Subject Matter Expert – MSME (Textile / Electronics / Pharma & Med-Tech)

Athena will be assisting in the launch of a national-level project to accelerate AI adoption among Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The project aims to create a replicable, evidence-driven model(s) that enables MSMEs to understand, adopt, and scale AI solutions backed by a robust ecosystem of service providers, policy support, skill upgradation and financing pathways. This project seeks to provide actionable economic insights and frameworks to inform strategy and decision-making by the national ministry and line ministries and engages externally with a wide range of stakeholders. We are looking to engage MSME experts in the areas of Electronics / Pharmaceuticals including Medical Technology / Textiles for guidance on policy, technical and industry aspects on a short-term basis. The broad terms of engagements are listed below: Provide overall technical guidance to the core project implementation team on areas including but not limited to sectoral context, refinement of problem statement, contextualization of existing approach and method, work plan, etc. Participate in key external stakeholders such as government, Industry Associations, MSME units and internal project team Identify and facilitate outreach with industry associations and MSMEs, wherever possible Guide the project team on documentation of sectoral issues and challenges, industry automation (Industry 4.0) and review the applicability of AI solutions including accelerated adoption. Guide on the approach for sampling for MSME units in the respective sector for factory visits / immersion and validation exercises. This includes guidance on clusters based on geography and industrial segments. Participate in select factory visits / immersion and validation exercises.

At least 15 years of experience in consulting / advisory or handholding support to industrial units operating in either the (a) electronics (b) pharmaceuticals and/or medical technology (c) textiles sector in India. Strong understanding of how the sector, industrial clusters and industrial units, especially the MSMEs, are organized, their business processes, applicable government policies, schemes, and financial incentives, etc. Strong understanding of the issues and challenges faced by these MSMEs including those related to supply chain, procurement, export competitiveness including price, quality, safety, sustainability and emerging issues such as global traceability, ethical sourcing etc. Strong understanding of industry automation (digitalization / AI-ML solutions). Bachelor's degrees in relevant discipline; experts will master's degree shall be preferred