IIT Alumni Council to set up 6 research centres for startups

All the proposed research centres will be operational next year. "The objective of the council is to help the accelerated deployment of cutting edge technologies by playing a lead role in revitalising the incubator and startup ecosystem in high-tech domains," said Ravi Sharma, president of the IIT Alumni Council..

The IIT Alumni Council will set up six research centers to make modern equipment and research tools in six cutting-edge domains available to startups registered with its MegaIncubator initiative. The council is building the world's largest COVID-19 testing lab in the city called Megalab.

The proposed research centers are in engineered biomolecules, quantum technologies, nuclear sciences, imaging AI, electric transportation (including drones), and fintech, the council said in a statement. Domain experts and venture capitalists from the council will be the mentors and guides to help reach commercialization goals, it added.

MetaLab on completion by the end of September will have the capacity for 1 crore tests per month for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases like TB. While an engineered biomolecule center will come in the Kalina Campus of Mumbai University, the quantum technology research center will be in the Delhi-NCR and the fintech research center will be collocated with BSE Institute in south Mumbai.

Startups can register with MegaIncubator in addition to their host incubator to connect with partner incubators and affiliate research centers, it said, adding the other research centers will be either collocated with or be established in the vicinity of existing government and academic institutions that specialize in these areas. All the proposed research centers will be operational next year.

"The objective of the council is to help the accelerated deployment of cutting edge technologies by playing a lead role in revitalizing the incubator and startup ecosystem in high-tech domains," said Ravi Sharma, president of the IIT Alumni Council.