Vijay Paranjape

Vijay Paranjape

Vijay Paranjape

An experienced Seed Industry professional with over 25 years of techno-commercial-regulatory experience in diverse areas of Agricultural Biotechnology. Provided leadership as well as contributed towards different phases of plant biotech product development pipeline starting from gene discovery to product development, intellectual property protection, PPV&FR, stewardship/regulatory compliance governing product approval and product stewardship (ETS) to enable delivery of high quality of seeds to farmers. Over 17 years of experience in Monsanto (now Bayer) – a leading agriculture Biotech company.

In current role at Sathguru Management Consultants, responsibilities include advising clients on innovation advancement opportunities, R&D Strategy, Technology Scouting & Assessment, Technology Commercialization, IP Strategy and Valuation, Policy and Regulatory Framework development, market assessment and strategizing to provide growth strategy, due-diligence, valuation of the target Seed companies, market assessment (market, product, competition, regulatory), and entry strategy, alternate markets for expansion of seed business in India and other SEA countries. Engaged in providing strategic advisory to International Agriculture projects with focus on South Asia and Africa. Structuring and delivering IP management for seed companies. Developed strategies to enforce organization’s compliance with respect to national regulations associated with doing seed business: Intellectual property protection, PPV&FRA, germplasm/Seed movement, Seed Act & Rules, Rules and Guidelines for doing GM research and Biodiversity Act.

Implementation of international developmental projects - Associate Director for USAID funded Bt Eggplant project in Bangladesh advising and overseeing activities being carried out in Bangladesh. Coordinates Gates Foundation funded “Delivering Genetic Gains in Wheat” project for South Asian countries (India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) focusing on surveillance, new variety selection and varietal adoption. Studied seed system in 15 west African countries and developed business model focusing on New variety testing & release, capacity building, private seed production, extension and dealer development.

Vijay has a Ph. D in molecular biology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and post-doctoral research experience in plant molecular biology from Imperial College, London, UK and Washington State University, Pullman, USA. He is  Visiting Fellow, International Programs, Cornell University, USA.