IISc's FSID Appoints First Industry Leader as CEO to Scale Deep-Tech Incubation

In a major governance shift aimed at accelerating commercial technology translation, the Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has appointed Omprakash Subbarao as its chief executive officer. This marks the first time that an industry professional, rather than an IISc faculty member, has been chosen to lead the institute's primary innovation and incubation arm. Under the restructured framework, Subbarao will exercise full operational autonomy to manage daily operations, corporate engagement, and startup incubation, reporting directly to the FSID Board. Meanwhile, Professor Suryasarthy Bose will serve as Professor-in-Charge to maintain institutional alignment with IISc. Subbarao previously headed CORE Labs within FSID, driving research partnerships with major enterprise clients. FSID has outlined ambitious targets under this new leadership structure, aiming to undertake 1,000 corporate industry projects and expand its incubation portfolio to 300 deep-tech startups by 2030. Operating under the vision "Built on Science, Scaled for the World," the organization intends to deepen collaborative R&D with multinational corporations, Indian enterprise groups, and MSMEs through its dedicated Innovation Hub (iHUB). This transition strengthens IISc's role in translating academic research into commercially viable technology solutions.