The flak catcher representing him repeatedly resorts to the description, Einstein of the 21st century. The man himself sees a little bit of multi-disciplinary genius Thomas Alva Edison every time he looks in the mirror and would one day like to break the genius' record of holding 1,000-odd patents: he does 200, some 200 more are in the works, and they span areas as diverse as superconducting, electronics, semi-conductors, electro-chemistry, electro-optics, cryogenics, and optical communication. Sadeg Mustafa Faris may stand a mere five feet, four inches in his socks, but the scientist packs quite a punch.

As would someone who has developed an electric car that runs 525 kilometres on a single charge, a record certified by the Guinness Book, designed WERxtation, an internally wired office desk with all the electronics built in, a spartan and chic solution to desks cluttered with telephones, a computer or two, and lots of wires, and is working on a metal fuel engine (think, a car that runs on aluminum foil) that he claims will replace the hydrogen engine that is a work-in-progress at most car majors.

There are more such claims, all verified and authentic. Yet, a search for the man on Google throws up a mere 178 results, mostly from his own network of companies. That can be easily explained: Faris believes Western nations and large multinational companies are out to enslave the Third World.

It's a hop-and-skip from that belief to the man's mantra, technology sovereignty. "Unless countries develop their own technology, they will end up spending huge amounts of money buying technology from the West," says Faris. "And they will always be dependant on them."

That argument isn't new to India and Indians. Only, it sounds strange coming from a man who worked for eight years with IBM where he was awarded seven Invention Achievement awards. "I was also given IBM's outstanding innovation award for the invention of the then fastest superconducting oscilloscope, but none of my inventions were being commercialised," says Faris. "Western companies function with a short-term myopic financial motive." As do, as he soon found out, venture capitalists. He founded Hypres, a maker of electronic oscilloscopes in 1983, but was forced to quit it five years later. "You know vulture capitalists," says Faris, by way of explanation. "They want their piece of flesh immediately."

In 1991, after a three-year hiatus from active business-he took on a few consulting assignments in this time-Faris launched Reveo Inc (short for Revolution). The company's vision, as laid out by him, involved replicating Edison's model of success; Faris even developed a strategy he terms the Edison Technology Portfolio for this. "When something comes up that can be commercially viable, we immediately spin that off as a separate entity; we call this inventQbating."

Thus far, Reveo has spun off five companies that work in areas ranging from metal fuel cell technology to liquid crystal applications.

Together, the companies employ 350 scientists and earn $5 million a year, an amount that isn't exactly impressive. "These are long gestation projects and since, by the very definition of our mission statement we take on what is deemed impossible by others, one has to have patience," says Faris.

The message is clear: don't look for quick returns or judge my companies by their earnings, Faris seems to be saying. "All changes come from small, nimble upstarts," he adds. "That is where the Edison Technology Portfolio is so different."

The man is aware that his companies will have to become "commercially successful" as he calls it, but insists that "the time horizon has to be more than the conventional five-to-seven years."

That's a tip of the hat to market realities and it isn't. After all, with the possible exception of Vrex, a stereoscopic imaging hotshop that lists the likes of gm, DaimlerChrysler and Merc among its clients, none of his other companies has made it big yet. And Vrex itself has been around for over a decade.

Faris claims there are enough buyers for his vision. "To date, I have attracted $300 million in funding," he says. One believer is the government of Malaysia. In January 2003, then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed invited Faris to establish a research laboratory in CyberJaya, an it-city developed by the government. The government also invested close to $175 million to get the lab, christened InventQJaya, rolling.

The first project of this laboratory, eVJaya, an initiative in electric vehicles, is currently in the testing stage. "In the next 24 months, we will commercialise the entire thing once minor kinks have been rectified."

In a country like India, where the emphasis of everyone from the First Citizen to assorted academics is on providing affordable technology solutions to everyday problems, Faris' vision will likely find many takers. That should helped him find the 80-100 kindred souls he needs for the Indian arm of Reveo.

