IIT-D all set to open design innovation centre

A spate of new projects will soon grace the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi). While the institute has already set up its Student Innovation Centre with seed funding provided by the batch of 1986, it is now ready to set up yet another centre.

A spate of new projects will soon grace the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi). While the institute has already set up its Student Innovation Centre with seed funding provided by the batch of 1986, it is now ready to set up yet another centre.

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"The Government of India has approved an innovation centre to be set up at the IIT campus. This is going to be a design centre and will be different from the existing student innovation centre that already exists," said RK Shevgaonkar, director, IIT (Delhi).

Research in this innovation centre will focus more on interdisciplinarity. Although the existing faculty will be employed for the purpose, the institute is also planning to hire trained professionals and additional faculty.

While the centre will become functional in six months' time, students will have several options to choose from such as aesthetic design, product design and animation.

"At present, there is a student innovation centre that operates in IIT Delhi. But the new innovation centre will float additional courses for students, such as those relating to becoming an entrepreneur. These interdisciplinary courses will make students more aware of the innovations," said Shiben Kishen Koul, deputy director (strategy and planning).

It will also teach students how to formulate an innovative idea and put it into practice.

"This centre will teach students three basics - first, how to generate an innovative idea; second, how to convert that innovative idea into a product and third, to convert that product into a business. The students will always have the option of sitting for the institute's placement process," Shevgaonkar said.