CHENNAI: Indian American venture capitalist Gururaj Deshpande and his wife Jayashree Deshpande, founder of Deshpande Foundation, along with Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, all alumni of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, launched the Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre (GDC) on Wednesday to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. They will be funding a whopping $5 million over the next five years.
The new facility will provide the global thought leadership that will help launch the next generation of solutions to create significant economic and social impact at a national and, eventually, global scale. “I am excited and impressed by IIT-M’s commitment to innovation, entrepreneurship and excellence in everything they do,” said Gururaj Deshpande.
Gopalakrishnan said, “The innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at IIT-Madras will get enhanced by the opportunity to learn from the global network of such centres.”