Listen : Audio version of this article |
Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited IIT Madras Research Park along with Mr. Ong Ye Kung, Minister of Education, Government of Singapore, and Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank,’ Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India, during his recent visit to the Campus. He interacted with Delegates, Industry Leaders, Students and Singapore India Hackathon 2019 Teams at the new 900-seater state-of-the-art Auditorium.
The Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi also took a brief tour of the IIT Madras Research Park infrastructure and interacted with the start-ups incubated by IIT Madras Incubation Cell and the scientists at the R&D Centers of Excellence at the Research Park. The Hon’ble Prime Minister also visited the stalls set up by the start-ups and Centers of Excellence. He was accompanied by Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Faculty In-Charge, IIT Madras Research Park, and Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Madras.
The stalls showcased the innovative products and solutions developed by start-ups working across diverse sectors including AI, Robotics, Agritech, Biotech, Edtech, Electric Mobility, Healthcare, Skill Development and Water Treatment. Around 200 start-ups have been incubated at the IIT Madras Incubation Cell in the Research Park, focusing on deep-tech areas and developing innovative, indigenous solutions addressing challenges of national importance.
The IITM incubated Startups featured in the stalls included Agnikul, Ather Energy, Cygni, Desicrew, Detect, Edsix, Esmito, Fabheads, Flowtrik, Grinntech, InnoDi, Ozone, Skillveri, Motorz, Neomotion, PiBeam, Planys, Swadha, Uniphore, Vayujal and Zazen. IITM’s Incubation Cell, Rural Technology and Business Incubator, Bioincubator along with select IITM Centres of Excellence including Centre for Battery Engineering and Electric Vehicles, Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Centre, Centre for Urbanization, Building and Environment, Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology and International Centre for Clean Water were also featured.
During the Convocation Address at IIT Madras, the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, said, “I visited the Research Park established on Campus. This is the first such effort in the country. I saw an extremely vibrant start-up ecosystem today. I was told, that so far, about 200 start-ups have been incubated here. It was my good fortune to see some of them. I saw efforts in electric mobility, internet of things, health care, Artificial Intelligence and more. All these start-ups should create unique Indian brands which will make their places in the world markets in future.”
Further, he added, “India’s innovation is a great blend of Economics and Utility. IIT Madras is born in that tradition. Here the students and researchers take up the toughest problems and come up with a solution that is accessible and workable for all. I am told students here intern with start-ups, write codes from their rooms and that too without food or sleep. Except for the hungry and no sleep part, I hope that the spirit of innovating and pursuing excellence continues in the times to come.”
Shri Narendra Modi expressed happiness at what he saw, gave advice on what the companies and centres could do next, and said that suggestions from them could be sent to his office.