The Industrial Research and
Consultancy Centre (IRCC) - of which this newsletter UPDATE is a
“mouthpiece” - coordinates the entire gamut of funded research and
development activities at IIT Bombay (IITB). With major changes rapidly altering the national and global economic framework, we at
IITB have been keenly monitoring the resulting impact on the R&D
efforts at our institute, and responding through suitable
initiatives. Here we summarize some of our major R&D trends and
related activities of the recent years.
The
sponsored project funding, that is generally directed to
fundamental and long-term research, has been growing annually at
the rate of about 10 % at IITB. The funding for industrial
consultancy (research), aimed mainly at applied and short-duration
research and development is growing at an even higher rate of
about 15 %. Taken together, these trends suggest an ongoing
intensification of both basic research and more significantly of
the interaction between IITB and the industry.
As reflected in the previous issues of UPDATE, IITB has
substantially stepped up its efforts in the direction of
intellectual property rights protection. Much as a consequence,
the number of patent applications from our institute is on the
upswing.
Efforts are underway also
towards tying up with external marketing organizations so as to
make such innovations available to the prospective end-users.
The Technology Incubator
at our Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology is also
fairing well. At present it is nurturing six businesses, while
three others have already moved out with venture funding. In order
to help promote the above mentioned activities and to liaison with
the outside world, IIT Bombay is in the process of establishing a
Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The strength of an R&D
institution like IITB lies in its faculty members, staff, and
students - especially, the postgraduate students. Today in every
department there is a drive to induct bright people for faculty,
research, as well as student positions. Finally, in order to cater
to the growing R&D needs and the associated record keeping and
documentation, IRCC is in the process of major office automation.
We would like the
probable users of our resources and capabilities to gain access to
all the relevant information easily. Thus we have been
continuously expanding our information base for the outside world.
Now we make available a considerable amount of information about
IITB on the internet - both on the IITB home page
(http://www.iitb.ac.in)
and on the online version of UPDATE
(http://www.ircc.iitb.ac.in/update/),
as well as through further details and links.
IRCC staff joins me and
our Dean R&D, Prof. S Suryanarayan, in thanking our readers for
the enthusiastic response they have shown towards the past issues
of UPDATE. We look forward to such valuable feedback in the future
too.
Kannan Moudgalya
Associate
Dean R&D |