IIT Bombay Research Park to House 40 Firms and Focus on Cooperation in AI and ML

When the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay's research park moves into its permanent location in a few months, it will collaborate with 75-80 firms, nurture more industry-academia cooperation on research and development, and provide internships for BTech and MTech students at IIT Bombay. This year, Bombay Research Park will relocate to its final location, which will house 40 firms and focus on cooperation in AI and ML. IIT Bombay had set aside 15,000 square feet on its Powai campus for the research park, which it is converting into "half a million square feet of infrastructure that should be operational by the end of this year," according to Kameshwari Mangalampalli, chief operating officer of the IIT Bombay Research Park Foundation, also known as Applied Science Park for Innovation Research and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE).

In response to a recent Lok Sabha question, Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar stated that research parks were being planned at eight Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), including IIT Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru.

The History of IIT Bombay Research Park

While it is only now relocating to its permanent location, the research park has operated for over a decade. Following the success of the IIT Madras Research Park, the Ministry of Education - then known as the Ministry of Human Resource Development - chose to fund research parks at IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bombay. In 2013, IIT Bombay filed its proposal. "The project was approved in 2014, and operations began in May 2015," Mangalampalli explained. ASPIRE began accepting firms in February 2017. "Since 2017, we've leased out spaces, and companies have begun co-locating and working from the research park," Mangalampalli noted. According to its website, the research park now includes 43 associate and client member companies that work with the foundation. The park integrates faculties and businesses based on their interests. Mangalampalli also stated that cooperation in healthcare, quantum computing, e-mobility, and carbon capture are in high demand.

IIT Bombay Powai: Academia and industry

Mangalampalli noted that the research park's primary goal was to develop cooperation between academia and industry by "co-locating" the two on campus. From 2017 until 2023, some of the foundation's partners maintained physical offices on campus, while the remainder worked digitally. The IIT Bombay Research Park team devised a temporary solution that allowed some companies to co-locate and begin work on campus. The research park includes ten enterprises on campus that fall under this category. Applied Materials, a semiconductor equipment manufacturing firm based in Santa Clara, California; Ubisoft India Studios, a French video-gaming company; Everest Construction; NanoSniff Technologies, which works on the manufacture of microsensors and microactuators; and a few other startups are among them. Another 33 others use it virtually. Many academic members work in artificial intelligence and data science, battery management systems, energy, sensors, cyber security, and sustainability. There is a significant emphasis on AI and ML interaction. IIT Bombay has enormous aspirations for this part of its activities, with the permanent facility slated to open soon.

Expertise and Internships

Collaborations have shown to be mutually beneficial over the years. "Since 2017, we have had over 120 internships, with many of our students interning with companies and being hired." Furthermore, having their headquarters in an academic institution like IIT Bombay with diverse knowledge available on campus is a value proposition for enterprises coming to the research park," Mangalampalli explained.