How this firm's oxygen device helping people breathe easy

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), he is a Professor at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, India and leads Eco-friendly Applied Materials Laboratory, (EFAML) in the Department of Chemical Sciences of IISER-Kolkata. His wife- Dr Pei Liang, finished MBBS in China and gained Master and PhD in Neuroscience at Bielefeld University, Germany. She is Director of Brain and Cognitive Research Centre, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei University. She is Deputy Director of Brain Imaging Research Center, Changshu No. 2 Hospital, China. The two founded Solaire Initiative Pvt Ltd to take up deep scientific innovations and their applications and to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of oxygen, to start with. They were ably supported by Prasanta K Panigrahi, a Professor of Physics at Indian institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, who had completed his doctoral work at University of Rochester and after Post-doctoral stints in the US and Canada, he had joined the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad. Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Dr Soumyajit Roy, Founder-Director, Solaire Initiative Pvt Ltd, decodes their recent scientific innovation, its USPs and their future plans.

We are working now with a limited assembly line that is modular and scalable. The product has also led to the selection of the startup in Bengal's prestigious Webel-BCCI Incubator in Saltlake. We have an inventory of 50 and have sold till date 70 devices. We want to scale up the entire facility with the grant so that we can make these devices anywhere, anytime from remote Himalayas to Haringhata where healthcare needs to be affordable and available for all

To bridge the gap between the demand and supply of oxygen, Solaire Initiative introduced OM-Redox, an oxygen generating device. It's an oxygen concentrator with a 3.5 Liters/minute capacity. The purity of oxygen is above 90 per cent even at 3.5 Liters/minute flow rate and is hydrated such that a humidifier isn't required. It is based on a patented proprietary technology developed by a group of scientists and engineers from the leading six Universities of Europe and Asia. It's ISO-9001:2015, WHO-GMP, CE certified, and comes with a 1-year warranty. It weighs around 8 kg and has a service life of around 4000-5000 hours depending on environmental conditions. It has an excellent inbuilt battery power backup of up to 4 hours and can also run with an external power supply

Your 'OM Redox, Your Oxygen Box' has just been recognised for Deep Science Innovation by PM Narendra Modi under "75 under 75 and Atmanirbhar Bharat". It is also showcased by DBT-BIRAC. But how did your entrepreneurial journey begin?

I have all along believed in the power of technology. With over 90 published papers and 12 applied patents to my credit, I always wanted to apply and use these technologies and deep studies for betterment of human lives. And my entrepreneurial journey began with the establishment of Solaire Initiative Pvt Ltd on May 15, 2019. It aims at developing deep science innovation. Co-founded and led by scientists/academicians the business model of the entity is to develop products/services by translating science to address pressing problems in the domain of healthcare, Cleantech, and Greentech, and to demonstrate the proof of the concept product/prototype and thereafter licensing the manufacturing and marketing of the solutions to suitable partners. The revenue model is thus in licensing of the created solutions using science and developing the deep innovation technology thereof. Solaire Initiative is a part of the Startup India initiative and is a certified ISO-9000 company. We have pioneering works in the area of Soft-oxometalates (SOMs) and Polyoxometalates (POMs) in electro and photo-catalysis. Me along with my colleagues invented OM Redox, social innovation to ensure that every Indian gets affordable oxygen on plugging and switching a simple device.

What has the company done so far?

We are a group of Scientists, Medical practitioners and Engineers from leading Universities all over the world who have developed patented indigenous technology at the interface of the chemical, physical and engineering sciences to address the immediate challenge of making healthcare affordable. With this end in view, we have developed and recently a paradigm-shifting technology in our all-new product OM Redox based on electrocatalytic oxidation of water using a patented design device using a patented catalyst. Widely acclaimed in various media and news outlets OM Redox aims to be an all-time affordable Oxygen companion that runs on electricity and with a battery backup so you never worry about your need for oxygen. Our R&D activity centers around developing the research around the theme of oxygen maker (OM) and make the research results available as a product (Om Redox) that is affordable for Indians and people around the world wherever oxygenation is required, even extra-terrestrial environment is envisaged like that of Mars, where human habitation is going to be a reality soon.

So are you only into R&D, or are you into full scale manufacturing as well?

At Solaire, we work with zero inventory. We have tied up with branded and reliable manufacturing partners/vendors like Exide (for battery), Supreme (for mold), Chemould (for exterior), etc. and we work in 'Toyota model' where we make the device (Om Redox) on demand. We are working now with a limited assembly line that is modular and scalable. The product has also led to the selection of the startup in Bengal's prestigious Webel-BCCI Incubator in Saltlake. We have an inventory of 50 and have sold till date 70 devices. We want to scale up the entire facility with the grant so that we can make these devices anywhere, anytime from remote Himalayas to Haringhata where healthcare needs to be affordable and available for all. With the grant we can make our manufacturing dream of sophisticated device "Made in India" a truly scalable model, a reality.

What are the USPs of your technology?

To bridge the gap between the demand and supply of oxygen, Solaire Initiative introduced OM-Redox, an oxygen generating device. It's an oxygen concentrator with a 3.5 Liters/minute capacity. The purity of oxygen is above 90 per cent even at 3.5 Liters/minute flow rate and is hydrated such that a humidifier isn't required. It is based on a patented proprietary technology developed by a group of scientists and engineers from the leading six Universities of Europe and Asia. It's ISO-9001:2015, WHO-GMP, CE certified, and comes with a 1-year warranty. It weighs around 8 kg and has a service life of around 4000-5000 hours depending on environmental conditions. It has an excellent inbuilt battery power backup of up to 4 hours and can also run with an external power supply.

The USPs of our technology are:

- The product runs with battery back up and with electricity continuously thus it can meet the demand of stationary and mobile oxygen demand for continuous and long use.

- The product is light weight (8.5 kg) and portable.

- The product price is inexpensive.

- The technology is a new technology in the context of humidified, ready to use, medical oxygen, first new technology in world in oxygen production to BE CE and WHO certified.

The technology is totally "Made in India" and developed with the science by Indian scientists and technocrats.

How is the competitive landscape like?

Indian medical oxygen market is as of now dominated by oxygen cylinder providers and to a relatively lesser extent oxygen concentrators. Technologically speaking as in global scenario the local national scenario of oxygen production depends on PSA technology and concentrator technology. We introduce a third technology using EWOR (Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation Reaction) technology in our product OM REDOX. Longfian Scitech Co, Ltd, and Philips Respironics, comprise 66 per cent of this market segment (Figure 6). A recent report from PATH states, "Of the leading 15 oxygen concentrator companies identified in the India PATH confirmed that 11 had products with either the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval or bore the Conformité Européene (CE)". It is to be noted our product is the only one with CE and WHO certification boasting a new technology, potent to create a paradigm shift in the stationary and mobile medical oxygen production landscape.

Is the market ready for such products and how affordable is your product?

We have already started selling the product and we have already sold 70 units of the device. The market response is very good and we have received only orders from returning customers or on customer references. However we have not undertaken marketing campaign and extensive/targeted marketing which is planned and can be facilitated by the grant from the DBT-BIRAC. The product is aimed at affordable healthcare and to ensure that no one falls short of breath because of lack of oxygen. We have competitively priced the product at a very affordable cost. We aim to serve the common people and that we envision every household in India should be able to afford one Om Redox, an oxygen box.