Mr. Pratap Nair is currently the Founder Director/President and CEO at Ingenero. He earned his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay (and was an Institute Silver Medallist), and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice University, USA, in 1987.
Mr. Nair is a professional with over 35 years of experience, 22 of which have been as the President and CEO of Ingenero, a company he co-founded. Before Ingenero he held various key positions such as Business and Corporate Development, Coordinator of the Management Board, and Senior Vice President at Cadila. Before Cadila, he founded Profit Technologies Inc., a management consulting firm for the process industry, before which he held multiple roles including analyst, project manager, director of project development, and VP at Chemshare Corporation.
Mr. Nair has a proven track record in developing business and forging alliances in new areas, establishing partnerships, joint ventures, and licensing arrangements with companies globally. He has also facilitated collaborations with renowned research institutes for the commercialization of innovative technologies in the chemicals and biotechnology sectors. He has extensive on-the ground experience in developing chemical engineering domain based specialized software and consulting services for the energy and chemicals industry across various countries. He has managed large teams and diverse operations in sectors such as Basic Chemicals, Agro Inputs and Agro Chemicals, Consumer Products, Herbal Products, Biotech, and IT, to establish new asset bases for the company, and has led the successful implementation of the SAP system and introduced transformational leadership HR programs.
His pioneering efforts in applying the process simulation-based Digital Twin concept to Chemical Process Manufacturing, enabled the successful digitalization of plant operations. He has contributed to the development and empowerment of several hundreds of chemical engineers to remain at the forefront of technological advancements. These include expertise in Specialized Applied AI Engineering, harnessing the power of advanced analytics and technologies like first principle based modelling, Machine Learning, Smart Data Platforms, and more.
He was a key member of the development and project implementation teams for a pioneering real-time process optimization, data reconciliation, and modelling system in the process industry during the late eighties. He was an early promoter of process simulation model-based profit improvement programs (PIP), operational performance improvement (OPI), and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) initiatives for the process industry, participating in industry forums and delivering presentations in the USA and Europe, as early as the late eighties and early nineties.
His doctoral research at Rice University entailed applying chemical engineering principles to biomedical applications and his work was used to improve the design of oxygenators at a medical centre in Houston. He serves as an elected Honorary Chairman who drives progressive initiatives like the early adoption of sustainable solar power for common utilities, etc. for a society with 120 families.
Mr. Nair has won several awards and accolades over the years. He was recognized by the Chemical Process Industry. He was an expert 14 panellist who has delivered keynotes at several industry conferences like Ethylene Middle East Technology (EMET) conference, Gulf Downstream Association (GDA), AICHE, Asian Downstream (ADS), Global Summit on Process Safety (GSPS) and Indian Chemical News in the recent past and NPRA and Chemical Manufacturers Association in the ’90s. He was part of the technical/executive committees for EMET, GDA, ADS, and GSPS. He has been the Chair at several global industry forums on Industry 4.0, Big Data, and Digitalization at AICHE, EMET, GDA, and ADS. He was included as one of 30 in an ICONS of Transformation (in India) coffee table book publication.
He won the AISL Lumiere Award which recognizes talents across industries in November 2022 for Established Business Leaders. He was selected as one amongst a diverse set of luminaries across verticals in India, and selected by an independent panel of judges (not based on any sponsorships). He was conferred the Who’s Who and Outstanding Young Men of America awards. As the head of the BioTech division, he was recognized by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India, for Technology for Advancement of Science: Biotech Efforts, on Technology Day, May 11, 2000. He was a Silver medallist of the 1983 batch, Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay.
Hobbies: “Travelling to different geographies and studying diverse cultures.”
Any other interesting fact about yourself that you may like to share: “Applying chemical engineering principles to cooking! Cooking serves as a catharsis.”