CHENNAI: IIT Madras is targeting the incubation of 100 startups in 2024, its Director Prof V Kamakoti said on Tuesday. "We are also seeing a lot of interesting technologies coming up through Hyperloop start-up, ePlane, Agnikul Cosmos and Mindgrove Technologies, all of which are IIT Madras-incubated startups. These startups will deliver products of great national importance," he said.
The institute has many more exciting initiatives and socially relevant projects in 2024 that would greatly benefit the nation, he added.
Prof V Kamakoti said IIT Madras is looking to close with 366 patents at the end of the financial year on March 31st. "We will try our best to see one patent a day. It is a matter of great pride at IIT Madras that we do a lot more innovation," he said.
IIT Madras opened its overseas campus -- IITM Zanzibar Campus -- which became the first-ever IIT to be established overseas. It plans to start a couple of new courses in IITM Zanzibar and also intends to launch a new school on interdisciplinary sciences. "It is very important as today, we are moving towards interdisciplinary education," he said.
IIT Madras during May 2023 launched a Department of Medical Sciences and Technology, a four-year B.S. program in medical sciences and engineering. IIT Madras is also going to launch a School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence that will be established as the 18th Department.
IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) is the institute’s umbrella body for supporting and overseeing innovation projects with a focus on commercialisation. IITM, which was placed 1st in the NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework), aims to move higher in the world rankings as well.