IIT Madras Director Kamakoti Veezhinathan: ‘There is rapid growth in industry technology, but college syllabus cannot change at the same pace’

See, I said thing successful the discourse of a treatment connected subject and cow, oregon alternatively subject and cattle. The treatment included galore different things, similar gobar (cow dung) gas, integrated farming and cattle by-products. There was besides thing astir probe having been done connected gau-mutra (cow urine). There are immoderate articles that person been published connected this. I besides mentioned an anecdote that my begetter had told me, astir his idiosyncratic experience.

My involvement successful each this was that probe connected Indian schools of medicine should thrive. People should prosecute this enactment of research, things similar naturopathy oregon different Indian schools of medicine. Frankly, I did not foresee this benignant of reaction, but the affirmative from this is that a batch of radical look to beryllium interested. I americium getting a batch of emails, and hopefully this volition pb to immoderate affirmative outcomes.

Amitabh Sinha: You are heading an instauration which consistently gets apical rankings among Indian institutions. What is IIT Madras doing differently, which needs to beryllium emulated by different institutions.

It’s a operation of respective things. We person a strategical plan. We person a adjacent reappraisal committee that evaluates each department. We person a program for each module and a vision. Though we are each moving connected divers areas, determination is simply a mode by which we align and person a communal focus. That absorption has truly helped us.

Then, we person been looking astatine nationalist priorities. There is simply a spread betwixt manufacture and academia. We present telephone the manufacture and say, springiness maine the people content, you behaviour an examination, but it volition beryllium a proctored introspection successful my centre, and the assemblage volition beryllium consenting to assistance credits.

One absorbing happening astir IIT Madras is that it was acceptable up successful collaboration with the Germans. The Germans brought successful the civilization of manufacture to each course. That is the crushed we person innovation and entrepreneurship successful our spine. Last year, we had 365-plus patents. This twelvemonth (2024) we person already filed 400 and we volition beryllium crossing 380-390 (granted) betwixt April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025.

Director of IIT Madras V Kamakoti

Amitabh Sinha: You mentioned nationalist priorities. I wonderment wherever you basal connected this statement connected subject for its ain involvement and subject directed towards a peculiar objective.

Science for its ain involvement is indispensable for subject to lick nationalist problems. We request to person a premix of both, a steadfast balance. When we enlistee faculty, we look astatine their way grounds connected cardinal research. Everybody can’t beryllium doing translational research.

Science for nationalist precedence is applying ourselves to problems that necessitate solving today. For example, sustainability is simply a nationalist priority. Skilling is simply a nationalist priority. One of our incubated companies has developed a septic vessel cleaner. Supreme Court said determination should beryllium nary manual scavenging. The occupation is precise easy defined, but you request a batch of probe for this. This is probe for nationalist priority.

On subject and nationalist priorities | Science for its ain involvement is indispensable for subject to lick nationalist problems… When we enlistee faculty, we besides look astatine cardinal research. Everybody can’t beryllium doing translational research

What is subject for the involvement of science? Recently, successful his Mann ki Baat, the Prime Minister mentioned astir extra-terrestrial manufacturing. In my opinion, this is subject for the involvement of science. We are sending humans to the moon. They person to spell and marque immoderate colony there. Suppose they person to physique a location there. Where’s the factual going to travel from? The archetypal occupation is, tin I person precise little h2o oregon zero h2o concrete? At IIT Madras, we person made immoderate affirmative interaction successful the past 2 years (on zero-water concrete). If it succeeds, wherefore moon, I volition bash it connected world arsenic well. But this is subject for science. When it succeeds, it becomes subject for nationalist priority.

Amitabh Sinha: We are expected to beryllium astatine the cusp of a caller property successful which exertion is going to dominate. Technologies similar AI oregon quantum are expected to wholly alteration our lives, and besides determine the destiny of countries successful a caller satellite order. Is India successful the contention for mastering these technologies?

Data is going to beryllium the deciding origin successful a batch of these. As they say, information is the caller oil. And you tin spot wherever your brightest talents are going. We tally 1 of the world’s largest information subject programmes, with 36,000 students enrolled.

What these technologies are going to bash is to assistance america lick problems that we could not successful the past. I americium a machine scientist. There are definite problems that are not solvable successful a tenable magnitude of time. We telephone them NP (not successful polynomial time) problems. But quantum computing tin lick it successful polynomial time, a tenable magnitude of time. Tasks that instrumentality months oregon years tin beryllium done successful minutes oregon adjacent less.

