Some stories begin with discovery.
Mine began with confusion.
I was an engineering student once, buried in blueprints and mechanical sketches, when a professor remarked that the project I had been working on was “patentable”. That word — patentable — was unfamiliar, but it sounded powerful. I did what any curious student would do: I went online, asked around, and tried to find someone who could help me protect my work.
What I found instead was a labyrinth. There was no one in my city who could offer a clear, affordable, and accessible solution. Every conversation I had made the process seem more complicated than before. I remember thinking that if this is how hard it was for a student to secure an idea, how many other innovations must be slipping away unnoticed?
That unanswered question became the seed of everything that followed.
I started studying patents and Intellectual Property (IP) Rights. When I completed my Bachelor’s in Production Engineering from the University of Pune, I decided to do something unconventional. Rather than entering manufacturing or design, I founded the Kanadlab Institute of Intellectual Property and Research in 2017 — a firm dedicated to making IP protection understandable, affordable, and accessible to all.
It was an unusual decision at that stage of my life. I had no formal IP background, but I had the conviction that innovation deserves protection, not privilege. What began as a small initiative has now become an institution that has eventually facilitated over 1,200 successful IP registrations and assisted more than 1,500 innovators, startups, MSMEs, and academic institutions. We currently have a small team of 12 IP experts catering to different domains of IP.
In those early years, I also realized that to facilitate inventors effectively, I needed to understand IP from its roots — not only as a procedural system but as a global mechanism that shapes how societies reward innovation. That realization took me across continents and disciplines.
I pursued my first postgraduate degree, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property and New Technologies from Jagiellonian University in Poland, one of Europe’s oldest and most distinguished institutions. This program gave me the structural foundation of IP — the legal principles, the treaties, and the jurisprudence that underpin innovation ecosystems. What fascinated me most was how European IP systems balanced protection with public interest, allowing creativity to thrive within frameworks of fairness.
Later, I was drawn to study how IP contributes to broader social and economic development, and that quest led me to the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in South Korea, where I completed my Master’s in Intellectual Property and Development Policy. The experience was transformative. At KDI, I learned that IP is not merely a legal mechanism but a developmental instrument — one that can drive national innovation, empower entrepreneurs, and generate inclusive growth.
At KDI School, I was a Scholar of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, Geneva), a specialized UN agency promoting innovation and creativity for economic, social, and cultural development worldwide. This experience gave me a global, comparative understanding of IP regimes across countries and allowed me to work in a multicultural group, gaining firsthand insights into diverse cultures, philosophies, and traditions. It also helped me to travel, attend conferences and build an international network of researchers, practitioners, and experts, broadening my perspective on how IP can drive development, foster innovation, and support inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Since 2017, Kanadlab became my intellectual laboratory.
I began facilitating inventors, entrepreneurs, and institutions in identifying what was truly worth protecting — not just filing for the sake of formality, but creating strategic portfolios that aligned with their business goals. I learned that IP, at its best, is not reactive but proactive. It should anticipate growth, not merely defend it.
My expertise naturally gravitated toward patents and industrial designs — two domains that bridge engineering creativity with legal protection. Over time, I developed a specialisation in patent drafting, filing, and prosecution, as well as in design protection for industrial products and innovations. Beyond the procedural aspects, I focused on the analytical and strategic dimensions — conducting freedom-to-operate studies, invalidity analyses, and technology landscaping to help clients make informed, forward-looking decisions.
At present, our clients range from small inventors sketching prototypes in their workshops to established research institutions managing complex IP portfolios. What connects them all is a shared aspiration — to ensure that their ideas remain theirs. And that is where I come in: as the person who translates imagination into enforceable rights, and rights into economic advantage.
Yet, to me, consulting has never been limited to filing and prosecution. It is a dialogue between IP law and innovation, between creativity and commerce. I often tell clients that IP is like architecture: every clause and claim is a brick, every drawing a blueprint. If constructed carefully, it can become an edifice that shelters their ideas from erosion and imitation.
The more I worked, the more I realised that awareness — not policy, not process — was India’s greatest gap in IP. There are still countless innovators across India who have no idea that their creations are patentable or design-protectable. I felt an obligation to change that.
