IIT Madras to start research campus in Thaiyur

The project would be completed with a cost of around Rs 600-800 crore

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras), is in preliminary discussions with various stakeholders, including industry and government, to bring in research projects for the research campus it is setting up in Thaiyur, near Chennai. The institute has also attracted around Rs 10-12 crore project funding from sorporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of various companies in 2015, and expects this amount to double this year.

The Tamil Nadu state government has allotted a constructible area of 160 acres for the Thaiyur institute and the compound wall has been constructed. The development would happen as and when particular research projects gets funding, over a period of time. The facility, a first of its kind in the country, would be able to house 10-15 research centres at a time, said R Nagarajan, professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and dean-International & Alumni Relations, IIT-Madras.

"The research campus would be for long-term research projects, such as a water research centre, which would be run in a mixed model of industry and government funding," he said. The first two major rounds of fundings are getting ready to take off in a couple of months, while the entire project would be completed and in full swing in next 10 years.

The project would be completed at a cost of around Rs 600-800 crore.

With the new norms in CSR activities getting implemented in the recent past, the institute has received around Rs 10-12 crore as funding for abour eight socially-oriented projects last year. The latest such funding was by Nokia, for a research project on creating technology solutions to enhance broadband connectivity in rural India.

Phase II of the IIT-M Research Park in Chennai is also expected to go fully on stream soon, with a large portion of it already occupied by Saint-Gobain Research India, they said.

The institute is also looking at creating an endowment fund of Rs 500 crore by 2020 and has created a full time office to achieve the goal.