The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, has been judged The Most Innovative Institute of the Year for its disruptive innovations by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The award is part of the CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2020 and was bestowed during the 26th DST-CII Technology Summit held virtually recently.

Thanking CII for thee recognition, 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-academia collaboration and provides opportunities for IIT-M students to intern and get jobs from top companies even before graduation.

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 Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, faculty head, Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, IIT Madras
Arise, India’s first standing wheelchair developed by Sujatha Srinivasan, faculty head, TTK Centre for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development, IIT Madras
Shakti, the nation’s first indigenous microprocessor, developed by V. Kamakoti, department of computer science and engineering

Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, department of science and technology, Government of India, congratulated the winners. “More incubators and start-ups have come up in the past six years than the preceding 60 years. Both the government and the industry have realised that disruption to status quo can be beneficial. Awards like this one highlight the innovation in the Institutes.”

IIT Madras was previously adjudged 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.

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

The start-ups 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 have created over 4,000 jobs and filed over 125 patents.