Dr. Venkatesh Balasubramanian is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Design at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He works on various problems of disruptive innovations in product and process developments at IIT Madras.

Dr. Balasubramanians’ academic work at IITM can be classified into three interlinked domains

1. Innovation and Lean Operations

Developed Suzhal Management System (SMS), a methodology to disruptively innovate to develop new products and implement lean operations. SMS has shown a big impact in productivity improvements and various product development initiative have been done in industries ranging from automotive manufacturing to postal services and leather goods manufacturing.

2. Factors in Transportation

Developed methods to understand and objectively measure occupant comfort, performance and health in various modes of transportation such as on- and off-road vehicles, helicopters, 2 wheelers, etc. This has helped create IP, which are licensed by IITM for commercial development of products such as Intelliseat™, an IoT device for driver behavior and performance monitoring. These methods are used to design vehicles with improved ride comfort and contribute towards transportation safety.

3. Devices and Implants

Various disruptive medical devices, materials and implants have been developed that will improve the care given and the cost of care delivery. These have been in disciplines such as cardiac, vascular, orthopaedic, dental, etc.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Balasubramanian had pursued a passion in leadership development. He had helped develop and coordinate a one-year PGPEX program, Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing (VLFM). This program was unique in many ways and the first to have a joint diploma offered by IIMC, IITK and IITM. This program was adopted as the skill and leadership development program of the “Make In India” vision of DIPP, GoI. He had also developed programs for building leadership in engineering and manufacturing excellence for various large and medium sized manufacturing companies.

Dr. Balasubramanian mentors and advices technology based start-ups, SMEs and automotive industries in strategic management, disruptive and sustaining innovations, new product development and productivity improvement. He serves as a member of the Ergonomics Sectional Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and is an Assistant Secretary of the Indian Society of Ergonomics (ISE).

He is an advisor to National Health Mission in Tamilnadu and was part of the team that helped to build TAEI (Tamilnadu Accident and Emergency Initiative), one of India’s comprehensive emergency programs. He also serves on the board of Tamilnadu Ex-Servicemen’s Corporation Limited (TEXCO) as a Director.