V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, with Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO, Anusandhan National Research Foundation, at the 66th Institute day of IIT Madras on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit:
Bijoy Ghosh
As the nation grows, the focus has been on physical infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports and airports. But the focus now is a lot more on human and social infrastructure that are going to be the source of innovation that powers India’s future, said Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO of Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF).
“Research and innovation is the foundation of the future, and is an all-of-government and all-of-society initiative. Institutes and industries should partner with us on research and innovation,” he said addressing the 66th Institute Day of IIT Madras on Wednesday.
ANRF has a special mandate for both public and private institutions and to support mission-oriented moonshot projects with ‘directed research and directed innovations,’ said the IIT-M alumnus from 1993 batch. “This institution derives inspiration from institutions across the world including NRF and DARPA in the US,” he added.
“The pathway from fundamental research to applied research through the innovation valley of death is arduous but I am delighted to see the innovation ecosystem at IIT Madras. We will be doing programmes to support deep-tech start-ups and innovation,” he said.
Scientific research
Set up under an Act of Parliament in 2023, the ANRF aims to seed, grow and promote R&D and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India’s universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories. ANRF will act as an apex body to provide high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country.
ANRF has been directed to catalyse the private sector to invest more in R&D. The aggregate investment is 0.7 per cent of the GDP. “If I want to increase the aggregate investment, it is the non-governmental sector that invests a lot more in R&D and we do not find that in India. We will do our maximum to both aggregate capital from multiple sources and work with them to govern capital in new ways,” he said.
V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said that IIT-M has surpassed its ambitious target of filing one patent a day, ending the financial year 2024-25 with a total of 417 patents, of which 119 are international. “We were granted 206 Indian patents and 14 international patents,” he said. These milestones reflect the institute’s dedication to fostering innovation and solving global challenges through technology, he added.
IIT Madras has exceeded the goal set under the Start up Shatham initiative by formally incubating 104 new start-ups in FY25, he said.
Published on April 23, 2025
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