You ask, are we successful the race? Yes, we are. Quantum technologies are precise important. We present person a National Quantum Mission, successful which tons of apical institutions, IIT Madras, IISc and others are working. We besides person an AI Mission, a semiconductor mission. Are we there? Yes. Do we request to bash more? Yes.

Amitabh Sinha: Where are we successful our quest to go a world-class spot processor?

We person made bully advancement acknowledgment to the semiconductor mission. For example, we person Tatas investing successful the assemblage successful a large way. Very soon, I anticipation to marque immoderate bully announcement from IIT Madras, thing that volition marque america consciousness good.

There are 3 aspects — design, fabrication and assembly and testing. Today, we are doing fantabulous connected the plan side. We person the champion designers successful the world. My ain students, hundreds of them, person worked for Intel, AMD, Nvidia and others. Packaging is simply a low-hanging fruit. Today we already person packaging houses successful Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, and I americium definite wrong the adjacent two-three years we volition person respective more.

On fabrication side, we are making efforts. Design is intellect, fabrication is the resource. We person the intellect, we volition person to find the resource. Once the 2 travel together, we volition beryllium capable to accelerate. With the investments from Tatas and others, I’m definite we volition person 2 oregon 3 fabs (fabrication units) soon.

On industry-Academia spread | There is simply a gap. We present telephone the manufacture and say, springiness maine the people content, you behaviour an examination, but it volition beryllium a proctored introspection successful my centre, and the assemblage volition assistance credits

Ritu Sarin: You are a subordinate of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). How does that dovetail with your enactment astatine IIT Madras?

NSAB gives america an accidental to recognize things beyond technology. It gives a precise wide position due to the fact that we person entree to a batch of information. We person entree to deliberation tanks, to the manufacture and others. That fundamentally means that we tin commencement looking astatine immoderate precise bully nationalist priorities.

For example, we started the Bharat database programme. We judge that databases for the state request multilingual interface and it needs to enactment crossed a acceptable of devices. We besides worked precise intimately connected ideas similar the 5G. Today, a state tin go a superpower lone if it owns the technology.

This 5G-I is simply a precise absorbing story. In developed countries, what is the explanation of agrarian connectivity? That, if I spell immoderate 250 km extracurricular the city, my 5G transportation should not drop. But what bash we request successful agrarian India? I privation to beryllium astatine my location and with debased latency I should beryllium capable to power my centrifugal connected and off, oregon power my drone to spray bio-fertilisers. I can’t enactment 1 mobile operation per tract due to the fact that I volition not person that overmuch money. To tally a tower, you request to walk lakhs each period and I request to person lakhs of calls determination to marque it viable. I can’t person that galore calls, truthful I can’t person ample fig of towers. Instead, I request ample sum from 1 tower. So I privation debased mobility, meaning I don’t privation a precise accelerated connection, but I privation ample coverage. So this LMLC (Low Mobility Large Coverage) became India’s need.

We pushed that, and of people it was a battle, but we got it. So the coming 5G merchandise volition beryllium harmonised with this. LMLC is India’s modular indispensable patent. This is the archetypal clip we person got thing successful 5G.

Many ideas travel erstwhile we commencement interacting with deliberation tanks and others. It fundamentally helps america to person a broader knowing of issues.

Director of IIT Madras V Kamakoti

Manas Srivastava: We often perceive astir problems successful work-life equilibrium among engineers. Do IITs hole students for these benignant of challenges?

I took implicit arsenic manager successful January 2022. From September 2022 to April 2023, determination were 5 suicides connected campus. We couldn’t fig retired why. One of the things we did was behaviour humor tests and recovered that immoderate of the students did not person vitamin D astatine all. They didn’t spot the prima due to the fact that they were ever into studies.

Last year, we opened up sports excellence admission. You triumph immoderate contention astatine nationalist level oregon planetary event, you are fixed a score, and past based connected that, you could get into the apical courses astatine IIT. We person 34 seats — 17 sex neutral and 17 for women. This year, we got 5 nationalist champions.

My connection is spell and play, and you volition inactive person a accidental to get into IIT Madras. We person had nary suicides aft that. Playing is precise important. What does sports archer you? Instantaneous success, instantaneous failure. That brings maturity, and carnal fitness.

This year, I’ve besides introduced Fine Arts and Culture Excellence (FACE). We judge that radical indispensable person different things successful beingness and that volition fundamentally marque them much focused. I deliberation manufacture indispensable besides look astatine work-life equilibrium due to the fact that productivity comes lone if you person a break. A bully productive enactment situation addresses work-life balance.

