Kochi, Kerala · Engineer · Entrepreneur · Mentor
Founder and Managing Director of Amara Raja Design Alpha. For four decades he has worked on taking ideas from the research lab to products on the market: in photonics, healthcare and electronics, and through the startups he mentors.
01 · About
Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair is an electrical engineer, photonics technologist, entrepreneur and author based in Kochi, Kerala, India. He is the founder and Managing Director of Amara Raja Design Alpha Pvt. Ltd., a product design and engineering company that has supported more than 30 deep-tech startups. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay, was Global Chief Technology Officer of the NeST Group, chaired the IEEE India Council in 2021–22, and wrote Product Sense: Engineering Your Ideas into Reality (Notion Press, 2024).
Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair is an alumnus of the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay, where he earned his PhD. He began his career at TIFR and then at SAMEER, the R&D laboratory of India's Ministry of Information Technology. There he set up the Design and Engineering Centre in Integrated Optics (DECIO), which was regarded as the country's leading integrated-optics laboratory in the 1990s.
In 1999 he joined SFO Technologies, the technology arm of the NeST Group. He built its optical passive and active design and volume-manufacturing capability and rose to Global Chief Technology Officer, leading the group's technology strategy.
At 50 he became a founder himself. He started Innobreeze Technologies to develop affordable healthcare devices, then Biophoton Technologies, and in 2017 Design Alpha, a product design company for deep-science startups. After a strategic investment by Amara Raja Electronics in 2023, Design Alpha became Amara Raja Design Alpha, where he serves as Managing Director.
He has more than 100 publications, 18 patents and over 200 technical reports. He has given hundreds of invited talks to students and engineers, and he is especially committed to linking academia with industry and to mentoring young entrepreneurs.
02 · Journey
R&D laboratory of the Department of Information Technology, Government of India. As Senior Research Scientist he led more than 50 scientists working on radars, electronic circuits and integrated-optic circuits. He managed the USD 17 million government programme that set up the Design and Engineering Centre in Integrated Optics (DECIO), with design CAD, clean room and precision fibre-alignment facilities; it was judged the best integrated-optics centre in the country. There his team built India's first single-mode integrated-optic 1×8 splitter and 2.4 GHz external modulator. For the Indian MST Radar he designed a bi-phase coded RF modulator for the transmitter and a way to calibrate its 130 m × 130 m antenna array using radio stars such as Virgo.
Deputy General Manager, then Director & Head of the NeST R&D Centre, leading more than 100 engineers. Built the photonics design and volume-manufacturing facilities that grew into a global photonics business, including SFO Technologies Optronics in Kochi, a Verizon-qualified high-volume plant. He also helped SFO Technologies win R&D recognition from DSIR.
Led technology strategy and innovation across the group's electronics, fibre-optic, RF and special-purpose systems businesses.
Incubated at KINFRA Biotechnology Park, Kochi. Developed BreezeScan, a non-invasive, optical-fibre-based oral cancer screening device (later merged with Biophoton Technologies).
Biophotonics healthcare products, including phototherapy systems (fibre-blanket and LED), vein viewers, optical sanitisation devices and patient nerve-monitoring systems.
A product design company for deep-science and engineering startups, created in collaboration with Social Alpha and recognised as an R&D facility by DSIR.
After Amara Raja Electronics' strategic investment, Design Alpha was renamed Amara Raja Design Alpha Pvt. Ltd.
03 · Amara Raja Design Alpha
Infopark Phase 2, Kakkanad, Kochi
Design Alpha started in 2017 to give deep-tech founders the engineering expertise that hardware products need. It has supported more than 30 early-stage startups on the journey from lab to market, working in sectors such as healthcare, environment, agriculture, defence and transportation.
In July 2023, Amara Raja Electronics Ltd., part of the Amara Raja Group, made a strategic investment in the company, and it became Amara Raja Design Alpha Pvt. Ltd. It now offers end-to-end product development, from custom design and engineering to turnkey volume manufacturing and lifecycle management.
04 · The book
Engineering Your Ideas into Reality
A practical guide to hardware product development, from the first idea through design, prototyping and manufacturing to a product that is ready for market. It pairs theory with lessons learned in practice: the common pitfalls, how to innovate around them, and the mindset that technology startups need.
Prescribed as a textbook at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala
At KTU it is the main text for the course Design Thinking and Product Development. The university's Board of Studies chairman has said about 37,500 students a year will study it.
05 · Innovation
A portable, non-invasive device that screens for oral cancer by analysing light reflected from tissue through an optical-fibre probe. The screening takes about two minutes. It won first rank at the DST–Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme 2014 and was among the top three innovations picked for commercial potential at TiE Silicon Valley. Innobreeze received DSIR TePP funding to build the proof of concept.
The Economic Times coverage →Biophotonics healthcare products: advanced phototherapy systems (fibre-blanket and LED), vein viewers, optical sanitisation devices and patient nerve-monitoring systems.
