Nikhil Agarwal

About

Dr Nikhil Agarwal is India’s foremost expert on Startups, Innovation and Policy. He is currently serving as Managing Director, FITT, IIT-Delhi. Between 2019-24 he was holding the dual charge of CEO of SIIC and AIIDE at IIT - Kanpur. SIIC is the largest tech-incubator in the country with over 300+ incubated startups. IIT Kanpur was ranked #1 in innovation in 2023 in NIRF rankings. Between 2021-22, he was holding additional charge as CEO of C3iHub (Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity of Physical-Systems Innovation Hub) at IIT Kanpur. In 2018, he is appointed as Vice Chairman, Mahaashmita Livelihood Rural Accelerator Program (MILAP), Govt of Maharashtra – a program in joint collaboration with MSRLM and FICCI. In 2014, Indian Prime Minister urged Indian diaspora to return to the country to serve the motherland. Dr Agarwal responded to the call and returned from UK to join Govt of Andhra Pradesh as Chief Executive Officer, Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society (CEO, APIS) to kickstart the statewide innovation agenda between 2015-2017. He is also the founder of Entrepreneur Café – a global movement spread in 110 cities and six continents, connecting over 45,000 entrepreneurs. Dr Agarwal has founded businesses and advised firms on strategic matters in last 20 years of his career. He has worked with global multinationals like Cadbury's, FIC and Zensar (RPG Group). He has lectured at leading universities like Virginia Tech Polytechnic & State University, University of Bradford and University of Cambridge. His articles, interviews and work has been extensively covered in international media including Harvard Business Review Blog, Forbes, CNN Money, BBC Radio, The New York Times and Economic Times. Professor Agarwal has served on many international think tanks and hold leadership positions in global organizations such as WBAF. Between 2006 -13 he served as high-level-advisor to United Nations Global Alliance on ICT & Development (UNGAID). He was the first Asian to be elected as Co-Chair of prestigious Internet Society Advisory Council (ISOC-AC) for 2008-10. Between 2017-19, he was the Hon Fellow of IC2 Institute, University of Texas at Austin. He is recipient of ‘Excellence in Promoting Innovation in Governance” by Govt of Rajasthan, India. Nikhil has earned MPhil (University of Cambridge) and PhD (University of Edinburgh) in United Kingdom. Nikhil has interest in martial arts – he is co-recipient of ‘Guinness World Record’ in Taekwondo in 2017. In his free time (or when he is flying), he likes to read and watch shows on Netflix.