The expansion plans of IIT-Madras will include new facilities and projects and they are on the right track, its Director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said here on Wednesday. Considering that the number of students at the Institute is reaching the 8,000 mark, efforts are being made to expand and bring in newer projects and not duplicate the existing ones, he added. There are plans to triple the size of the IIT-M Research Park and the Institute is also in talks with the government to consider the proposal to set up another campus, Prof. Ramamurthi said. The collaboration of IIT-M with industry has increased by 25 per cent and there are also major associations with national research organisations, including ISRO and DRDO.
Earlier, inaugurating the 13th edition of IIT-M's technical festival ‘Shaastra -2011,' he said the event would be made as inclusive as possible to help facilitate exchange of ideas.
V.G. Idichandy, who retires this month as Professor of Ocean Engineering and was previously Deputy Director, recalled the modest inception of the event, and spoke about how it was originally conceived to showcase the talents of students from all departments of engineering. “Now it is more about organisation, less about technology,” he said, urging the students to not to restrict themselves with patents. “Your project may often fail, should fail, so that you learn You can be creative only when you are free.”
The Centre for Innovation at IIT- M was a unique laboratory for the students funded by the alumni, where students could create whatever they wanted. “Do not let anybody take control of it,” Prof. Idichandy said, adding that primary function of the faculty members was to be enablers. Niranjan Maka, managing site director, VMWare Software, participated in the inaugural function.
Starting from Thursday, the campus will host over 100 technical events over four days, including display of research projects, workshops and seminars. Over 20, 000 people have registered online for the event, and nearly 5,000 students are expected to participate.
