A day at IIT Kanpur

The EU road show which is an information campaign involving member states delivering information seminars across India is in full swing. As a speaker in this road show, I was fortunate to enjoy the magnificent campus and hospitality of one of India’s premium engineering institutes, the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) which is one of the first five IITs established by the Government of India. The institute I remember is associated with introducing education in computer science in India, way back in 1963!

It was a privilege to inform a medley audience of students and faculty members from the institute about the thriving research partnership between UK and India. It was heartening to note an enthused interest from the students and researchers in pursuing their higher studies or research collaborations in UK.

Professor Indranil Manna, Director in an exclusive interaction with the speakers informed us that the institute boasts of some unique facilities including a national wind tunnel facility, flight testing and helicopter laboratories and their very own private airstrip with four powered aircrafts and gliders!

At the moment the institute has around 25 projects with European countries. I recall that IITK was part of one of the Research Council UK’s three Science Bridge Awards with Government of India, BioPharm 2020. The institute has also been part of joint projects as supported under initiatives including UKIERI and IUATC .Professor Manna informed us that IITK would like to have more visiting foreign faculty as well as overseas students for joint PhDs as well as summer internships. The areas of interests include industrial waste management, organic photovoltaic- organic solar cells, unmanned air vehicles and aerosols. IIT Kanpur in fact is partnering with UK on a joint project on photovoltaics as jointly supported by EPSRC, UK and Department of Science and Technology from India.

The Director informed us about extensive plans to establish a well rounded ecosystem to promote translational research. Besides working with Boeing on numerous projects, the impressive range of partners from whom IITK gets challenging research projects with commercial end use include Government departments like Indian Railways, Department of Space, Department of Atomic Energy, Road Transport and public sector undertakings including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Bharat Heavy Electronics Limited.

I could see a lot of areas that could be worth exploring for joint partnerships with IITK, an institute which is held in high esteem not only in India but also globally.