In a first, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras has generated more than ₹1,000 crores in funding and revenue, including ₹313 crores in industry consultancy, during the current financial year, said officials.
The institute has received ₹768 crores of funds from projects sanctioned by the state and Central governments during Financial Year 2021-22.
IIT-M has a dedicated team at its Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR) to facilitate collaborations with governments and industry players.
It received ₹300.28 crores, the highest this year, for the government-funded project ‘Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) using Direct-to-Home (DTH)’.
According to Prof Manu Santhanam, who heads the ICSR, IIT-M received ₹99.5 crores for the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety, ₹50.6 crores for Speech Technologies in Indian Languages, and ₹47 crores for Collecting Datasets and Benchmarks for Building Indian Language Technology.
“The performance of the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research is very encouraging and perfectly aligned with the strategic plan of IIT Madras. This is a reflection of our increased interaction with funding agencies and industry,” said IIT Madras director Prof V Kamakoti.
The institute received ₹1,081 crores in funding and consultancy fees in FY 2021-22 against ₹714 crores in the financial year 2020-21, which was marred by deadly waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. It got ₹570 crores in FY 2019-20, ₹614 crores in FY 2018-19, and ₹ 571 crores the previous year.
As per the institute’s data, the amount of funds received from industries has constantly increased since 2017, barring the year 2020, for which IIT Madras blamed Covid-19.
In 2017, different companies gave ₹148 crores to the institute in sponsored research and consultancy fees, ₹228 crores in 2018, ₹237 crores in 2019, ₹230 crores in 2020, and ₹313 crores in 2022.
“The total funding typically shows a growth rate year-to-year of around 5 to 8 per cent, but the industry funding has seen a greater spurt in recent years. A key reason for the growth in industry-sponsored funding is the increased contribution in the form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for research. This is expected to grow significantly in the future. Also, ICSR is planning large-scale industry outreach activities in the near future that will help these numbers further,” said Prof Santhanam.
Highlighting the initiatives of IIT Madras to enhance Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, he said, “The high-calibre faculty from the institute have been pushing the boundaries for the applications of their research, which brings in more and more industry funding.”
Prof Santhanam further said: “Further, the optimal atmosphere and infrastructure created by IIT Madras for high-quality research, and the support services provided by the ICSR and administration facilitate smooth conduct of the projects. The consistent performance in the NIRF rankings has also boosted the stature of IIT Madras as a top education and research institution, and that is clearly the major force behind the excellent growth in R&D funding.”
Recognised as an Institution of Eminence (IoE) in 2019, IIT-M has been ranked No 1 in the ‘Overall’ category for the fourth consecutive year in the India Ranking 2022 released by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the Ministry of Education.