Govt to Build Research Parks at 8 IITs, IISc Bangalore

The Central government has approved the setting up of research parks at eight Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore to augment the research ecosystem in the country, according to the Union Education Ministry.

To strengthen the country’s research ecosystem, the government will build research parks at IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, and IIT Kanpur as well as IISc Bangalore.

The move is intended to reinforce academic-industry ties while also expanding the research environment, Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar informed the Lok Sabha on August 7 in a written reply to a question. He further mentioned that the research parks at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, and IIT Madras are already operational, and others are nearing completion.

“The main objectives of these Research Park are to have research collaboration with top-rated industries, to enable entrepreneurship and incubation of students and building strong academic linkages for the same, to increase outreach of academic content to industry and enabling industry to add value to academic programme through close collaborations etc.” the minister said.

On the other hand, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, which established a national organisation to finance research at all of the nation’s universities, was approved by the Lok Sabha on August 7. On August 4, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh introduced the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill 2023 in Lok Sabha.

The bill proposes to create a Rs 50,000-crore fund to “seed, grow, and promote” research and development (R&D) at India’s colleges, universities, research institutions, and R&D laboratories. A significant percentage of this fund is projected to originate from the commercial sector, via corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

The National Research Foundation (NRF) would be established with a budget of around Rs 50,000 crore for a five-year term. This includes Rs 4,000 crore from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Rs 10,000 crore from the government, and Rs 26,000 crore from sources such as the business sector, philanthropists, or others.