Interview with Prof. Dr. Sanjay Rout – Founder of Innovation Solution Lab
Today we are going to introduce you to Prof. Dr. Sanjay Rout, Founder cum CEO of Innovation Solution Lab. He had received many National/International Fellowship & Awards for his work related to innovation and research, etc. We have interviewed Dr. Sanjay Rout and framed it for you. Let’s know more about him and get some inspiration!
1. Tell us about your education and experience.
I had completed my Graduation in commerce from Sambalpur University, Post-Graduation in Management From IMT Gaziabad, and also done MBA, MSW & PG in Industrial Law (Other Post Graduate Degrees). I hold Ph.D. & D.Sc (Highest Academic Honor{Doctorate}) in my research Journey.
Education is a true ambiance of Innovations. The vehement attitude for learning facilitates him to hold knowledge from a different domain. My credentials encompass achievements from renowned institutions like – University of Stanford, Pennsylvanian University, Duke University, University of Washington, University of Virginia, Michigan State University, Imperial College London, John Hopkins University, NIT, IIM, IIT, ISB, IMT, INSEAD Business School & technical certification from Google, SAS, IBM, Cisco, Amazon, Price Water Coopers, Boston Consulting Group, TCS, & others International Corporates.
I have been worked for more than a decade at various Public & Private projects globally with some renounced firms like Ernst & Young, Pricewatercoopers & others. I had also been part of various global organizations on their governing board with capacity as Researcher, Strategist Adviser & Coach.
Through working in various projects I have been certified/licensed from an internationally acclaimed organization like WHO, ILO, World Bank, UNICEF, UN, European Union, Asian Development Bank, FAO, IRCC, GoI, UNDP & others.
I’m promoting the spirit of Innovation/Research/Impact Ideas/ Entrepreneurship amongst different global changemakers. itself through the various programs like the Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Transformation, Impact Research Awareness Drive, Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and Startup services Program for student startups and a platform to offer student startups with Business Models proper mentorship!
I am fortunate to work in the different diversified field internationally in various capacities some of the roles are as Innovator, Scientist, Technologist, Future thinker, Impact Researcher, Public Policy, Journalist, Start-up Evangelist, Legal, Academician, Mentor, Author, Thinktank, Management Development Consultant & Public Speaker.
I had received many National / International Fellowship & Awards in several categories for my work in Innovation, Management, Technology, Policy, Education, Research, Sustainability, Social Development areas. I had presented various papers in the National/international Summits/Conclave//Workshop and published a couple of books.
2. Tell us about your startup, what products/services provided by your startup?
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. I love real solving problem and I also love to educate people. I know I can’t work as an employee and I don’t want to lose my passion for entrepreneurship in the co-operating world. For this vision Innovation Solution Lab Started. Innovation Solution Lab ( ISL ) working for Future Business, Impact Ideas, Research development, Public Policy, Project Management & other areas on cloud space in Advisory, Consulting, Mentoring capacities. It created a global ecosystem for innovation, Solution, idea & Impact to make and create exponential growth of global society. We are into creating an ecosystem for both startups, Individuals, SME, Industries & other players who can be benefited from solutions for effectively fewer prices with continuum supporting.
3. How did you come up with this idea? and how much efforts you have taken to implement it?
I have been working in different domains of business, innovation, Policies & research frame in the past with different stakeholders. I saw that there are different global issues and we have also amazing brains for solutions but still there is something lagging behind. Once one of my mentors tell me, would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success. So I decided to start an open innovation platform and creating an ecosystem for innovators/ideators/startups/changemakers who have very amazing revolutionary ideas that can create solutions for different problems.
4. How much money did it require to start the Innovation Lab?
With all the expenses such as Website Development, Research, and Analysis, Legal documentation, Stationary, marketing stuff, etc., It took about 3 lacs to start the company initially. As Innovation Solution Lab is working for a global platform, we required more amount to strengthen our infrastructure and lab.
5. How do you promote your product/services?
The basic product promotion is done through digital marketing approaches. We have social media pages on all the platforms. We create listings on different search engine platforms. There are many lead generation websites from which we take help. We are also planning to work with different digital agencies in the future for our product promotions and growth.
6. Have you write any books/Journals & participate in any conclave which you want to share?
Knowledge & innovation is the powerful driving force inside me which always make my vision, dream, or desire a reality. I have spent years in academics, research & innovation so I have an intense passion to write books/research papers and love to participate in different summits/conclaves/conferences. In the past, I had participated at various National / International summits/conclaves/conferences in several themes of Innovation, Management, Technology, Policy, Education, Research, Sustainability, Social Development.
