Neelarnab Dutta Profile

About

An enthusiastic designer cum researcher with hands-on experience in Product design and Engineering field, with a strong spirit for frugal innovation and technology know-how.

Areas of interest: Industrial Design, Product design and engineering, Medical device innovation, Interaction design, Usability engineering, Design research methods, Design methods, Artificial intelligence, Concept art and Animation, Electronic engineering and embedded system development, Design for manufacturing, Computer-aided design and prototyping

Current position: Prime Ministers Reserach Fellow & PhD Scholar at Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.

Received Prime Minister's Research Fellowship (PMRF) in May 2020 for ongoing Doctoral research at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG).

PhD period: Jan 2020 - Dec 2024
Courses done: Design research methods, Design based project, Research based project, Computer vision
CGPA: 9.75 out of 10

PhD Research Topic: India centric design approach for health technology innovation and implementation.
Advisor: Dr. Debayan Dhar, Assistant Professor, Department of Design, IIT Guwahati

Doctoral research work

Research Topic: Design approaches for health technology innovation and implementation in Low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings like India

Summary: The research aimed to address fundamental issues of medical technology innovation in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) from the perspective of design approach. It discloses various LMICI-specific challenges, factors of medical technology innovation and how they impact innovation management activities in the LMIC settings. The research contributes by providing an executable framework, design tools and methodologies that will make the life of an innovator and MedTech entrepreneur easy for successful commercialization and diffusion. Additionally, the research explores specific AI interventions to deal with poor healthcare service due to the lack of skilled professionals in resource-poor settings and generated guidelines to evaluate the usability of such a system. The research outcome will enable healthcare innovations to take place in terms of clinical outcomes as well as address socio-economic issues involved with healthcare implementation and delivery.

Objectives and results:

1. To identify medical biotech innovation challenges and barriers in LMICs like India and analyze how they impact firm-level innovation management activities and define a theoretical working model.

Status: Completed.

Outcomes: 22 LMIC-specific challenges and barriers to medical technology innovation under 5 factors were identified. The influence of these factors and issues on various innovation management activities was analyzed. The study synthesized a comprehensive technology innovation model for medical technology innovation in the LMIC context.

2. To compare existing design processes in addressing healthcare innovation-related challenges and identify requirements for methodological aid.

Status: Completed.

Outcomes: A comparative analysis of design processes including the Stanford Biodesign Process and User Centered Design (UCD) Process was conducted to understand their scope and limitations with medical device design and implementation. As an outcome, various requirements for methodological aid in Medical technology innovation projects were synthesized.

3. To define a medical technology innovation framework, toolsets and methodologies for LMICs like India and evaluate the same using appropriate methodology.

Status: Work in progress

Outcomes: NA

4. To explore the applicability of Conversational AI systems in assisting healthcare delivery in resource constraint setting and develop usability guidelines for evaluating such a system.

Status: Completed.

Outcomes: The study explores the interaction requirements of a clinical procedure to be implemented with the help of a Conversational User interface (CUI). Two CUIs were developed, user tested to identify various usability issues and later via thematic analysis s set of 23 heuristics was synthesized. The study identifies 13 additional heuristics on top of Nielson’s heuristics for the design and evaluation of Conversational AI-based user interfaces for medical systems.

Publications and Patents

Patents
Papers
Funded projects

Apparatus and method for Cervical cancer screening.

Indian Patent Provisional Application No. IN202131004758, INNOVATORS: Neelarnab Dutta, Debayan Dhar
Multitherapeutic Wound healing and diagnostic device and method thereof

Indian Patent Provisional Application No. IN202131004757, INNOVATORS: Neelarnab Dutta, Debayan Dhar
Screening and diagnostic apparatus and method thereof

Indian Patent Provisional Application No. IN201931031494, INNOVATOR: Neelarnab Dutta
Internet of Things (IOT) enabled wearable medicine dispenser and method for using thereof

Indian Patent Provisional Application No. IN201931032318, INNOVATOR: Neelarnab Dutta
A wound dressing for combined negative pressure and fluid delivery system

International Publication Numbers: IN201711008310, WO2018163093Al, JP2020516333A, AU2018231771A1, CN110650755A, EP3592400A1, INNOVATORS: Neelarnab Dutta, Dr.Shivani Gupta, Roshan Gurung, Dr.Taihei Fujii
Portable Endoscope

International Publication Numbers: IN201611041005, WO2018100587A1, JP2020500617A, INNOVATORS: Neelarnab Dutta, Dr.Shivani Gupta, Roshan Gurung, Dr.Taihei Fujii
Multipurpose geometric instrument

Indian Patent Provisional Application No: IN201641005297, INNOVATORS: Neelarnab Dutta, Mohit Arora.

From Industrial Design to Healthcare Innovation—A Comparative Study on the Role of User-Centered Design and Stanford Biodesign Process.

Dutta N., Dhar D. (2021) From Industrial Design to Healthcare Innovation—A Comparative Study on the Role of User-Centered Design and Stanford Biodesign Process. In: Chakrabarti A., Poovaiah R., Bokil P., Kant V. (eds) Design for Tomorrow—Volume 3. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 223. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0084-5_55

Project entitled "Combined Negative pressure and oxygen therapy for accelerated healing of chronic wounds"

Principal Investigator (PI), Project funded in 2017 by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under Industry Innovation Programme on Medical Electronics (IIPME)
Project entitled "A frugal multi therapeutic wound care solution for resource constraint healthcare settings"

Initial Principal Investigator (PI), Project funded in 2019 by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG)

Resume

Achievements

Fellowships

Prime Minister's Research Fellowship 2020 (PMRF)
Biodesign i-Fellowship 2016 (Stanford India Biodesign Fellowship)

Grants

BIRAC-Biotech Ignition Grant (BIG) grant in 2019 for developing Frugal Wound healing technology at Inochi Care Pvt. Ltd.
BIRAC-Industry Innovation Programme On Medical Electronics (IIPME) grant in 2017 for developing Multitherapeutic Wound Healing Device at Inochi Care Pvt. Ltd.

