Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1931-2015) was President of India and one of India's most distinguished scientists. He was responsible for the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle, the SLV-3, development and operationalization of strategic missiles and their weaponization, and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies. As chairman of the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), he guided a number of technology projects and missions to take India into the twenty-first century. The document on Technology Vision 2020 is a blueprint to make India a developed country. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam held various positions in ISRO and DRDO and became principal scientific adviser to the Government of India holding the rank of a cabinet minister. He has the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from thirty universities and the country's three highest civilian honours: Padma Bhushan (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1990) and Bharat Ratna (1997). He had a short stint as professor of technology and societal transformation at Anna University, Chennai, and met over 100,000 high school students throughout the country.
Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan is a well-recognized authority and a thought leader on technology development, business management and society linkages. He held various positions of responsibility related to science and technology between 1988 and 2002, and has shaped key policies and implemented several successful R&D projects with industry participation.
He was responsible for creating a series of documents related to Technology Vision 2020. After a thirty-year stint with the government, he joined the Confederation of Indian Industry in 1996, where he was principal adviser from 2004 to 2010. Currently an honorary distinguished professor at ISRO, Bangalore, he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2012.
