Innovation Infrastructure and Research Fund (IIR)

Description

IIT Madras has been a at the forefront of technology adoption, innovation and entrepreneurship affirming its image as a premium institute fostering growth and innovation.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will create an INR 100 Cr Innovation and Entrepreneurship fund to set up start-ups. It also aims to elevate at least five of its Centers of Excellence (CoE) to the top three spots in the world in their respective fields.

IIT Madras’ strategic plan for 2022-27 also includes creating an institute with a diversified group of faculty, students and staff, pursuing nationally relevant and internationally recognised basic and translational research. The institute will also introduce newprogrammes in the next five years and develop infrastructure to support them. IIT Madras also plans to diversify its offering benefitting a varied student demographic based in rural as well as urban areas. The institute will roll out hybrid and online postgraduate and multidisciplinary touching subjects such as health policy studies, computational linguistics, disability studies, environmental, digital and medical humanities.

In the last 14 years, the centre for innovation (CFI) has impacted the innovation and start-up culture at IIT Madras. Nearly 6,000 students have learnt various skills and around 1,000 student projects have been completed. About 50 start-ups can trace their roots back to the CFI.

The new Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub (SSIH), funded by Mr. Shankar V, a distinguished alumnus of IIT Madras is dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E)activities of the students and researchers. The SSIH is intended to serve as a melting pot of fresh ideas, innovation and incubating centre. The hub also houses the Nirmaan, RuTag and Gopalkrishna Deshpande Centre which are aimed at furthering research, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit of the students and faultiest.

IIT Madras has been ahead of the curve in creating a global hotspot for an ecosystem powered by government policy reforms and initiatives like production linked incentive scheme (PLI).