CHENNAI: For the first time since its establishment in 1959, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) generated over Rs 1,000 crore in funding and revenue in the financial year 2021-22. This is a leap from the previous year’s funding of Rs 714 crore.
During 2021-22, the institute received Rs 768 crore from projects sanctioned by the State and Central governments and Rs 313 crore in industry consultancy. These collaborations are facilitated by the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR), IIT-M, headed by Professor Manu Santhanam, said a statement that had been issued by the institute.
“The IIT Madras has been the digital education hub for the country with the NPTEL programme, and more recently, the online BSc course,” Santhanam said. He added, that the faculty has been pushing boundaries for the applications of their research, which brings in more industry funding.
The major projects that drove the surge in funding include ‘Education through Information and Communication Technology using Direct-to-Home (DTH)’ headed by K Mangala Sunder and Arun Tangirala with Rs 300.28 crore; ‘Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS)’ headed by Venkatesh Balasubramanian with Rs 99.5 crore among others.
“The performance of the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research is encouraging and perfectly aligned with the IIT-M’s strategic plan. This reflects our increased interaction with funding agencies,” said V Kamakoti, IIT Madras director.