30 NITs converge at Surathkal to align research-to-market pathways

Mangaluru: National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) at Surathkal opens its campus for Thursday and Friday to an All-India gathering of NIT deans focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. Participants will name the obstacles their own institutes meet when moving research toward translation, product design, licensing deals and startup support.

Visiting specialists will outline methods that help an idea travel from first sketch through invention and market-ready innovation until it produces measurable impact. The meeting follows a formal decision by the Council of NITs that assigned NITK the job of circulating its own rules and working methods. Delegates will examine NITK’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship policy with the aim of tailoring it for use elsewhere.

Tours will take them through the Centre for System Design, the IDEA Factory, the Central Research Facility, the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park and the shoreline beside the campus.

Professor B Ramachandra Bhat, newly appointed Dean of Research and Innovation, noted that NITK feels honoured to welcome the group. Over fifty representatives from thirty NITs, drawn from nearly every Indian state, are expected.

The roster includes research deans, associate deans, incubator directors and Institute Innovation Council coordinators. Prof. Ramachandra Bhat anticipates frank conversation, useful lessons and tighter cooperation among the institutes. Attendees will also see the opening of INCUBATE, NITK’s yearly entrepreneurship festival, on Friday. Keynote addresses, contests and further programme items continue through the weekend.