Some of my authorial contribution(Books) follows:
- Mobile Security Technology
- Ancestral Economic development
- HRM & IR Business transformation
- Future Technologies
7. What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?
- Read the news every day at least about startups
- Make daily target
- Learn good things from everyone
- Have patience
- Start small than make it Big
8. As a researcher & Innovator have you received any fellowship in past?
The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well. In my amazing journey, I have received various fellowships some are- Kectile fellowship (Kectile Foundation USA), IIM(U) & Sanford Duke Fellowship, Open Source Leader Fellow (Common Purpose), People Power Change Fellowship (Jindal University & Haiyaa) & Others.
9. How do you manage your time in a day? Please give us detail about your daily routine.
So, I have divided my working hours into two parts. One part is for training and another for my clients and meetings.
3 days a week I spend morning 2 hours (from 8 am to 10 am) and evening 2 hours (from 6 pm to 8 pm) in training my digital marketing students.
Rest of the time I spend in managing the work of my clients and meetings. Now I have stopped doing work late at night which I used to do a lot earlier. One must spend quality time with the family and the same I do after 8 pm on weekdays and the whole day on Sunday.
I avoid doing any work on Sunday. I also avoid phone calls on Sunday. If I am not spending my time with my family then earning money is meaningless.
10. Tell us about an achievement you are most proud of?
I always believe success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life; it’s about what you inspire others to do. There are many success in my path.
Some of the golden memories:
- World Top 50 Future Thought Leader by Thinkers360
- Listed in World Book of Researcher
- National Innovator by MUGU International Foundation
- Best Researcher by GreenZthinkers
- Best Young Scientist Award Received from GECL Foundation
11. What were the problems/challenges you faced to this date? how did you overcome them?
There are many challenges. In fact, every day you will wake up with something new. It was very difficult to get into the business; this was the first challenge. As we are working on open-ended global solution Finance/policy/technology/consumer psychology are the biggest challenges faced by us, in our early stages. But we believe Risk is a part of every success. If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary But I think that you need to hold up by having tolerance to change the risk opportunities into profitable.
12. Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Parents, Wife and my son are my inspiration. But in entrepreneur field, Ratan Tata and Steve Jobs , Elon Reeve Musk inspired me a lot.
13. How do you generate new ideas?
Reading more books , interacting with productive people and also watching productive stuff, I learned a lot from there.
14. What piece of advice would you give to college graduates who want to become entrepreneurs?
“Rome was not built in a day”. Have patience.
In startups, you can get frustrated very often. Control your own self. Initially avoid spending much in the infrastructure of the office if not needed.
Learn to save money instead of spending. The first six to twelve months would be quite difficult. Don’t take decisions by listening to everyone. Take your own decision after deep analysis.
15. Do you have a website for your business? If Yes, How do you manage your website?
Yes, we have a website for Innovation Solution Lab, and it is managed by our in-house IT Team. I also have my digital portfolio created on Weebly.
16. What are the future goals for your firm Innovation Lab?
There are still different hurdles for entrepreneurs in all parts of the world to get a real platform for design, scale & growth of their product. Innovation solution lab foremost is to create a cloud ecosystem for the future changemakers and support to innovate, design, branding, scaling & growing their product as global solutions. The next steps of Innovation Solution lab (ISL) are to expand globally and partnering with different institutions globally with a vision to help innovators, entrepreneurs & change-makers for Research/creating/scaling/branding/growth product/solution which can be reached to every people & everywhere.
17. What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs to invest their time in?
- Read more and more books
- Make your network strong
- Listen to podcast
- Read business-related news every day
- Learn good things from everyone
18. What will be your message for founders or innovators?
If I could give one advice to anyone whether they’re an entrepreneur or a marketer, is to have a positive mindset. Whether there’s a good or bad situation, life goes on.
Trust yourself, take risks, be focused on what you want to achieve, and plan accordingly.
Don’t forget to take consideration of your current situation family, work, finance, etc. which I feel most people fail to analyse before starting anything.
19. What is the part of your life experience you would alter if you had the chance to?
I believe everything I did or occurred in my life happened for a reason and I respect destiny, which kept the right balance between good and bad times.
Bad times pushed me to work hard and good times gave me a lot of confidence.
To answer your question, I would change nothing.
20. How can our readers connect with you?
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I hope you loved the story of Prof. Dr. Sanjay Rout and got some inspiration. If you also have such an interesting story we would love to connect with you. Let’s grow together.
