IIT Madras to host 3rd edition of ‘IInvenTiv’ National expo from 28 Feb

CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-Madras) will host 'IInvenTiv 2025', a National Expo that will showcase the cutting edge research of leading tech institutes in the country, February 28 and March one.

IInvenTiv 2025 is scheduled to be inaugurated by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at the IIT Madras campus in the presence of marquee personnel from industry and academia.

Organized jointly with the Union Education Ministry, the expo will feature R and D Projects from all the IITs, NITs, IISc and IISERs besides top Government and private engineering institutes that rank within the top 50 in NIRF.

The primary objective is to increase awareness among industry of these technological breakthroughs and achieve better industry-academia collaboration, a release from IIT-Madras said on Thursday.

It said the highlight of this year is that a larger number of exhibits from participating institutions (around 300) will be featured in an expo, with a good representation from startups that have been initiated based on the R and D from these institutions.

Special emphasis would be placed on technologies in mature TRL (Technology Readiness Level) stages 7 ? 9, which are ready for commercialization and can be transferred to the industry during the event itself.

Welcoming researchers from all over the country to take part and benefit from the exposure to the industry, IIT-Madras Director Prof. V. Kamakoti said, "IInvenTiv is a flagship event of the Union Ministry of Education. This year, we have a lot more institutions taking part, including private institutions."

"This two-day event is to showcase the inventions and creativity of the institutions. We expect a lot of investors and large industries to take part in this event, which will facilitate Industry-Academia collaboration", he said.

The thematic areas that would be covered include AI/ML Technologies, Aviation, Defence and Space, Marine Technology, Medical/Healthcare Engineering, Rural Technology, Smart Cities and Infrastructure, Advanced Manufacturing (Industry 4.0+/5.0) and Circularity and Sustainability (Energy and E-mobility).

Prof. Manu Santhanam, Dean (IC&SR), IIT Madras, said, "IInvenTiv 2025 is poised to be a landmark event that will bring about a way forward for industry-academia collaboration, and chart the path for future research efforts at India's premier engineering institutions."

IInvenTiv was started in 2022 as an event held at IIT Delhi featuring R and D only from IITs.

The second edition of the event with participating institutions from top 50 of NIRF, apart from IITs, NITs, IISc and IISERs, was held at IIT Hyderabad during January 2024.

IIT Madras is now hosting the third event in the series.

The format for the event includes an expo with multiple stalls displaying the exhibits from the participating institutions, along with plenary talks and panel discussions on thematic areas.

A 'Chintan Shivir' or brainstorming session will be organized for each thematic area, featuring leading experts from government, industry, academia, and start-ups, with each session featuring a lead talk followed by a discussion on what is the current R&D focus and industry need; a rapporteur from each session will be responsible for drafting an outcome paper that will be presented at the closing of the event. The focus in these discussions would be on the specific needs of the industry and how academic institutions can gear their research efforts to meet these requirements. The role of government and start-ups will add to the discussion.

A coffee table book on leading technological innovations from Indian higher education institutions, which have led to great impacts on the industry, will be released during the event.