Textile Inventor-Entrepreneur Dr. Nandan Khokar
Speech and interaction with the students and faculty at the Department of Management Studies IIT-Madras on July 29, 2011.
The Full Length Podcast - Unedited (mp3) - 64 minutes, 25 MB
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Segment from the Q&A session
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Speaker Bio
Dr. Nandan Khokar, alumnus of the AC College of Technology, Chennai, is a Professor of Textile Technology at the School of Textiles, University of Borås, Sweden. He is internationally recognized as the pioneer of the 3D-weaving process and discoverer of the non-woven noobing process. He has developed a variety of patented textile technologies, including the tape-weaving process. Dr. Khokar’s entrepreneurial spirit, flair for and skills in designing and constructing machines, together with expertise in weaving technologies, form the basis of Biteam and Oxeon, two exciting hi-tech companies promoted by him. He is mainly involved with research activities in the fields of 3D fabric architectures, smart textiles and related technologies. He has published numerous articles in reputed international journals and made presentations in prestigious international conferences. For his contribution to the field of textiles, through the pioneering development of 3D-weaving, noobing and tape-weaving processes, Dr. Nandan Khokar was appointed Fellow of The Textile Institute, UK, in 2009.
Biteam is an internationally recognized 3D-weaving pioneer and specialist manufacturer of woven profiled materials. All 3D woven profiled products are designed and manufactured employing its patented 3D-weaving technologies in close co-operation with the customers. Having developed unique competence and the world’s only 3D-weaving equipment, Biteam directly weaves a variety of profiled products in cross-sections of up to 60 x 60 mm and 3m lengths using carbon and other fibres. These special pre-forms are used in load-bearing and other composite material applications. Biteam is also involved in academic and industrial R&D projects. One of these projects, relating to tape-weaving technology which was invented by Dr. Nandan Khokar, has now grown into an independent company Oxeon. Biteam and Oxeon are now among the fastest growing companies in Sweden and Europe, having experienced significantly higher growth rates even compared to the fabled Ikea.
