The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras established the IIT Madras Research Foundation (IITMRF) with the goal of becoming a worldwide startup leader.
Through strategic university collaborations and industry partnerships, the initiative will serve as a catalyst for start-ups emerging from the Institute’s cutting-edge tech ecosystem landscape to gain access to global markets, capital, and funding for research and innovation. It will also enable the Institute to scale its academic master’s and doctoral programmes.
IIT-M has appointed Thirumalai Madhavnarayan, a senior business management and technology professional, as the first CEO of IITM Research Foundation.
The Research Foundation has been set up with a vision to expand IIT Madras’ global footprint, drive growth in innovation and entrepreneurship and increase engagement with industry and R&D partnerships, states the institute.
Outlining the vision for the Research Foundation, Prof V Kamakoti, director, IIT Madras, said, “IITMRF is a strategic initiative aligned with India’s vision to become the Vishwaguru and to be a creator of global startups.”
Key focus areas of the foundation:
- Patents and technologies ready for commercialisation
- Start-ups established by IITM faculty founders, students and researchers
- Explorations based on market thesis (e.g., Green growth)
- Giving global access to Start-ups from the IIT Madras ecosystem and providing them exposure to new markets, capital & technological adjacencies
- Access to IIT Madras-created technologies for alumni
- Scaling of international academic programmes through strategic collaboration and industry partnerships
Prof Mahesh Panchagnula, dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, said, “We believe that IITMRF will be a game changer not just for IIT Madras, but for the country because it would have demonstrated a model for an academic institution to take its innovation to the global stage.”
Madhav Narayan, chief executive officer, IITMRF, says,“The IITMRF would be a scalable and sustainable ‘plug and play’ platform with local flavour, to take IIT Madras assets global, fuelling exponential growth in innovation & entrepreneurship, enhanced Industry Engagement and R&D partnerships.”
Narayan is an industry veteran with an experience in strategising, building, transforming, and scaling businesses for global technology multinationals such as Intel, HP, Dell, Samsung and Epson, among others.
IIT Madras has an elaborate portfolio of research and innovation landscape in the international markets, including 161 active patents in the US. There are also over 10,000 IIT Madras alumni working across the US in not only senior leadership positions of top corporate firms but have also founded many companies and start-ups.
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(Source: Education Times)
