KOCHI: In perhaps the first industry-academia partnership on a Kerala campus, a research and development (R&D) startup incubated at the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C) has received the handholding from a top Israeli scientist, helping them to gain possible entry options into the global deep tech industry.
The startup Optind has as its strategic advisor Dr Ram Hashmonay, who is the chief innovation scientist of Israel-based Opgal Optronics Industries Ltd, a manufacturer of infrared thermal cameras and solutions that find use in security, industrial markets and defence.
Founded by Dr Arun R, the startup’s products are all related to optics -- one measures benzene concentration in the air, helping refineries to plug leaks in their pipelines on a real-time basis; and the other is a broadband nephelometer that analyses the minute pollutants in the atmosphere. While the first product is of immense benefit to the refinery industry, the other will be useful for pollution control boards and similar monitoring and compliance agencies.
The relationship is seen as the first major industry-academia collaboration to promote a startup in a Kerala educational institution though such tie-ups are now common in other states, especially at the IITs. The most-successful one being at IIT-Madras by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a Chennai-based academic and innovator, when he conceived and built India’s first university-affiliated business park (IIT Madras Research Park) to promote industry-academia R&D collaboration besides mentoring a large number of startups in the last couple of decades.
The startup was incubated on the NIT-C campus for three years and now it has moved out after maturing and is now located at Manassery in Kozhikode. Another uniqueness of the startup is that it is into climate technology, a high-growth segment. On Optind’s association with Dr Hashmonay, Arun, CEO and co-founder of the firm, says “Our principal scientist Dr Ravi Varma had earlier worked with Dr Hashmonay in the US. It so happened that Dr Hashmonay had optical imaging projects which he started outsourcing to Optind. He is very much involved in the activities of the company and comes in once a month to provide insights.”
He points out that the instrument that measures the concentration of benzene was tested and okayed in the US. “It has been established in the US. Our nephelometer has one up against the instruments made by US-based Nova Agency by being able to make two to three of their instruments obsolete.”
But being unique comes with its own set of problems. As Arun and his team found out when looking for investors. “Nobody has heard about an R&D startup. So, investors find it difficult to trust such a company. It is also difficult to make them understand. But an organisation understood the importance of our products and has shown interest in investing in the company,” says Arun.
ALL ABOUT OPTIND
Founded in 2017
Founder: Arun R
Strategic Advisor: Ram Hashmonay, Israeli scientist
Products: Instrument that measures real-time benzene concentration in the ambient air, specifically targeting refineries.
The second phase is the development of a ‘Broadband Nephelometer’ which aims at optical characterisation of the aerosols in the ambient atmosphere. This is very crucial, since aerosol optical property greatly affects the radiation budget and thereby altering the climate to a great extent.