For the second year in a row, IIT Roorkee has been selected by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the Industrial Innovation Awards. This year, the premier institute stood 1 under the Most Innovative Research Institutions Category while the second and third positions have been filled by IIT Madras and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad (INCOIS), respectively.

Last year IIT Roorkee was adjudged as ‘The Most Innovative Institute of the Year’ for its innovation quotient.

The awards were announced at the 27th DST-CII Technology Summit. These awards are based on both the institute’s innovation ecosystem and actual innovations produced by the institute.

 Institutional strategies and research temperament, innovation portfolios (sponsored research, IPR generation, and translational research), initiatives by the institution to promote and champion innovation and Innovation Impact (industry-academia partnership, international collaboration, technology transfer, societal impact, etc.) are factors that decide the ranks.

  Visco-elastic Energy Dissipating Link Elements for Earthquake resistant housing construction, Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide (N-rGO) for High-Performance Supercapacitor and Novel hybrid adsorbent for simultaneous removal of arsenic and fluoride from contaminated water are the concepts that have received recognition.

Dr Srivari Chandrashekhar, Secretary, DST, Government of India, said that India is still an agriculture country and 65% of the total Indian population depends upon the agriculture sector, hence there was a need to bring innovative solutions to uplift the sector for better life and health of the people. He added, “For innovations to be successful, the industry has to handhold and nurture innovation so that innovations become translatable”.

 Kris Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII and Chairman, CII Industrial Innovation awards, mentioned that innovation, combined with entrepreneurship and a focus on research, innovation, and entrepreneurship is the key to achieve our goal of a $10 trillion economy.

“IIT Roorkee provides an ambience and ecosystem which inspires its students and faculty to focus on industrial innovation, in addition to academic research. The mindset of the Institute and the facilities available in the campus provide a smooth ride from ideation to creation. This award reinforces our belief that we are on the right path and we need to continue to nurture the best practices we have in this space,” said Prof Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee.