We have one of the best incubation facilities; We have 100 plus start-ups: IIT Kanpur Director

IIT Kanpur Director, Prof Abhay Karandikar speaking with Shiksha.com shares various plans of the institute and how it is working to improve its international ranking…

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has been ranked as the best institute in the country in the NIRF Innovation Ranking 2023, it has also been ranked among the top institutes in the country in the NIRF Rankings. The institute is also making strides in various sectors including cyber-security, drone technology, and helping start-ups. IIT Kanpur Director, Prof Abhay Karandikar speaking with Shiksha.com shares various plans of the institute and how it is working to improve its international ranking...

Q. Tell us something about the Cyber Security Centre at IIT Kanpur. How is it different from other such centres, what kind of activities are conducted here?
A. This Cyber security centre is different in the sense it is working on critical infrastructure projects like power systems, power grids, railways, IoTs, and Agriculture. Power sectors used to think that as they are not connected to the internet, so there is no Cyber threat to them. But, we have shown them how the entire power grid can be brought down by Cyber attacks. We are working very closely with National Highway Authority by securing their data centres.

We are working with the Ports Authority which is part of the Sagarmala project, National Stock Exchange, Security and Exchange Board of India.

So, many state-of-the-art projects are going on at the Cyber security centre, we are also part of the digital currency team formed by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India). We are also working with the Karnataka Government for digitization of their land records, and many more state government and central government projects we are involved in. We have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Laurus Labs to introduce gene therapy assets to the market. Laurus Labs will also establish a state-of-the-art Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility at IIT Kanpur's Techno Park, bolstering the production capabilities of gene therapy products.

This will bring down the cost of drugs in a major way and help Indians and people from other parts of the world.

Q. Tell us about the incubation facility which has been developed by IIT Kanpur and how is it helping the start-ups.
A. We have one of the best incubation facilities in the country and currently we have more than 100 start-ups many of these start-ups are doing extremely well in generating revenue and most of these start-ups are in high technology areas, like energy, financial technology, agricultural technology and so on.

We believe that in the years to come we will be contributing to the nation building in a major way as we are partners in some of the major projects like the Defense Corridor project, National Clean Ganga Mission Project, India 5G Stack, etc.

Q. IIT Kanpur was ranked best in the Innovation category of the NIRF Rankings 2023. what according to you were the factors behind it?
A. The NIRF Rankings have certain parameters like IPRs filed, Patents filed, technologies commercialized, number of start-ups, the transitional technologies which are being licensed, research work being down, and number of sponsored projects. There are about 20-25 parameters which make the overall score.

Q. By when should we expect IIT Kanpur to be among the top 50, top 100 universities in the international rankings?
A. We are already in the top 100 in the engineering category in international rankings. Being an IIT, science and engineering are our core strengths, we are not like a multi-disciplinary university like Delhi University, Mumbai University or Hyderabad University, though we have an Economics Department, Department of Management studies and now we are going to start a medical school. But, in all these disciplines, technology is the main component.

Since we are primarily a science and engineering institution, so we would like to be in the top 50, and we are marching towards the top 100 in the university category.

Q. By when the medical school at IIT Kanpur will be ready?
A. In the next two years, the medical school will start functioning. However, the center of excellence at the medical school has started functioning and we doing a lot of interdisciplinary research over there. Around 60 faculty members of IIT Kanpur and several doctors are involved in it. Hospital will take two years to come up but other activities have already begun.

Q. How will IIT Kanpur medical school be different from regular medical college?
A. We are focusing on super-speciality and research-driven medical school. We are not going to start the MBBS course, it will be at the PhD, DM, and MCH levels. It will be an institution where doctors will closely work with engineers.

Q. IIT Kanpur came up with a large number of products during the COVID period, how many of them are in the market right now or are in the advanced stage?
A. We developed a lot of COVID-related products and our number one product is a ventilator, and around 4000 ventilators made by our incubated company have been deployed across the country in various hospitals, and right now this company is among the top three ventilator manufacturing companies in the country.

Q. IITs are working on generating funds through the Endowment fund, how is IIT Kanpur working in this direction and how much fund has been generated till now?
A. We have formed a company called, IIT Kanpur Development Foundation to engage alumni and this year by March 2023, we received alumni funding of around Rs 180 crore, last year it was close to Rs 115 Crore. We are hoping that in the coming years, we will be able to go to Rs 200- Rs 300 crores. We are generating funds from alumni and also from CSR funds of corporate.

Q. How much money IIT Kanpur is able to generate through sponsored projects and consultancy?
A. From sponsored projects and consultancy this year we generated around Rs 280 crores, which is like Rs 50- Rs 60 lakh per faculty, per year, and we are trying to take it to Rs 75 lakh per faculty.