Awards

MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific 2019 award, held in Japan for developing multitherapeutic wound healing device at Inochi Care Pvt. Ltd
Pfizer Entrepreneurship Award 2018 for developing multitherapeutic wound healing device at Inochi Care Pvt. Ltd
International Design Award (IDA) 2008 winner for Computer Graphics Character Design
Humanity online Photo-realistic Character design contest 2008

Others

All India Rank 7 (99.33 percentile) in Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED) 2007
Founded two MedTech start-ups: Inochi Care Pvt. Ltd and Abhedya Innovations Pvt. Ltd

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Ongoing), Design Research

2020 - 2024

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG)

Major courses studied: Design Research Methods, Design based Projects, research based projects, Computer vision

Master of Technology (M.Tech), Data Science & Engineering

2018 - 2020

Birla Institute of Technology (BITS) Pilani

Major courses studied: Data Structure and algorithm Design, Data mining, Computer Organization and Software systems, Mathematics foundation for Data Science, Introduction to Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Intro to Statistical Methods, Probabilistic Graphical Models, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Graph Algorithms and mining, Dissertation Project.

IP Nucleus Advance certification, Intellectual Properties & Management

2014 - 2015

Global Institute of Intellectual Property, New Delhi

Courses include Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP), International Treatise and Conventions, All about Trademarks, All about Patents, Trade Secrets, GI, Plant Varieties and other forms of IP, Copyrights and Related Rights, Industrial Design Protection, Patents and Patent Process (India), The Patent – Substantive (US), Patents and Patent Process (EP), PCT and PCT Process, IP Licensing and Valuation, Patent Searches and Analysis, Claims Drafting and Patent Infringement and Litigation.

Master of Design (M.Des), Product design & Engineering

2007 - 2009

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore

Major courses studied: Elements of Design, Elements of Engineering Design, Creative Engineering Design, Materials Manufacturing and Design, Product visualization, communication and presentation, Product planning and marketing, Product Design, Computer Aided Design, Mechatronics, Design of Automotive Systems, Design management, Applied ergonomics, Mini Design Project, Computer Aided Product Design, Technology and sustainable Development, Advance materials and manufacturing, Dissertation Project.

Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Electronics & Communication Engineering

2003 - 2007

North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST)

Professional Experience

Prime Minister’s Research Fellow

2020 - Present

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Teaching design courses like Packaging Design, Color and Form study in School of Design, Royal Global University as IITG's outreach education program
Created course contents for NPTEL web lectures
Involved in Teachning Assistantship of Departmental courses

Founder, Director

2019 - present

Abhedya Innovations Private Limited, India

Initiated project "A modular and versatile cancer screening platform for enabling early screening and diagnostics of surface and soft tissue cancer."
Initiated project "A low cost portable wound healing technology for accelerated healing of chronic wounds in resource constraint settings"

Co-Founder, Director, Design and Development Head

2017 - 2019

Inochi Care Private Limited, India

Developed medical device for accelerated healing of chronic wounds like diabetic foot ulcers, pressure sores, infected wounds etc. The technology overcome the challenges of clinically complex wounds by exudates removal, reducing inflammation and edema, enhancing cell proliferation and tissue perfusion and controlling microbial growth.
Involved in technology development, operation and project management activities

Biodesign iFellow

2016 - 2017

School of International Biodesign, AIIMS, India

The Bio-design Fellowship is a medical innovation and entrepreneurship program funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India implemented by AIIMS, IIT Delhi in collaboration with few foreign Universities. During the fellowship we did clinical immersion across the health care pyramid, Learnt about the Bio-design process, Entrepreneurship, Quality management system, Health care regulation and safety certification and intellectual property management
Filed two medical device patents under the guidance of Faculties from AIIMS and IIT Delhi.

Lead Product Designer / Researcher at Innovation Lab

2011 - 2015

TATA ELXSI, Bangalore, India

Responsible as a designer to handle various client projects related to design research, product design and innovation, aesthetic design
Lead an Innovation Lab for creating intellectual properties and to bring up various innovative projects for client pitch, by finding unmet need areas, doing user centric research and market study, product conceptualization followed by developing proof of concept with engineering solution.
Play the role of an electronic engineer to support the design house with embedded design and hardware / firmware development.
Help in creating marketing contents and product working demo reel through cg animations.

Industrial Designer

Aug 2011 - Nov 2011

VAKL, Masan, South Korea

Worked in a startup environment to design and develop the company’s first patentable product which was a customizable multi-language docking keyboard for tablet PCs. VAKL Corporation exhibits VAKL Multi-Language Keyboard (keypad) system in 2012 Hong kong International Electronic Show.

Member of Engineering staff / Researcher

2009 - 2011

Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, South Korea

Responsible for research and concept design of software tools, technologies related to computer graphics animation and game design.
Played the role of a designer to come up with computer vision technology related product concept and prototype.
Played the role of a computer graphics generalist to create demo reels for in-house software tools and products.
Involved in computer graphics animation pipeline from initial concept design to final production.