Indian Institute of Technology, Madras’ Centre of Excellence is collaborating with the Defence Research and Development Organisation to work on Advanced Defence Technologies including Combat Vehicle Technologies.

The research is directed at developing advanced technologies for defence and security needs of the Nation with the objective of creating a Research Centre developing cutting-edge technologies and contributing to ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat.’

Initially established by DRDO, this centre has now been taken over by IIT Madras and converted into a ‘Centre of Excellence,’ where an interdisciplinary research group brings in faculty and researchers from multiple departments to undertake translational research. Hence, called the ‘DRDO Industry Academia- Ramanujan Centre of Excellence’ (DIA-RCoE).

Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “It is an important milestone in bringing together the Academia, Industry and DRDO to collaborate and develop Atmanirbhar technologies for critical needs of our country.  Specifically, this will provide a first-of-its-kind opportunity for Start-ups and MSMEs to participate in this critical Nation Building activity.”

Established based on the ‘Long Term Directed Research Policy’ of the Defence Ministry, Government of India, this Centre will undertake multidisciplinary directed basic and applied research in the following research verticals including Electronics and Computational Systems, Naval Systems and Naval Technologies, Advanced Combat Vehicle Technologies, High Power CW Laser sources and Next-generation communication and networking technologies.

Dr OR Nandagopan, Director of the DRDO Industry Academia-Ramanujan CoE. He has 35 years of experience in naval technologies and systems at the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory and Naval Science and Technological Laboratory Laboratories of DRDO. He also served as Director of NSTL Visakhapatnam for five years.

Elaborating on the outcomes envisaged from this Research Centre, he said, “DRDO is attaching high priority for the development of futuristic technologies and systems for defence through academia and industry. This centre will identify the strength of faculty members and industry partners and develop cutting edge technologies and systems for our armed forces”.

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