IIT Kanpur inaugurates DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence

Kanpur (UP): The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K), in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has established a DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA CoE) on its campus for interdisciplinary research in next-generation defence technologies.

This is in line with the DIA CoEs set up by DRDO in key academic institutions in the country through which it is building an ecosystem to facilitate technology development in the academic environment through experienced faculty and bright scholars, in conjunction with the efforts of the different scientists from DRDO laboratories.

According to an official release, the new centre will spearhead focused research initially in identified research and development verticals, including Printing on Flexible Substrates to build devices and systems based on thin films for strategic applications; Advanced Nanomaterials to provide fundamental contribution to material selection and design; Accelerated Material Design and Development to reduce the number of actual trial experiments while reaching optimal solutions via high throughput experiments; High Energy Materials to focus on the modelling of high-performance explosives and performance prediction of metalised explosives; and Bio-Engineering to develop technologies for applications ranging from sensing hazardous agents to wound healing.

Sanjay Tandon, former director of the Institute of Technology Management at Mussoorie, serves as the Director of DIA CoE at IIT Kanpur, overseeing its strategic initiative and collaborative endeavours. DRDO will fund the projects and establish key technical facilities and modern infrastructure required to enable and boost R&D programmes under identified verticals.

The journey of the establishment of DIA CoE at IIT Kanpur started in 2022 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed during Def-Expo-2022 at Gandhinagar.

Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur, emphasised the importance of the collaborative effort and said, “With the changing times, the need for advancement of technology in the defence sector is more than ever to become Atmanirbhar Bharat in the true sense of the word. For this, DRDO, Academia and Industry must join hands together. The establishment of Industry-Academia Centres of Excellence by DRDO is an apt step in this direction. With strong R&D expertise and state-of-the-art facilities in flexible electronics, nanomaterials, materials science and engineering, high energy, and bioengineering, IIT Kanpur is well poised to contribute to this collaborative effort. I extend hearty congratulations to the entire team and wish all the success to DIA CoE IIT Kanpur.”