The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) has generated over ₹1,000 crore in funding and revenue for the financial year 2021-22.
The institute’s centre for industrial consultancy and sponsored research (ICSR) earned ₹768 crore from projects sanctioned by State and Central governments and another Rs. 313 crore from industry consultancy. Manu Santhanam heads the ICSR currently.
The major projects that brought in funds include education through information and communication technology using direct-to-home tech, headed by faculties K. Mangala Sunder and Arun Tangirala, amounting to ₹300.28 crore.
The Centre of Excellence for Road Safety, headed by Venkatesh Balasubramanian brought in ₹99.5 crore. Hema A. Murthy, who heads the Speech Technologies in Indian Languages brought in ₹50.6 crore and Mittesh Khapra, who heads Collecting Datasets and Benchmarks for Building Indian Language Technology brought in ₹47 crore.
Director V. Kamakoti said the ICSR’s performance was aligned with the strategic plan of the institute, adding: “This is a reflection of our increased interaction with funding agencies and industry.”
Mr. Manu Santhanam credited the achievement to programmes such as NPTEL, online BSc degree programmes and the direct-to-home initiative, high-calibre faculty, and infrastructure for research. The institute’s consistent performance in NIRF rankings also boosted its stature.
“The total funding typically shows a growth rate year-on-year of around 5% to 8%,” he said adding that industry funding had seen a spurt in recent years with funding from corporate social responsibility for research. ICSR is also planning large-scale industry outreach activities for the future and it would increase the numbers further, he added.
Ravindra Gettu, who was ICSR Dean from 2018 to 2022, said the increase was the result of implementing a strong strategy over the last decade.