However, it is only when one of his 'inventions' attains significant commercial success that people will start taking him, and his desire to be the next Edison seriously.

Let us not forget the fact that Thomas Alva Edison begat the company that is now GE.

INTERVIEW WITH SADEG MUSTAFA FARIS "Developing Countries Must Be Technologically Sovereign To Be Self-dependent"

Dr. Faris, is this your first visit to India? Actually, this is my third. I have been to India twice before on private visits to talk to an electric car manufacturer here. (read: Reva). This visit is to announce the setting up of Reveo's India operations. How did you set up InventQJaya in Malaysia? Did Dr. Mahathir (former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohammed) approach you ... ...Before that, let me tell you something about the inventQbation (Editor's Note : a portmanteau of invention and incubation) part of the business. I set up a company called Reveo in 1991 as I saw an increasing disconnect between science and problems faced by common people. Large companies failed to transfer technology from the lab to the end user. Reveo's mandate was simple: solve problems that affect humanity fundamentally; take on challenges, which others feel are not executable; replicate the success of Thomas Alva Edison from whom we derive inspiration. Reveo is a kind of an umbrella company from which a number of other companies will be spun off through the Edison Technology Portfolio (ETP). ETP comes in once a technology stabilises itself and we see that it holds potential. These are siblings, which help each other. We have already spun off several companies like eVinoyx, which is into metal fuel cell technologies, Vrex for 3D stereoscopic imaging, Chelix for cholesteric liquid crystal applications, and purOgen for oxygen separation. In fact, the idea is to keep expanding our portfolio and replicate the success of Edison. Aren't the days of individual scientists dabbling and succeeding in multiple disciplines over? Yes and no. Did not Edison have success in several areas covering multiple disciplines? I want to replicate that. At the same time, it is not just me. Reveo has more than 350 highly qualified scientists working for it. Coming back to InventQJaya... I was introduced to Dr. Mahathir by a common friend. When he came and visited our US facilities, he was so excited that he immediately offered to set up facilities for us. Thus InventQJaya was born. Till date the Malaysian government has invested $175 million in our facilities. I wanted a long term investor who had faith in our abilities, as I had bad experiences in the past... Like? In 1983, I started a company called Hypres Inc, which took a very difficult technology, based on super conducting electronics to the market. But the vulture capitalists who had funded me wanted to exit and shopped my company around like a slave just because they owned 85 per cent. I then decided that I would never be again beholden to them. I was forced to exit in 1988. This was after your IBM stint (1975-83), right? Yes. I was also awarded several invention awards within. But IBM failed to translate my technologies and commercialise them. Their outlook is very short term. Corporations get tired and they shut down projects. The momentum disappears. Do national projects work? Isn't Proton a failure? (Editor's note: Proton is a car project backed by the Malaysian government). Isn't the market the best allocator of funds? Why not? National projects can succeed. Ultimately, the technology has to work, the projects have to work. The typical time horizon of a venture capitalist of three-to-five years is not sufficient. For groundbreaking technologies it has to be more. Our model is different. If the time horizon is different, where do you get funds from? We do outsourced R&D work for several leading companies. Since we have an understanding, I cannot name them. That takes care of the cash flow. I have attracted more than $300 million, including an investment of $42 million by one private company in our fuel cell company, $15 million from the US government for various research projects and $175 million from Malaysian government. How many patents do you hold? 200 granted, more than 200 in the pipeline, though I have forgotten the exact (smiles) number. Is it your aim to beat the 1,000-odd patents that Edison held? Yes, yes, hopefully. How many of your patents been commercialised? How much do they earn for you? Several of them have been. Some Japanese companies have licensed our 3D stereoscopic technology. In the next 24 months, we will be commercialising several more. Several of them like the magnesium cell are ready for commercialisation in countries like India where power is a problem. I earn (Editor's Note: his companies do) around $5 million a year from several of these patents. What is this technology sovereignty you keep referring to? Unless countries develop their own technology, they will spend huge amounts of money buying technology from the West. So I advocate technology sovereignty for developing countries.