In 2015-16, IIT Madras had 737 projects and
received Rs 63.15 cr as consultancy fees
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has been
going all out to promote a collaborative environment between industry and
academia, a move that has helped it bag a significantly higher number of
industrial consultancy projects.
According to National Institutional Ranking
Framework (NIRF) -2017 data shared by IIT Madras, the institute leads among the
top five IITs in terms of both industrial consultancy projects as well as
earnings through that route. In 2015-16, IIT Madras had 737 projects from 383
clients and received `63.15 crore through industrial consultancy earnings. The
number of consultancy projects increased 26% compared to that in the previous
year.
IIT Bombay had more clients (438) in 2015 16, but
it bagged fewer projects (591) than IIT Madras and earned `35.14 crore. IIT
Delhi had 428 projects from 305 clients, earning `39.95 crore through
industrial consultancy in 2015-16.
“For the last few years, we have been actively
trying to breach the physical gap bet vely trying to breach the physical gap
between IITs and industry and the IIT Madras Research Park has had a
significant role to play in this. In 2016-17, we had com mitments of `80 crore,
of which `70 crore has been realised,“ said Krishnan Balasubramanian, dean,
industrial consultancy and sponsored research (IC&SR), IIT Madras. “We have
about 40 companies who have their research facilities in our park now. By the
end of 2018, that number should almost double.“
IIT Madras Research Park is an independent company
promoted by IIT Madras and its alumni that facilitates the promotion of
research and development by the institute in partnership with industry . It
helps companies with a research focus to set up a base in the park and leverage
the expertise available at IIT Madras. Phase 1 of the park was about 400,000
square feet and the just-added Phase 2 will take it up to 1.3 million-plus sq
ft.
“We have just signed an agreement with Robert Bosch
Engineering and Business Solutions to set up a research centre to address data
sciences and artificial intelligence. Tata Steel is also just coming on board
after signing an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with us last year to start
an advanced materials research centre. There are several other companies as
well that are setting up their niche labs here,“ said Balasubramanian.
Among the companies that already have a presence in
the park are Saint Gobain, TCS, Amada, BHEL and Caterpillar.
A marketing team is in place to get more companies on
board. “We have created two offices: development office and industrial
relations office, and populated it with people with 10-15 years of experience
in industry . These people are the go-between between the clients and the
faculty to communicate exactly what the former expect,“ said Balasubramanian.
Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES-8th August,2017
