Isha Katyal, PhD., currently works as the Manager of Centre for Innovation and Research (CIAR) where she is involved in the development of programs for CUE students or first-time entrepreneurs to advance their innovative ideas into business ventures among other applied research support and commercialization activities. Dr. Katyal has comprehensive training in basic sciences and strong experience in early-stage technology assessment and business development. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Saskatchewan where her focus was to study genomic diversity in microbial communities.

Dr. Katyal has developed a career in the innovation industry by working both in private sectors and post-secondary institutions. In Canada, she first worked as an industry liaison intern at the University of Saskatchewan where she was involved in early-stage technology assessment, marketing early-stage technologies to potential industry partners and business plan development while finishing up her Ph.D. Later she worked as a technology management officer at TEC Edmonton, a joint venture between the University of Alberta and Edmonton economic development corporation (EEDC).

At TEC Edmonton, she was involved in identifying projects of commercial interest, intellectual property assessment, and strategy development, facilitating research collaborations with industry, negotiating licensing agreements for intellectual property and sponsored research and propelling new ventures for the University of Alberta researchers and local Edmonton entrepreneurs. Prior to moving to Canada, she worked as a business analyst in Evalueserve (India), developing competitive intelligence reports for global pharma and biotechnology-based companies. She obtained her Masters in Biotechnology from Thapar University (Punjab, India) and Bachelors in Science (Zoology, honors) from Delhi University (Delhi, India). In her spare time, she enjoys painting and building Lego with her kids.