Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said that as of 2025, India is the world's third-largest start-up ecosystem with a combined valuation exceeding USD 354 million.
Pradhan was speaking virtually speaking during the inauguration of the ‘IInvenTiv 2025’ at IIT Madras. The Minister observed that Tamil Nadu has always been a land of innovation, entrepreneurship and excellence and has given India some of the brightest entrepreneurs, innovators, scientists and researchers who have made significant contributions to nation-building.
The objective of IInvenTiv 2025 which kicked off today at IIT Madras aims at driving the commercialisation of lab research into real-world products and applications through technology transfers, licensing and other venues of Industry-Academia collaboration.
Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education, who physically inaugurated the event IInvenTiv 3.0, which has significant participation of representatives from higher education institutes and the industry will emerge as an iconic brand in the innovation sector and the industry leaders attending the event will find many of the technologies on display useful, leading to further technology transfers in the near future.
“Fostering technological advancement is like pulling the Thiruvaarur or Puri Jagannath temple chariots. It takes the entire town working towards it,” remarked Majumdar while sharing the Tamil proverb – 'oor koodi izhukkum thaer.'
The two-day event is being termed as the largest R&D Fair, in the country and showcases groundbreaking innovations from IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, and other top 50 NIRF-ranked premier institutes. It is being organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. Different coffee table books were released during the inauguration including a coffee table book, titled ‘Prabhav – From Ideas to Impact’ on leading technological innovations from Indian higher education institutions, which have led to great impacts on the industry and a coffee table book on one year of SWAYAM Plus was also released on the occasion. Majumdar also released IIT Madras’ science magazine, Shaastra, and exhibit catalogue, and felicitated the Yuvamanthan Hackathon winners and leading industry collaborators.
“Through IInventiv 2025, we are bringing together a platform in which industry leaders can look at technology transfer, investors can look at avenues for funding and foster future collaboration,” remarked V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras. He further said that such an approach paves the way for Viksit Bharat 2047, the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the event, several MoUs were signed with the industry for the technology transfer of Quadrotor Bi-Plane Tailsitter UAV from IIT Madras to Tunga Aerospace Industries Private Limited, technology transfer of Method And Side-view Mirror System Of Vehicle For Monitoring Ambient Parameters During Vehicle Mobility from IIT Madras to Elicius Energy Private Limited and the technology transfer of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Based System and method of estimating traffic count from IIT Madras to TritiyAeye Private Limited besides many other technologies.
‘Chintan Shivir’ or brainstorming sessions, moderated by reporters from IIT Madras Shaastra Magazine, a science and technology publication, are also being conducted over the course of IInvenTiv 2025, in different thematic areas, each featuring experts from government, industry, academia, and start-ups. These technology areas include AI/ML Technologies, Aviation, defence and space, marine technology, medical or healthcare Engineering, rural technology, smart cities and infrastructure, advanced manufacturing (Industry 4.0+/5.0) and circularity and Sustainability (Energy and E-mobility).
IInvenTiv is the R&D fair, where all IITs, NITs, IISERs, IIITs and other top-ranked NIRF Institutions in the country come together to showcase their R&D activity. It serves as a platform for showcasing cutting-edge research and fostering collaboration between academia and industry. A rigorous evaluation committee comprised of industry and academic experts review submissions by researchers for showcasing their products at the Expo. IIT Madras is organising the third edition of this R&D innovation Fair.