Industries, IIT-Gn mull tie-ups to commercialise research products

From designing user friendly dustbins to joint courses in automotive electronics, delegates from over 50 industries explored opportunities to tie-up with IIT Gandhinagar on Saturday.

In order to boost industry-academia collaboration, the institute had organised its first 'Industry Open House' which saw representatives from companies like Maruti Suzuki, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Reliance Industries, Smart Grid Torrent, Adani, TCS, IBM and Hospira, as well as several academic and research institutes, including the Institute for Plasma Research, Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University, and Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) participate in the event.

"We run such courses with other institutes including other IITs and we can explore such a joint course in automotive electronics with IIT Gandhinagar," said Chaitanya Rajguru, associate vice president of Pune-based KPIT Technologies.

The event showcased IITGN's expertise, infrastructure and capabilities through presentations, posters, laboratory and library visits, idea pitches, instrumentation and product demonstrations. The visitors interacted with the Institute's faculty, staff and students, as well as the officials of the Institute's Career Development Services and Continuing Education Program.

For instance, delegates from Heubach Colours were impressed by IIT-Gn's research in waste water treatment. On the other hand, collaboration process is also on between IIT-Gn and Sintex Industries for designing user friendly dustbins that could be used widely in cities and towns like Ahmedabad.

Delegates from pharma industry including Cadila Pharma and Century Pharma expressed their desire to leverage the institute's research in areas like nano technology for possible commercialisation in future.

"While IIT Gandhinagar is growing leaps and bounds in its research and innovation, it is us who know how to commercialise these products that emerge out of such research activities. We are exploring on such possible tie-ups," said a delegate from Cadila Pharma on condition of anonymity.

"Coming from an IIT myself I understand the importance and the value of the innovative initiatives which are being taken up at IIT Gandhinagar. I am also seeing top of the line laboratories here.... I will help leverage the products coming from IITGn and my researchers can work jointly with the Institute in various projects," said Janak Seth, an IIT Alumnus and Managing Director at Century Pharmaceuticals.

Anay Mashruwalla of Venus Engineering, which manufactures industrial valves, too came across one of the institute's project on Helium Gas Detector. "I have proposed to lend my support in the project," he said, adding that there is a major requirement for Helium Gas Detectors in the country in many industries. However, since the machine is not currently manufactured in India, it is very expensive.

"If IIT-Gn succeeds in developing the machine, it would help to significantly reduce its price," Mashruwalla added.

In addition to the opportunities for project tie-ups, the event also provided a platform for industry delegates to be exposed to the quality of IIT-Gn's faculty and students.

"For us, everything outside the campus is an industry. This includes society, community, and government and so on as well and we are open for opportunities everywhere," said Sudhir K Jain, director, IIT-Gn.

In an earlier version of this article KPIT Technologies was referred to as KPIT Cummins Infosystems. The company name has been changed to KPIT Technologies and the article is corrected. The error is regretted.