CHENNAI: While stressing the need to carry out the socially relevant researches by the IITs, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said a committee would be formed to review the progress of research parks at IITs across the country. He made the announcement after inaugurating new facilities at the IIT Madras research park on Thursday. “We have provided funds for several IITs to set up such Research Parks. We will set up a committee to ensure the IIT Madras research park model is replicated across the country,” he said. IIT Madras is home to India's first university-driven research park. It was modelled along the lines of successful Research Parks in Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. “The IIT Madras experiment has prompted many Indian companies and universities to fund research in India rather than abroad,” he told reporters.
“Google, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook are not Indian innovations, but many of the brains associated with them are Indians. So we want people to come to India to innovate, an area where we are lagging behind,” he said. The government has funded research parks at seven IITs including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur. He also announced the launch of “Smart Campus” campaign which will have various components, including saving, conserving and recycling of water, besides water harvesting. The second aspect of this Smart Campus is ‘Save and generate electricity.’
“It is better to carry out research aimed at solving problems of the people. We have to save electricity,” he said.
