Dr. Omkar Rai is the Executive Chairman of Startup Odisha. Prior to this, he was Director General of STPI, MeitY, Govt. Under his leadership, the IT/ITES/ESDM industry witnessed a massive growth. He has played a seminal role in dispersing the IT/ITeS industry to Tier-2/3 cities in India and revolutionising the technology startup ecosystem in India. He has been a protagonist of software product nat
ion & spearheaded the establishment of 20 Centres of Entrepreneurship in emerging technologies. He is actively involved in policy formulations required for the growth of IT industry. Dr. Rai has played a pivotal role in the formulation & rolling out of NPSP 2019 in close association with all stakeholders including IT/ITeS Industry. This would help country in generating greater economic growth by encouraging export of software product along with domestic consumption. Under his leadership, STPI in line with the vision of Digital India, Make in India & Startup India has been executing various schemes and programmes. Dr. Rai has a deep understanding of the ever-changing needs of the industry. He always strives for finding innovative solutions to mitigate the challenges faced by the industry. Owing to his expertise, he is endeavored to serve as Chairman, AIC STPINEXT INITIATIVE, a section 8 company which is steering India into becoming a product nation. He is also Director on the Board of Directors of MTNL-STPI IT Services Limited and Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. He is the member of Board of Governors for the IIIT University, Bhubaneswar & Executive Council of Shri Vishwarkarma Skill University. He is also a member of standing committee of council of IIITs & coordination forum of IIITs (PPP) of MHRD, GoI and Chairman of IT and ITeS Sectional Committee of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Before STPI, he served in National Informatics Centre in various capacities. He holds a PhD in Statistics from Banaras Hindu University. Awards:
1. “Digital Icon" by Indian Express Group for outstanding contribution in promoting IT activities in the country on 23rd November 2018.
2. GLA University has conferred the D.Sc. (Honoris causa) on Dr. Rai on 15th December 2019.
3. BHU has conferred the distinguished Alumnus Award on Dr. Rai on 17th January 2020.
4. Onlytica, a global Influencer Relationship Management company, has included Dr. Rai on “Top 100 Global Influencers in Big Data”.
5. Onlytica has included Dr. Rai on the “Top 100 Global Influencers in IIoT” on 15th September 2020 for his incisive knowledge dissemination on IIoT.
6. CII has conferred the "Ecosystem Enabler of the Year” Award on Dr. Rai in 2021.
