Sachin Arya is a higher education specialist with 17+ years of experience in university functions. He is currently the CEO, Incubation & Entrepreneurship, managing 4 technology incubators at BITS campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai. He has been responsible for many policies and programs, including the BITS Innovation and Start-up Policy that allows students to take a year off for pursuing entrepreneurship, faculty entrepreneurship policy, a PhD program with focus on enabling deep tech entrepreneurship, amongst others.

Sachin is passionate about creating and strengthening innovation ecosystem in tertiary education for student entrepreneurs. His personal interest include understanding and enabling creation of deep-tech startups.

Dr. Saakshi Dhanekar is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India. She is co-founder and Director of ‘Sensekriti Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd’. Her current research includes the fabrication to prototype development of sensors for social causes. She has more than 40 research papers, total six Indian and US patents filed of which five patents have been granted. She is on Editorial Board of the IEEE Sensors Letters, Senior Member IEEE and Member- at- Large, IEEE Sensors Council. Also, she is chairing an IEEE Sensors chapter jointly with Delhi and Rajasthan.

Rishi A Sharma serves as the Community Manager at PIEDS BITS Pilani, where he oversees programs that support early-stage ventures, with a focus on sectors such as Gen AI and semiconductors. He brings extensive experience from roles at SIIC IIT Kanpur and NSRCEL IIM Bangalore, where he led initiatives like the BIRAC BIG Scheme, Mission Bharat O2, and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Finance for Growth, enabling startups to access critical resources and funding.

In addition to his professional roles, Rishi co-founded MenteSano, a venture in the health and wellness segment. His expertise lies in strategic program development, ecosystem building, and supporting startups in scaling their impact.