Dr. Shankar Venugopal
Vice President – Technology Innovation
Dean Mahindra Technical Academy
Mahindra & Mahindra

Mr. Ram Sitaraman
Head of Intellectual Property
Knowledge management
Mahindra & Mahindra

Dr. Shankar Venugopal leads technology innovation for the Automotive & Farm services (AFS) sector. He heads the intellectual property (patents) and knowledge management functions. He is also the dean of the Mahindra Technical Academy. Shankar is passionate about developing sustainable solutions for urban mobility and his current interests span electric vehicles, connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles and precision agriculture. Prior to joining Mahindra & Mahindra, Shankar held technology innovation leadership roles at GE, Dow, Honeywell and Cummins. He has ten international patents and numerous awards for new product innovation. He has developed his own innovation methodology – Innovation FLOW – and has trained 1000 inventors and innovators. Shankar holds a PhD in materials science and a gold medal for the best thesis from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He completed his executive management program from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Shankar is an avid reader and is interested in physics, philosophy and psychology. He teaches technology innovation management at leading engineering and management institutes in India and abroad.

Mr. Ram Sitaraman is currently IP Head for Mahindra & Mahindra, covering both the automotive and agricultural sectors. He also oversees overall knowledge management and standardization initiatives in manufacturing. He has over 19 years of industry experience and has worked at organizations as diverse as General Electric, Infosys, Wipro and Tata Unisys, while working across various business sectors. He has a master's degree in science from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton, specializing in advanced electronics packaging. His areas of interest and passion are in the field of IP Analytics and Business Intelligence for stimulating strategy and innovation. In addition, he has also managed functions in the field of IP creation, drafting and prosecution, IP in mergers and acquisitions and commercialization at various organizations.

On the topic: Review the basics and importance of intellectual property and inventions for any organization

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