G20 podium
Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Prof Abhay Karandikar, former Director of IIT Kanpur, took charge as the new Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) from Dr Rajesh Gokhale.
Prof Karandikar is an electrical engineer and is renowned for his contributions to the telecommunications sector of the country. He developed the concept of “Frugal 5G Network” to enable affordable rural broadband connectivity and contributed to the telecom policy and regulations that were included in national-level telecom policies.
Besides, leading a group that made contributions to numerous global standardisation initiatives on telecommunications, he spearheaded a national effort in setting up the Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India’s standards body for telecom with participation of all stakeholders.
An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Prof Karandikar started his career in IIT Bombay where he later became the Dean (Faculty Affairs) followed by the head of the Electrical Engineering Department, first Professor-in- charge of IIT Bombay Research Park and the head of Computer Centre of IIT Bombay. This was followed by his appointment as the Director of IIT Kanpur, his very own alma mater.
He along with his group innovated SDN- based architecture to bring together multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATS) under a unified control and management framework as part of the 5G networks.
