Roorkee (The Hawk): Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) has outshined other applicants and has displayed exceptionally well in all three pillars of innovation - Disruptive Innovation, Innovation Quotient, and Innovation Realisation in the 9th edition of the prestigious Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Industrial Innovation Awards 2022 for the third consecutive year, IIT Roorkee is adjudged the "Winner of the Grand Award for Most Innovative Institute 2022". Also, IIT Roorkee is the category winner for "Innovation Quotient" for its innovations in the field of Energy Storage Devices, Remediation, Technology, and other sectors in a virtual felicitation ceremony held today, 03 December, during CII Advanced Materials Summit 2022.
IIT Madras also bags the first runner-up position in Most Innovative Institute 2022 category.
Mr. Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII National Mission on Technology, Innovation & Research; Dr. N Kalaiselvi, DG, CSIR & Secretary, DSIR; Dr. Ram Mashelkar, Former DG, CSIR, and Prof. Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan witnessed the award ceremony.
In the recent past, IIT Roorkee has developed technologies that are not only low effective but have a more significant societal impact, from which the following innovations have contributed to IIT Roorkee being selected for this award:
=Making biodegradable low-density Polyethylene using thermoplastic starch to solve the problem of polybags to make them environmentally friendly.
=Using Sodium-ion cells made from earth-abundant material to develop High-performance batteries at low cost, fast charging, safety, and fire prevention.
=A low-cost recycling process converting waste polyethene packets to paver blocks and wall tiles
On this occasion, CII has also launched a compendium featuring the innovations mentioned above of IIT Roorkee, along with the innovations of the other leading Innovative Organizations of 2022.
The CII innovation awards are based on enabling the ecosystem of research. The following parameters define the innovation & incubation ecosystem:
IIT Roorkee provides the most conducive environment by offering suitable infrastructure and constructive research ambiance. This has been accomplished by strengthening innovation & incubation portfolios by promoting research through a well-defined, flexible, transparent sponsored research policy and various support for laboratory strengthening for cutting-edge research. Recently Institute took the initiative to start various multi-disciplinary virtual research centers to promote domain-wise research.
A few initiatives launched by the institution to encourage industry-academia collaborations are Tech-Sarthi Scheme, Startup Expo, Technology carnivals, etc. Institute also focused on strengthening international collaboration, technology transfer, etc.
Moreover, IIT Roorkee is supporting 130+start-ups by TIDES (Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Development Society) & I-Hub Divyasampark. Both units facilitate the incubation of new enterprises with innovative technologies by admitting them to their Incubation Centre and providing physical, technical, financial, and networking support and services.
Thanking CII for this recognition for the third time in a row, Prof. Akshay Dvivedi, Dean (Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy), IIT Roorkee, said: that IIT Roorkee is honored to be awarded the prestigious CII Award. The extraordinary efforts towards innovation by our faculty members, students, and staff have led to this recognition. IIT Roorkee will continue to provide an enabling environment to sustain and boost such efforts.
Congratulating the Institute and all the stakeholders, Prof. K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, "We are thrilled to receive CII's Industrial Innovation Award for three consecutive years in a row. The Institute is keen on the overall development of the students and imparting the skill of research and entrepreneurship. It also provides an ambiance and ecosystem that inspire students to strive towards innovation in their field of interests continuously. I hope that we continue to achieve such pinnacles of success in all spheres of academics, research and innovation and make our Institute proud"