Prakash Javadekar to form panel to review progress of IIT research parks

CHENNAI: The human resource development ministry has decided to fast-track its initiative to set up research parks in seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), a move that will give a boost to central government schemes such as Make in India and Startup India.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said on Thursday, while inaugurating a new facility at IIT Madras Research Park, which has been operational since March 2010, that he will constitute a committee to review the progress made by other IITs.

“The projects carried out at the research park are a true example of making money out of innovation,” Javadekar said, adding that the research park will serve as a prototype for the other IITs to follow. So far, the Centre has given grants to IITs at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kanpur and Gandhinagar.


The IITM Research Park model invites entrepreneurs and industry leaders to establish their research and development units at the research park and collaborate with students and faculty members at the institute. It is also home to nearly 140 startups under its incubators. Of these, 32 startups have raised Rs 707 crore from investors.

Faculty head Ashok Jhunjhunwala said that the collaboration between academia and industry has seen an increase in participation of faculty members. “As part of the model at the research park, faculty members have to collaborate on industry related research, in addition to writing papers, as we have to find some form of synergy between academic research and industry use,” he said.

The faculty participation increased from 10% in 2010 to 50% in 2017, he said.

‘The incubation formula is the perfect formula for Make my India,” Javadekar said. “As a country, we lack confidence for innovation and IITM Research Park is a modern temple just as Nehru had envisioned the IITs as temples for India.”

Taking a cue from a project that looks at using solar energy to run households, the minister said the Centre is also pushing for university campuses to become “smart campuses” that conserve electricity and water. “Innovation and social solutions are the key to our progress,” he said.