga is an Assistant Professor from the Engineering Product Development Pillar at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). In 2011, he founded the Augmented Human Lab (www.ahlab.org) to explore ways of creating ‘enabling’ human-computer interfaces as natural extensions of our body, mind and behaviour.
Suranga seeks a sense of ‘humanity’ in technology. This ranges from practical behavioral issues, understanding real-life contexts in which technologies function, and understanding where technologies can be not just exciting or novel, but have a meaningful impact on the way people live.
For the totality and breadth of his achievements, in 2014, Suranga was recognized as a Young Inventor under 35 (TR35 award) in the Asia Pacific region by MIT TechReview
Uma uses genetic data to understand the history, present and potential future of populations. Her early research explored how choosiness for mates impacts genetic variation, and the relationships between African click-speaking hunter-gatherer groups. Uma now applies her research to wildlife, using non-invasive DNA sources (like poop!) to investigate tiger population sizes over the last 200 years, connectivity between populations, and how species came to the Indian subcontinent, given their recent arrival to Asia. She is a National Board for Wildlife member, Ramanujan fellow and DAE Outstanding Scientist.
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Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao (https://www.elviscao.com/) is a Ph.D. Candidate at Cornell University working on converting CO2 into solar fuels. Past awards include: Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy (2018), EarthX 30 Under 30 (2019), AACYF 30 Under 30 (2019), BP Advancing Energy Scholar (2019), WEF Global Shaper (2019), and UN SDSN-Youth Local Pathways Fellow (2018-2019). Past degrees include: M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell (2019), M.Eng. (thesis) in Materials Engineering from McGill (2016) with joint training in Nuclear Engineering at MIT (2015-2016), and a dual bachelor’s degree (B.Eng. in New Energy & B.A. in English Literature) from Xi’an Jiaotong University (2013).
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