He X-Rays Bridges & Planes | He Left USA to Build Non-Destructive Testing | Prof Krishnan B.

Episode Summary

We take X-rays and MRI scans to look for breaks and cracks within our bodies. If you have ever wondered how long the infrastructure around you is likely to last or whether the crack on that pillar means trouble, this episode is a must-watch.

Watch as Amrut speaks to his former teacher, Professor Krishnan Balasubramanian, about Non-Destructive Testing, its multiple applications and setting up centres like the CNDE Center for Non-Destructive Evaluation and the I-Corps. This episode is filled with information on testing infrastructure through NDT methods, empowering entrepreneurs in IIT Madras to work with industries and government agencies through the ICSR and the Incubation cell at IIT Madras and so much more! 

Amrut’s Comment

Professor Krishnan's journey from Silicon Valley to IIT Madras with nothing but a suitcase will leave you inspired! Watch how he revolutionized non-destructive testing in India and created a startup ecosystem that employs 1200+ professionals globally.

Key Highlights

[00:02:13] Area of Research: Non-Destructive Testing [NDT] explained

[00:06:30] What’s the difference: Destructive vs Non-Destructive Testing

[00:09:50] Non-Destructive Testing: Real-world applications and the technologies used

[00:14:50] Setting up CNDE: Prof. Krishnan’s journey and setting up the Center

[00:21:16] ICSR: What is it, and why is it IITM’s window to industry?

[00:25:26] Intellectual Property: Protecting the IP and creating social impact

[00:28:56] ICSR: Solving global and social problems through research

[00:32:32] Incubation Cell: How did it begin?

[00:41:21] Dhwani: Automating Non-Destructive Testing

[00:47:33] Planys Technologies: Starting and the journey

[00:52:21] Evolution of Professors in IITM: From teachers to researchers to entrepreneurs now

[00:54:29] Detect Technologies - What does it do?

[00:59:08] XYMA Technologies: Pioneering High-Temperature Sense Technology

[01:03:53] IIT Madras: What makes it the Best Place to Build?

[01:05:46] CFI at IITM: Walk in with an idea, walk out with a product

[01:06:48] Nirmaan: Supporting student entrepreneurs

[01:07:32] The Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: impact on society and industry

[01:14:54] Prof. Krishnan’s current interests: Teaching courses and sports

[01:16:42] Deep Tech ventures: Why does he call it Deep Research?

Institutions mentioned

[00:02:23] IIT Madras

[00:13:25] NDT is also used for testing the Rockets at ISRO Indian Space Research Organization

[00:22:18] MIT is known for its research as much as its academics

[00:32:40] IISc Bangalore is the Indian Institute of Science

[00:32:42] IIT Bombay

[00:32:44] IIT Delhi

[01:09:07] George Washington University was approached for help with the I-Corps programme

[01:12:12] DST Department of Science & Technology has partnered with the Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

People mentioned

[00:08:30] Richard Arn, VP of the American Welding Society shared some insights on the welding process with Professor Krishnan

[00:14:58] Professor Oruganti Prabhakar of Metallurgy had been working on NDT before Professor Krishnan came back to IIT Madras.

[00:15:59] Professor R Natarajan, Director at IIT Madras

[00:16:07] Dr. Baldev Raj was responsible for Prof Krishnan’s return to IITM from the US

[00:35:08] Professor M.S Ananth, past Director of IIT Madras called Prof Krishnan about the incubation cell in IITM.

[00:48:12] Tanuj Jhunjhunwala left his job in Tata Motors to start Planys Technologies

[00:49:19] Vineet Upadhyay and Rakesh Sirikonda were part of the team that joined Planys Technologies

[00:55:20] Daniel Raj David, Harikrishnan AS and Karthik R were part of the founding team at Detect Technologies

[01:00:13] Suresh, Ph.D student of the professor

[01:00:54] Nishanth Raja is the Founder of XYMA Technologies

[01:02:50] Aswin Kumar Kathirvel is the Co-Founder and CTO of XYMA Technologies

[01:06:51] Desh Deshpande was part of the I-Corps in US and pushed for the creation of the Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Center 

[01:07:03] Subra Suresh was instrumental in inspiring the setup of the Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Center.

