Agriculture is often considered a challenging industry prone to risks associated with weather, pests and diseases, high costs, labour shortages, and so on. Many times, we have come across the drastic news of farmers committing suicide in India as they fail to bring in profitable harvests from their farms. Envisioned to mitigate risks associated with input cost, Palak Sehgal co-founded Nordetect, a rapid analytical testing company bringing affordable soil testing to farmers at a global level. After gaining wide exposure to analytical chemistry, fermentation, and bioprocessing during her educational journey, Palak garnered significant interest in the genetic and molecular biology aspects of her study that cemented her determination to proceed further in this vertical. Participating in a national-level startup competition in life sciences, Palak got her first taste of what the entrepreneurial journey might be like. She began her professional career with several projects related to accessible personalized medicine and as a genetics consultant in embryology before taking up a researcher position at IIT Bombay. After two successful years, Palak moved to Denmark as a guest researcher where she discovered open science labs and performed early developments that led to Nordetect.

An analytical hardware company that produces devices for environmental and agricultural analysis, Nordetect was founded by entrepreneurial researchers including Palak, who developed the first versions of the product and brought the product from the idea stage to market. She traveled between Denmark, China, and the US to build the company and leverage the ecosystems of these countries, meanwhile raising the seed capital and building a diverse interdisciplinary team. Currently functioning as the CTO of the company, Palak is seamlessly engaged in developing Nordetect's technology over the past four years, meanwhile learning the value of creating products for the end customer to solve challenges in their daily life.

Palak Engages In An Exclusive Interaction With The Women Entrepreneur Magazine.

Define Nordetect as an organization and its current position in the market. Shed some light on the distinctive features of the company.

Nordetect is a deep-tech company that produces rapid chemical analysis products with cloud-connected hardware and software. These are combined into an easy-to-use package that can apply across several verticals - Agriculture, Food Safety, and Environmental/Water quality. The company's first product is a Lab-on-a-Chip portable testing system that offers farmers and water monitoring authorities the opportunity to test for soil and water quality in real-time, indicating the levels of Nitrogen(N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), and other parameters. The levels of these chemicals must be controlled for optimum crop yields and to check the contaminants in water supplies. This prevents fertilizer runoff that causes widespread degradation of water bodies making it one of the side effects of agriculture. Nordetect helps measure nutrients to ensure growers prepare a tailored fertilizer plan for optimum crop growth and minimizing runoff. We believe that digitization and a data-driven approach to fertilizer management will prevent unnecessary resource expenditures and long-term soil distress.

After recently completing its development cycle, we are now entering the marketing and growing our customer base in North America and Europe. Key differentiators from our customers' perspective have been the lower requirement for calibration enabling better usability and scalability, and the emphasis on digital solutions.

Tell Us About The Varied Expertise That You Possess In The Field Of Translational Sci-Ence. What Are Some Key Projects That You Have Facilitated In The Said Field?

Over the past years at Nordetect, my work has been de-voted to advancing our product through the TRLs that define the maturity of scientific products. My expertise specifically encompasses experimental design, valida-tion, and troubleshooting at the early stages, and rapid prototyping with small-batch manufacturing towards the later stages of development. Nordetect's technology base includes analytical chemistry, nanotechnology, and computer vision, which aligns well with my expertise in diagnostic test development and chemical formula-tions. Moving from the lab to market, my biggest learn-ings have been in product and production management alongside recruitment and team building. 

"I believe that digitization and a data-driven approach to soil and crop management will prevent unnecessary degradation of productive land and protect against long-term soil distress"

Prior to Nordetect, the projects I worked on ranged from point-of-care diagnostics to transdermal drug delivery. One diagnostic product was a biomarker for pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Another memorable one was a band-aid-like patch that delivered therapeutic drugs via skin non-invasively

What Are The Various Roles & Responsi-Bilities That You Currently Shoulder At  Nordetect?

Today I manage the technology development at Nordetect, which includes strategic research, product development, and lab-scale production. I also manage the contract manufacturing of our portable products with international suppliers and oversee the sourcing and quality management process. Besides these roles, I'm also responsible for the Company's patent strategy and work in close collaboration with patent attorneys to manage our IPR..

What Are Some Of The Most Challenging Aspects Of Your Role As The Co-Founder & CTO? How Do You Overcome Them?

One of the challenging, as well as exciting aspects of my role, includes aligning the widespread expertise required to build our product. Combining hardware, software, chemistry, and nanotech backgrounds into a well-functioning team needed a purpose-driven approach.   Another challenging facet has been the supply chain crisis caused by the pandemic and the recent lockdowns in certain parts of China. We have been facing difficulties to get parts from our suppliers of critical components. In both cases, I overcome the challenges by surrounding myself with colleagues, advisors, and investors that bring in years of expertise and a wide network.

What Have Been The Most Significant Mile-Stones That You Have Achieved So Far In Your Professional Journey?

There have been several milestones in the past few years that I count as achievements in my professional life. The first was getting Nordetect off the ground, which involved founding the company, doing the early development, and getting the company's early funding. Getting into the HAX accelerator program and moving to Shenzhen, China, and San Francisco, US were the highlights of that time.

Another milestone was securing our early access clients and delivering the product. It took so much to get the product to work reliably, but having engaged clients that saw value in the product, was very rewarding. Our most recent milestone was securing seed capital from VCs and grant funding to take the product into manufacturing and grow the business.

How do you keep yourself well aligned with the periodic evolutions occurring within your respective field of work?When bringing a new product to market, staying abreast with the most recent developments in my domain is of utmost importance to me. Personally, a mix of active research of scientific literature on the subject matter combined with passive tools like podcasts and industry media online publications works well for me to keep up with the recent trends.

As A Successful Business Leader, What Would Your Advice Be To Young Women And Girls Aspiring To Become Business Leaders And Entrepreneurs In The Future?

Building a business that is capable of solving a problem for the customer takes time. It helps to develop deep resilience and patience when you're beginning your journey. Finally, in a world where one is expected to perform at 100 percent all the time, it helps to find time to unplug and pursue something for fun to balance your life. It contributes greatly to your creativity and clarity and can build the muscle for identifying the right problems to work on.