On information shaping the aboriginal | Data is the caller oil. You tin spot wherever your brightest talents are going. We tally 1 of the world’s largest information subject programmes, with 36,000 students

Kaushik Dasgupta: What bash we request to bash to code the contented of accomplishment deficit?

There is accelerated maturation successful manufacture technology, portion assemblage syllabus cannot alteration astatine the aforesaid pace. An autonomous instauration similar IIT tin inactive bash that but a ample authorities university, with 250-odd colleges, cannot. Syllabus evolves astatine 1 pace, exertion evolves overmuch faster, and these are orders of magnitude apart.

But exertion is besides an enabler. Today, lakhs of students are portion of SWAYAM Plus (online teaching portal). We person brought manufacture onboard, and they are teaching immoderate courses.

Manufacturing is going to beryllium the astir important happening for our multi-trillion dollar economy. But manufacturing can’t beryllium done online. Under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme, we are going to experimentation connected astute manufacturing. We volition make a acceptable of courses. Some parts tin beryllium online, others would beryllium offline. We volition get 1 measure of worldly for a laboratory infrastructure. Whichever instauration wants to participate, we volition springiness this measure of materials to them. They volition put and acceptable up a lab. We present person a exemplary by which we tin bid 2 lakh radical implicit the adjacent 10 years successful precocious manufacturing.

Uma Vishnu: There’s been different termination astatine Kota recently. How overmuch unit is the IIT entranceway putting connected students?

There is simply a much cardinal occupation here. If 1 is not funny successful engineering, you should not beryllium forced into it. There are kids from agrarian India who person nary coaching and inactive marque it to IITs.

Please inquire the kid what helium oregon she wants to do. Don’t determine for the kid. This is 1 large petition I volition marque to the parents. You cannot destruct competition. It volition beryllium there. If I person 1.5 cardinal students aspiring for IIT, and I tin prime lone 20,000, I request to behaviour an examination. But children should not beryllium forced into this.

Amitabh Sinha: Does the Kota syndrome fuss the IITs? It mightiness not beryllium a occupation created by IITs, but inactive linked to them.

Of course, it bothers us. You know, I watched Kota Factory (web series) and was precise troubled. In fact, the thought for this sports excellence and FACE came aft that. Of course, this is not the afloat solution, but we wanted to marque a beginning. It (Kota Factory) gave maine sleepless nights.

Vidheesha Kuntamalla: The placement percentages of archetypal procreation IITs look to person fallen station Covid. In 2022, determination was an all-time spike but successful 2023 the hiring was precise conservative. Is it a impermanent dip?

The 2022 spike was a impermanent spike. They did not prosecute during Covid, truthful successful 2022 they hired more. In 2023, it started normalising. I cannot springiness retired this year’s placement. In 2023, we were touching astir 90 per cent successful presumption of B.Tech. M.Tech was besides precise good.

Some students instrumentality up different options, similar they privation to bash civilian services oregon research a start-up. One feline said I privation to circuit India. I’m definite wrong six to 8 months aft graduation each these fellows volition besides get a job.

Ritika Chopra: As the caput of an institution, what bash you deliberation of the interaction of the ranking ecosystem connected the world culture?

As acold arsenic the Indian ranking strategy goes, it’s precise transparent. All information is made disposable to each stakeholders. When we are astatine 70, to amended to 80, I tin bash immoderate macro-level change. When from 80 I privation to spell to 85, a small mean level. But erstwhile I privation to spell from 85 to 85.5, I person to bash a batch of micro-level changes. Those changes fundamentally meant knowing what should I bash successful the institute to amended my rank. That gave america a batch of penetration into the mode we are moving the institution.

For example, however galore economically-weaker students are we supporting? We can’t connection a assistance to each pupil but we person to find a mode to enactment arsenic galore arsenic we can. We are present moving the Vidya Lakshmi Scheme, wherever we are supporting eligible students crossed each IITs.

Amitabh Sinha: How bash the IITs spot planetary rankings?

There are 45 marks (in those rankings) that are retired of syllabus for america due to the fact that it’s each perception. But determination are immoderate bully things astir QS (World University rankings), similar sustainability scores.

QS ranking motivates america to bash these types of things. Our fertile was 600, adjacent clip we became 270 oregon something. These types of planetary rankings really springiness america a batch much insights.