Dr. Jitendra Kumar is currently the Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. Dr Kumar holds a PhD degree in Biotechnology from Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh. Subsequently, he moved to University of Illinois at Chicago, where he worked on leukaemia. He also holds an MBA degree from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, US.

After returning from US, he joined as a Vice- President of Life Science Incubator at IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad where he was involved in actively mentoring incubatee companies, creating pipeline of entrepreneurs through innovative models of team building around the technologies, working with public R& D laboratories and universities to create entrepreneurial models of commercialisation.

Later, he took charge as the Managing Director of Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC) with a focus on incubating innovations in agriculture, food and nutrition, biofuel/bio-energy and pharma/healthcare. He has worked closely with Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and the Department of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, to create a vibrant Life Sciences Innovation cluster in Bangalore. He is also a guest faculty at University of Agricultural Sciences, Centre for Human Genetics, Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine (MIRM) and Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He is a member of various Central and State Government Committees and advises on policy matters related to startups, innovation and entrepreneurship in Life Sciences. Currently, he is a member of CII national committee on Biotechnology, Member of Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE), Member of committee for Karnataka Start-up policy and Member for Government of India supported Bangalore Innovation cluster under the aegis of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

He is an Internationally acclaimed thinker and advisor on Biotech Innovations and entrepreneurship. He has been invited as a speaker at various conferences in USA, South Korea and the Netherlands to represent India and Karnataka. He has inspired thousands of youths to start and build successful Biotech ventures. He has around 20 years of experience in research and innovation management in the area of life sciences. He has around 25 peer reviewed publications and around 45 products have been launched under his mentorship.