Dr. Rajan Kapur
Dr. Rajan Kapur started his career at the world-renowned Bell Labs. Since 1985 he has exclusively been at start-ups, working first with micro-chips in the Silicon Valley, and then micro-displays in Colorado. In 2006, he transitioned to renewable energy and founded a solar micro-inverter company that he later sold. Since then, he has run a sustainability incubator in his garage in Colorado, working with small dispersed teams on early-stage projects, with participants from the US and abroad.
In the leadership team at IEEE Smart Village, an all-volunteer humanitarian seed-fund cum incubator, he works with local entities in underserved regions around the world. They leverage renewable energy, education and enterprise development to improve livelihoods through productive use of energy. Current projects include eco-tourism in India, gem-stone cutting in Zambia, electrification to combat deforestation in Argentina, a K-12 sustainability curriculum development in Vietnam, peri-urban aquaculture in Malawi and India, agri-processing in Nigeria and Ghana, a Solar Living Lab in the Navajo Nation in the US etc. Working with Rotary International, he has funded telehealth projects in Uganda and Kenya. He is facilitating an oxygen plant deployment at a hospital in Manali, and a medical “Lab in Palm” pilot deployment, both in India.
At IIT Mandi, India, he has been working for three years to explore state-subsidy free approaches to deployment of e-vehicles in the Himalayan foothills. He has mentored community leaders to establish an NGO to pilot deployment of electric 3-wheelers, revive traditional use of wild plants, and seed-fund women’s self help groups in hilly regions of northern India.
At Twyce Energy, he is working with a four-person team to develop low-cost cooling systems. The team has commenced R&D in Chennai, India.
Dr. Kapur is the holder of five issued US patents. He holds Electrical Engineering degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Rice University, Houston and the University of Texas at Austin.
