Er. Rajesh M Nair

Er. Rajesh M Nair

Er. Rajesh M Nair

9 Saxford Lane, Nashua, NH 03063
rajnair@mit.edu | +1 603-566-9638
Education

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
    MS, Engineering and Management,
    System Design & Management 2014
    Thesis: ‘Catalyzing Entrepreneurs from the Ground Up in Rural India’
  • University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
    MS, Manufacturing Engineering 1989
  • Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
    PG Dip, Electronic Product Design (Center for Electronics Design & Technology) 1986
    BE, Electronics and Communications Engineering 1984
  • Kerala University, Trivandrum, India
    BS, Physics 1981

Experience

Asia School of Business

Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur
Senior Lecturer, Director – Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center
2015-Present

  • Started a series of workshops called 48-hour MakerFest, to teach product design and digital fabrication skills in colleges in Malaysia
  • Established Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center with a Maker Lab on campus

EnCube Labs

EnCube Labs.Nashua, NH/ Trivandrum, India
Founder 2015-Present

  • Organisation that is helping universities and communities develop entrepreneurs from the ground up
  • Approved by Kalam Technological University, Kerala, to create entrepreneurship programmes for its 164 engineering colleges
  • Helped Kerala State Start Up Mission (KSUM) establish two large FabLabs in Kochi & Trivandrum
  • Scheduled to set up 20 FabLabs across colleges in Kerala


Cambridge AccuSense Inc

Cambridge AccuSense Inc.Shirley, MA
(Business space: Airflow sensors for flow detection, filter monitoring, air exchange) 1993-1996
Engineering Head, Founding team

  • Developed lab instruments and sensors that are now considered ‘industry standard’
  • Led the technical team to innovate new products and grow the company to about $2.5m in two years
  • Degree Controls acquired this company in 2003

TechTop Trust

TechTop Trust,Nashua, NH
Founder, Chair Trustee
2006-Present

  • Started National Innovation Competition in India in 2006 for students from rural engineering colleges. Over the past ten years, more than 1000 student innovators were showcased; many of them went on for higher studies. Sixteen start-ups emerged from the competition

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA
Visiting Scholar, MIT- Tata Center
2014-Present

  • Mentoring Tata Fellows (graduate students) to convert their theses into ventures

Degree Controls Inc

Degree Controls Inc.Milford, NH
www.degreeC.com (Airflow sensing, Thermal control of electronics enclosures, Room-level environment management)
Founder, CEO 1996-2003
Chairman 1996-2017

  • Bootstrapped company from $60,000 initial founder’s investment to $14.7m revenue and 120 employees in four years
  • Judged the Fastest Growing Company in NH in 2002 by New Hampshire Business Review
  • Acquired and integrated two companies; a sensor manufacturer and a test lab
  • Started AdaptivCool, a new division to handle thermal and energy management issues in data centres based on my patent


Think A Magic Inc

Think A Magic Inc.Nashua, NH
Founder, CEO 1994-1995

  • Developed infant care product around a US patent. The company was later closed

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • University of Rhode Island: January 2016
    ENG326: Engineering Entrepreneurship: a 3-credit two-week all-day course, based on my Maker-Innovator-Entrepreneur Framework for entrepreneurship attitude development. The first course of its kind, leading to URI’s current efforts to establish an Innovation &Start-up Center.
  • Driving Strategic Innovation: Executive education programme offered by MIT-Sloan and IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. Taught Maker experience to senior executives in Sep ‘15 (ASB, Kuala Lumpur), March ‘16 (IMD, Lausanne), and September ’16 (MIT, Cambridge)
  • MIT: Make-in-India: Summer 2015 and August 2016.
    A4-week hands-on bootcamp, sponsored by MIT, based on the Maker-Innovator-Entrepreneur framework, for 20 students from MIT and Indian universities. Two start-ups launched from the programme. ASB 48-hour MakerFest: A weekend introductory programme to Making, Digital Fabrication and Design Thinking, offered to middle school students to adults. Ran ten events in Malaysia including Petrosains Museum, KL; Nashua, NH, USA; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • Innovator Bootcamp: An intense week-long programme that introduces Making & Innovation experience where students identify a real problem and create solutions with commercial potential. Ran ten such bootcamps in many Indian cities and towns. Also offered to TCS, Mumbai (India), and Axiata Corp, Malaysia.
  • Entrepreneurship Bootcamp: Taught four intense, residential, hands-on programmes, 2-6 weeks long, at rural Indian engineering colleges that did not have any I&E initiatives as part of my thesis to study the efficacy of the Maker-Innovator-Entrepreneur framework of training. Thirteen student start-ups emerged; eight of them are still operating.

Positions

  • Member: Industrial Advisory Committee, Mechanical & Industrial Eng. Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
  • Board Member: New Hampshire High Tech Council, Manchester, NH, USA
  • Chair Trustee: TechTop Charitable Trust, Trivandrum, Kerala, India

Recognition

  • Tata Fellowship:2012
    MIT-Tata Center for Technology & Design
  • Green IT Award: 2010
    Japanese Ministry for Economy, Trade & Industry
    For technology from patent on data centre cooling and thermal management
  • Entrepreneur of the Year:2001
    New Hampshire High Tech Council
  • Entrepreneur of the YearFinalist:2002
    Ernst & Young EoY New England Award.
  • 13 US Patents:
    Airflow sensing, Thermal management, Green IT and Childcare products
  • TEDx Beaconstreet: 2014
    ‘Starting Up Entrepreneurs’