Vijay Chandru (Ph.D., MIT 1982) is an academic entrepreneur recognized as a‘Technology Pioneer’ by the World Economic Forum in 2006. His academic career indata and decision sciences spanned almost four decades at Purdue University (1982-92)and the Indian Institute of Science since 1992. He also serves as an advisor to theKarnataka State in Science & Technology and is an (emeritus) DistinguishedTechnologist of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and adjunct professor atthe Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science.He is a co-founder and director of Strand Life Sciences, India’s leading precisionmedicine solutions company, where he served as executive chairman from its inception in2000 till 2018. Strand Life Sciences now has over 15 diagnostic laboratories and over 400employees spread across India. The laboratories are accredited by CAP and ISO 15189and Strand is a recognized national leader in research bioinformatics and oncologyrelated molecular diagnostics. Chandru is deeply engaged in the entrepreneurialecosystem in Bangalore and has been a mentor to several deep technology innovationstartups here. He serves as a Pioneer in the recently launched AI Foundry in Bangalore.