Over the years, I conducted more than 300 expert sessions, workshops, and webinars across universities, incubators, and innovation forums, reaching out to over 50,000 students, researchers, and entrepreneurs. These sessions were not just lectures; they were conversations about turning creativity into capital. I explained to technologists how patents could attract investors, to startups how design registrations could differentiate their products, and to academics how IP could fuel institutional recognition.
I have been invited to speak on IP at numerous prestigious national and international platforms and institutions, such as Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Global Intellectual Property Alliance (GLIPA), the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), Institution of Engineers India (IEI), various IITs, and other leading academic and industry forums. I have also been a TEDx speaker, sharing my journey of engaging over 50,000 students, researchers, and entrepreneurs through IP outreach programs, and demonstrating how IP can transform ideas into impactful innovations and entrepreneurial success.
My work gradually began to extend beyond individual inventors to institutions and policymakers. I was invited to collaborate as an advisor and consultant to several incubation centers and educational institutions, helping them develop internal IP policies, training frameworks, and technology-transfer strategies.
These roles allowed me to see how IP functions not just at the level of individuals but at the ecosystem level — how universities can build stronger research portfolios, how startups can integrate IP into their fundraising strategies, and how MSMEs can use design protection as a tool for market expansion.
I also had the privilege of working with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur, under its Centre of Excellence on Intellectual Property (CoEIP) as a Principal Scientist. There, I led and coordinated several institutional IP activities — from portfolio management and policy drafting to capacity building for faculty and students. It was an intellectually stimulating period. I saw first-hand the challenges of translating research into patents, and patents into commercialisation — challenges that continue to shape my approach to consulting even today.
Over the years, my professional journey has taken me to around fifteen countries, attending conferences, delivering guest lectures, and consulting on projects that intersect innovation and IP strategy. Each country offered a different perspective — in some, IP is treated as an economic currency; in others, as a tool of diplomacy; and in a few, as a moral right. These experiences broadened my understanding of IP as a universal language of progress — one that transcends borders, industries, and cultures.
But beyond all travel, titles, and achievements, what continues to drive me is a simple, unchanging motivation: the joy of helping an idea find its rightful place in the world.
I often reflect on why I love this profession so deeply. Perhaps it is because IP sits at the confluence of creativity, law, and economics — a place where the abstract becomes tangible. Every project completed taught me something new about human ingenuity: a scientist working on a breakthrough formula, an artisan refining a new design, a startup founder reimagining everyday life. My work allows me to enter these worlds, understand their aspirations, and craft the legal architecture that enables them to grow.
I take immense satisfaction in knowing that I am, in some way, part of their journey — not as a consultant behind the desk, but as a collaborator, a translator of ideas into rights, and rights into opportunities.
My consulting philosophy is deeply pragmatic. IP is not a decorative achievement; it is a strategic tool. A patent must be more than a piece of paper — it must be a plan. A design registration must not only preserve originality but also create commercial distinction. To that end, my consulting integrates both legal precision and business insight, ensuring that every IP asset contributes to long-term market advantage.
At the same time, I continue to engage with the larger mission of democratizing IP awareness in India. I believe that the next phase of India’s innovation revolution will not come from the metros alone, but from the small cities and towns — from engineers, researchers, and creators who are waiting to be empowered. My goal is to bring IP literacy and accessibility to those regions, to build an ecosystem where every innovator knows the worth of their creation.
Looking back, the journey from that puzzled engineering student to a consultant working across continents has been anything but linear. It has been filled with curiosity, challenge, and conviction.
I often say, and truly believe, that ideas have power — when they cannot be copied. But power alone is not enough. It needs purpose, and purpose needs guidance. That is where IP comes in — not as a shield of exclusivity, but as a system of empowerment.
My mission, therefore, is not merely to protect ideas, but to help them grow — to transform them into assets that sustain livelihoods, attract investment, and inspire innovation. Because when a nation learns to value its ideas, it learns to value its future.
And if my work contributes, even in a small way, to that realization — to taking patents and designs to every corner of India — I would consider that the most meaningful form of success.
