ROURKELA: The National Institute of Technology - Rourkela (NIT-R) has secured 101 patents including four international patents in the last 12 years, marking a remarkable leap in its research and innovation trajectory.
Sources said the institute has filed 230 patent applications till date, comprising 218 national and 12 international filings. Of them, it has been granted 101 patents including 97 national and four international. The institute had secured the highest 23 patents in 2025 alone.
The granted patents span across diverse domains including AI-based vehicular communication systems, autonomous drone technologies, industrial waste treatment prototypes, health-monitoring IoT devices, sustainable food packaging technologies and advanced materials derived from waste resources.
NIT-R director Prof K Umamaheshwar Rao said surpassing 100 granted patents marks a significant milestone in NIT-R’s journey towards building a strong culture of research, innovation, and intellectual property creation.
“Our growing portfolio reflects impactful work across priority areas such as AI-driven technologies, sustainable materials, healthcare and biomedical solutions, semiconductors and water research. With 91 patent applications filed in 2025 alone, we are accelerating our efforts to strengthen an innovation-driven ecosystem and aim to double the number of granted patents in the coming year, to contribute meaningfully to the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision,” he added.
The Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) of NIT-R incepted by Prof Rao has accelerated the development of intellectual property rights (IPs) and securing patents.
The CIPR creates awareness and capacity in IP matters within and beyond the institute, reviews and approves IP proposals from faculty and students, assists in patent filing, prosecution, and grant processes, facilitates licensing, technology transfer and collaborations, and helps supports MoUs and issuing NOCs.
CIPR chairman Prof Sujit Sen said the centre aims to boost institutional academic credentials and rankings, and foster industry collaborations while rewarding inventors for innovative, novel and non-obvious solutions.
“Efforts such as ‘one scholar, one patent’ for the research scholars have shown positive outcomes in gaining growth in granted patents. In 2026, we aim to file a minimum of 200 patents and envision achieving the goal of ‘one patent a day’ in the coming three years,” he added. The institute aims to strengthen its innovation ecosystem by expanding industry partnerships, increasing international patent filings, and promoting technology transfer.