[01:08:12] Kris Gopalakrishnan, the Co-Founder of Infosys was involved in the setting up of the Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Center

[01:08:41] Raghuttama Rao is the CEO of Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Center

[01:13:09] Prof. Satya Chakravarthy

[01:13:22] Prof. Satya Seshadri

[01:13:25] Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal

[01:18:16] Prof Krishnan refers to John F. Kennedy’s quote on choosing the hard problem and not the easy ones

Companies mentioned

[00:27:15] KPMG started working on IP with IITM in 2012 - 2013

[00:29:36] Boeing, Airbus and ExxonMobil are some of ICSR’s global clients

[00:40:42] Lema Labs is a startup offering training on topics like Robotics, IoT (Internet of Things) and Machine Learning. It was one of the earliest startups incubated as part of the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

[00:40:44] Hyperverge was also one of the earliest companies incubated at the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

[00:40:59] GyanData 

[00:41:02] Dhvani Research 

[00:43:39] Dhvani AI is a part of the Dhvani Research company which works on data analytics from the manufacturing and operations side.

[00:44:26] Companies like L&T, Reliance, Aramco, Shell, Baker Hughes are among the clients of Dhvani AI.

[00:45:27] Tata Steel, Jindal, Cummins, TVS are some of the companies that Dhvani Research is building systems for.

[00:47:33] Planys Technologies

[00:48:41] Tata Motors

[00:51:23] Keiretsu Forum provided seed funding for Planys Technologies

[00:54:05] Detect Technologies 

[00:54:15] Maximl Labs is one of the subsidiaries of Detect Technologies that acts as an Industrial AI platform for Operational Excellence.

[00:58:04] Adani is also one of the clients of Detect Technologies

[00:59:03] Xyma Analytics

[01:03:04] SKF is using the XYMA technology for their bearings

[01:03:11] Vedanta and Emirates Global are also using the XYMA technologies

[01:05:25] Ather

[01:19:08] Facebook 

[01:19:44] in Prof. Krishnan’s opinion, SpaceX will outlast X (Formerly Twitter)

[01:20:14] Tesla

Books & Other Media

Concepts & Models

[00:17:53] CNDE 

[00:47:41] CFI Centre for Innovation

[00:21:08] ICSR Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research was set up to act as a window between IIT Madras and Governmental agencies and industries that could use the research done in IITM.

[00:39:27] IIT Madras Research Park 

[00:45:00] Chandrayaan components were inspected by a system built by Dhvani Research.

[01:06:42] NIRMAAN is a facilitator at IIT Madras

[01:14:10] Pravartak is the Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Madras

Additional Links

Episode 8    |    82 Mins
Guest Bio

Professor Krishnan's journey from Silicon Valley to IIT Madras with nothing but a suitcase will leave you inspired! Watch how he revolutionized non-destructive testing in India and created a startup ecosystem that employs 1200+ professionals globally.

Prof. Krishnan Balasubramaniam
Director
View profile

He X-Rays Bridges & Planes | He Left USA to Build Non-Destructive Testing | Prof Krishnan B.

Professor Krishnan's journey from Silicon Valley to IIT Madras with nothing but a suitcase will leave you inspired! Watch how he revolutionized non-destructive testing in India and created a startup ecosystem that employs 1200+ professionals globally.

Episode 8    |    82 Mins

“Prof. Krishnan Balasubramanian is an accomplished professor at The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in the field of Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE). For those who don't already know, NDE is about figuring out how a real object or structure is doing internally without breaking it open. It's sort of like X-ray/CT/MRI, but more. 

He joined IIT Madras in 2000, at the turn of the millennium. Since then, he and his group (CNDE) have published widely and executed hundreds of industrial consultancy projects. In the past decade or so, some of the work has been commercialised via multiple startups, which now employ hundreds of highly skilled engineers.

This one was special because I was a student in the  Professor's class in the early/mid 2000s.”

Episode 8    |    82 Mins

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