Indian Institute of Technology Madras has been judged as ‘The Most Innovative Institute of the Year’ for its disruptive innovations by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). This award is one of the categories in CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2020 and was bestowed during the ‘26th DST-CII Technology Summit’ held virtually on 9th December 2020. 

The innovations highlighted in this award include:

• The VITALSENS platform for clinical-grade wearable health monitoring, which includes the ‘Wireless Continuous Multi-parameter Patient Monitoring Device’ and related smartphone apps, developed by Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Faculty Head, Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC), IIT Madras
• ‘Arise,’ India’s First Standing Wheelchair developed by Prof. Sujatha Srinivasan, Faculty Head, TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development, IIT Madras
• ‘Shakti,’ the nation’s first indigenous microprocessor, developed by Prof. V. Kamakoti, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Congratulating the winners, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, who delivered the keynote address, said, “More incubators and startups have come in the last six years than the preceding 60 years. Both the Government and industry have realized that disruption to status quo can be beneficial. Awards like this one highlight the innovation in the Institutes. ”

IIT Madras was previously adjudged as the ‘Top innovative Institution’ in the country in Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) in 2019 and 2020. ARIIA Ranking was launched by the Innovation Cell of Ministry of Education.

Thanking CII for this recognition, Prof. Ravindra Gettu, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, said, “We constantly focus on making our innovations employable by the domestic industry by providing global-level knowhow and fostering academia-industry collaboration.”

IIT Madras is the first IIT in the country to have a full-fledged Research Park where many multinational and domestic corporate firms have established R&D centres. This is a great platform to facilitate Industry-Academic collaboration and provides opportunities for IIT-M students to intern and get jobs from top companies even before graduation.

IIT Madras Research Park also hosts the IIT Madras Incubation Cell, one of India’s premier deep-tech incubators. At end of October 2020, it has incubated 207 start-ups founded by students, alumni, faculty and staff of IIT-Madras or external entrepreneurs.

The start-ups incubated by IITMIC have attracted a total investment to the tune of USD 280 million from Angel Investors/VCs. Their combined market valuation is around USD 844 million and generated a revenue of USD 50 million during FY 2019-20. The start-ups of IITMIC have created over 4,000 jobs and filed over 125 patents.