At SAMEER he built an integrated-optics laboratory. At NeST he set up clean-room, die-bonding, laser-welding and precision-alignment facilities for optical active and passive products sold to customers around the world.
His team designed fibre-to-the-home systems for apartment buildings, from the central-office distribution frame to the street cabinet, basement collector and floor terminal, all tested to Telcordia standards. Verizon chose them over products from global suppliers such as Corning, Fujikura and AFL. It was the first time Verizon accepted a product from India for field use.
In 2004 he predicted that fibre networks would need protection from physical intrusion. The Fiber Sentinel System that followed uses patented WaveSense™ technology to watch a fibre link in real time and detect tapping, eavesdropping attempts and cable cuts.
A wavelength-independent fibre coupler for FTTH networks did very well in Japan, where Hitachi and Toshiba became top clients. An erbium-doped fibre amplifier developed with CGCRI Kolkata was commercialised, earns the institute a royalty on every unit, and won a best-project award under a Government of India five-year plan.
16 US patents and 2 Indian patents, mostly in fibre-optic networks and components.
From radar signal processing to integrated and fibre optics.
06 · IEEE
IEEE Senior Member · Kerala Section
An IEEE member for about 30 years, he helped found the IEEE Kochi Subsection and chaired it for three consecutive terms. He went on to chair the Kerala Section and then the IEEE India Council. He now champions entrepreneurship across IEEE Region 10 (Asia Pacific).
He helped make the Kochi Subsection one of the best in the region, with more than 150 events a year, and in 2017, under his chairmanship, the Kerala Section held more than 1,000. He led the Kochi Subsection volunteers who built E-Scientia, a mock space lab at the Centre for Science in Society, CUSAT, on the general guidelines of a project from Uruguay; it is the first indigenously built one, and about 50 school students visit it every day. In 2024 he ran the IEEE project Enabling Academicians and Returning Women as Potential Entrepreneurs across Regions 10, 9 and 8, with MGA support.
07 · Recognition
08 · Teaching & outreach
Classrooms, incubators and lecture halls.
He introduced Industrial Photonics as a semester subject in the M.Tech programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and taught it on an honorary basis. He has guided around 30 M.Tech students and 5 PhD scholars, and has examined PhD theses for ISP CUSAT, VIT Vellore and IIT Bombay.
He has given more than 275 invited talks to over 35,000 students and young people, including at the Institute for Plasma Research, Ahmedabad. He mentors founders at the IIT Madras Incubation Centre's design clinic and BUILD programme.
His articles include "Demystifying Product Development", for hard-tech founders, and "How to Venture into Electronics Export Business" in Electronics For You.
09 · Work with Dr. Nair
Each path below links to the right place to start the conversation.
Amara Raja Design Alpha offers end-to-end product development, from custom design and engineering to turnkey volume manufacturing and lifecycle management.
Visit Amara Raja Design Alpha →Design Alpha has supported more than 30 deep-tech startups, and he chairs the IEEE Region 10 Ad Hoc Committee on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2024–25).
Ask about mentoring on LinkedIn →He has given more than 275 invited talks to students and engineers, with a focus on linking academia with industry.
Invite him to speak →His book on hardware product development is prescribed as a textbook at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala.
See the book and where to buy it →10 · FAQ
Short, factual answers. Tap a question to expand it, or .
Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair is an electrical engineer, photonics technologist, entrepreneur and author based in Kochi, Kerala, India. He is the founder and Managing Director of Amara Raja Design Alpha Pvt. Ltd., a product design and engineering company that has supported more than 30 deep-tech startups. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay, was Global Chief Technology Officer of the NeST Group, chaired the IEEE India Council in 2021–22, and wrote Product Sense: Engineering Your Ideas into Reality (Notion Press, 2024).
Product Sense: Engineering Your Ideas into Reality (Notion Press, 2024) by Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair is a practical guide to hardware product development. It follows a product from the first idea through design, prototyping and manufacturing to market readiness, and pairs theory with practical lessons on common pitfalls and the mindset technology startups need. It is prescribed as a textbook at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala. The paperback ISBN is 979-8-89277-847-3, and it is also available as an eBook.
Amara Raja Design Alpha Pvt. Ltd. is a product design and engineering company at Infopark, Kakkanad, Kochi. Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair founded it as Design Alpha in 2017 to help deep-tech hardware startups, and it is recognised as an R&D facility by DSIR. It has supported more than 30 early-stage startups. In July 2023 Amara Raja Electronics Ltd. made a strategic investment and the company was renamed Amara Raja Design Alpha. Dr. Nair is its Managing Director.
Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair is an IEEE Senior Member and has been an IEEE member for about 30 years. He was Founder Vice Chair (2012) and then Chair (2013–15) of the IEEE Kochi Subsection, Chair of the IEEE Kerala Section (2016–17), Chair of the IEEE India Council (2021–22) and its Immediate Past Chair (2023). In 2024–25 he chairs the IEEE Region 10 Ad Hoc Committee on Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He received a First Rank Gold Medal in his Master of Technology.
He founded Innobreeze Technologies in 2010, which developed the BreezeScan oral cancer screening device; Biophoton Technologies in 2014, which makes biophotonics healthcare products; and Design Alpha in 2017, now Amara Raja Design Alpha Pvt. Ltd.
BreezeScan is a portable, non-invasive oral cancer screening device developed by Innobreeze Technologies, the company Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair founded. It analyses light reflected from tissue through an optical-fibre probe, and a screening takes about two minutes. It won first rank at the DST–Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme in 2014.
His awards include the IEEE India Council Exceptional Leadership Award, presented by IEEE President Kathleen A. Kramer at the Council's Golden Jubilee, the IEEE India Council Chair Lifetime Achievement Award (2024), the IEEE Kerala Section Outstanding Industry Contribution Award (2023), the DST–Lockheed Martin India Innovation Award (Rank 1, 2014), the IETE B.V. Baliga Award (2005) and the IETE CEOT Award for Opto-electronics (2002). He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Optical Society of India (2021) and a Fellow of IETE.
The best way to reach Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair about product design partnerships, mentoring, speaking or the book is through LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/suresh-nair-5b708123.
Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair has more than 100 publications, 18 patents (16 US and 2 Indian) and over 200 technical reports. His US patents include 8,081,858 (a compact, high-density central-office fibre distribution system) and 8,081,857 and 8,437,596 (a fibre distribution terminal with a rotating storage spool). His Indian patent 261028 covers truly fused 1×4 fibre couplers. He has also given more than 275 invited talks to students and engineers.
From 1985 to 1999 Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair was at SAMEER, a Government of India R&D laboratory, where he became a Senior Research Scientist leading more than 50 scientists. He managed the USD 17 million programme that set up the Design and Engineering Centre in Integrated Optics, which was judged the best integrated-optics centre in the country, and his team built India's first single-mode integrated-optic 1×8 splitter and 2.4 GHz external modulator. For the Indian MST Radar he designed a bi-phase coded RF modulator for the transmitter and a method to calibrate its 130 m × 130 m antenna array using radio stars such as Virgo.
At SFO Technologies (NeST Group) he led more than 100 engineers. His team's fibre-to-the-home systems for apartment buildings were selected by Verizon over global suppliers such as Corning, Fujikura and AFL, the first time Verizon accepted a product from India for field use. Other products include a wavelength-independent fibre coupler that did very well in Japan with Hitachi and Toshiba as top clients, the Fiber Sentinel System for detecting intrusion on fibre links, and an erbium-doped fibre amplifier developed with CGCRI Kolkata.
E-Scientia is a mock space lab at the Centre for Science in Society, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). IEEE Kochi Subsection volunteers led by Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair built it locally, on the general guidelines of a project from Uruguay. It is the first indigenously built E-Scientia lab, and about 50 school students visit it every day.
He is on the Governing Council of the Centre for Programmable Photonics ICs and Systems (CPPICS) at IIT Madras, appointed by MeitY, and in 2024 chaired the National Centre for Quantum Accelerator using Lithium Niobate at IIT Kharagpur. He has chaired DeitY project monitoring committees on fibre lasers and breast cancer detection, and is a member of the BIS technical committee LITD11. He has also served on the Research Council of CGCRI, the Academic Advisory Board of NIT Kozhikode and the Kerala State IT Mission.
He introduced Industrial Photonics as a semester subject in the M.Tech programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and taught it on an honorary basis. He has guided around 30 M.Tech students and 5 PhD scholars. His book Product Sense is the main text for the course Design Thinking and Product Development at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala.
He joined SFO Technologies, the technology arm of the NeST Group, in 1999. He was Deputy General Manager, then Director and Head of the NeST R&D Centre, where he built the photonics design and volume-manufacturing facilities. He later became the Global Chief Technology Officer of the NeST Group, leading technology strategy across its electronics, fibre-optic, RF and special-purpose systems businesses.
Besides Product Sense: Engineering Your Ideas into Reality (Notion Press, 2024), he wrote Harnessing Light: Selected Topics in Photonics (CUSAT, 2004) and Light Century (Malayalam, 2015).
The paperback of Product Sense: Engineering Your Ideas into Reality is sold by Notion Press (ISBN 979-8-89277-847-3). The eBook (ISBN 979-8-89277-999-9) is available on Kindle and Kobo.
11 · Contact
For product design partnerships, mentoring, speaking or the book, the best way to reach Dr. Nair is on LinkedIn.
Updates
Occasional updates on design, product thinking and new writing from Dr. K.R. Suresh Nair, author of Product Sense.