The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Madras has been voted the best innovative educational institute in India for the second year in a row by the Indian government.

The Institute was ranked No.1 in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) launched last year by the Innovation Unit of the Ministry of Education (formerly the Ministry of Resource Development human resources) under the heading “Institutions of national importance, central universities and Category Central funded technical institutions.

After IIT Madras in the category for second, third, fourth and fifth places, are respectively IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru and IIT Kharagpur.

Around 674 establishments participated in the ARIIA ranking this year, up from 496 last year.

India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu announced the results today at a virtual event attended by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union Minister of Education, the Government of India and other officials .

ARIIA strives to systematically rank educational institutions and universities mainly on indicators related to innovation. It aims to inspire Indian institutions to reorient their mindset and create ecosystems to encourage high quality research, innovation and entrepreneurship. More than quantity, ARIIA focuses on the quality of innovations and measures the real impact created by these innovations at national and international level.

IIT Madras has excelled in ARIIA because of its strong entrepreneurial ecosystem which encourages students to become job creators. The IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) in the IITM Research Park is the leading hub for high tech start-ups in India with innovation and impact as key differentiators / drivers.

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While IITMIC manages start-ups, there are other innovation platforms for students even before they graduate. They include Nirmaan, a pre-incubator, Center for Innovation (CFI), which provides a platform for students to “come in with an idea and come out with a product”, and the Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship which prepares aspirants. entrepreneurs.

Professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director of IIT Madras, said: “IIT Madras is known for its world-class innovation ecosystem consisting of a research park and several other centers that have already produced companies of world class and disruptive technologies in India. We are proud to be recognized for the second time in a row as India’s best innovative educational institution under ARIIA.

The IITMIC is home to incubators such as the Health Technology Innovation Center (HTIC), the Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) and Bio-Tech incubators. The IITMIC has incubated over 200 high-tech start-ups until June 2020. These companies have attracted VC funds / angel investors to the tune of $ 235 million and have a combined valuation of $ 948 million .

They had a cumulative turnover of $ 61 million in 2019-2020, creating more than 4,000 jobs and generating more than 100 patents. Start-ups are in sectors such as manufacturing, IoT, energy / renewables, health / medical devices, water, education / skills development, agro-technology , robotics, AI, ML and data analysis.

Commenting on the ranking, IIT Bombay Director Subhasis Chaudhuri said: “IIT Bombay places great importance on innovation and entrepreneurship and strives to ensure that the fruits of research translate into products, for the benefit of the country.

The Dean of the Institute for Research and Development, Milind Atrey, said: “IIT Bombay strives to cultivate a dynamic industry-university symbiosis to ensure that innovations and technologies developed in the laboratories affect society as a whole. “

Rankings

The ranking contains the list of the best innovative higher education institutions (HEIs) and innovative universities in six categories. In addition to institutes of national importance / central universities / CFTI, the other five categories include public or government-funded colleges, public or government-funded universities, private or self-funded colleges, private or self-funded universities, and HEIs. exclusively reserved for women.

The top three government or government-subsidized universities included the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), the University of Punjab, and the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University. While the top three private or self-funded universities ranked for innovation include Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Odisha in the first place, followed by SRM Institute of Science and Technology and Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu.

In government or government-sponsored colleges / institutions, Pune College of Engineering took first place, followed by PES Karnataka College of Engineering and Coimbatore Institute of Technology in second and third place, respectively . The category of private or self-funded colleges / institutions was led by SR Engineering College, Telangana, followed by GH Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur and Shri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Tamil Nadu.

The sixth category of female-only higher education institutions saw the Tamil Nadu-based Avinashilingam Institute of Home Science and Higher Education for Women rank # 1 for innovation, followed by Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women.

Rankings are based on a weighting out of 100 across six parameters, including successful innovation and start-ups and fundraising innovation and start-ups with the maximum weighting of 35.

The other main parameters include intellectual property (IP), technology transfer and commercialization with a weight of 32, followed by the annual budget dedicated to the promotion and support of I&E activities with a weight of 13. Programs and activities on IPR, innovation, start-up and entrepreneurship as well as pre-incubation and incubation infrastructure and facilities to support I&E each have a weight of 7.5. The other five weightings go to courses on innovation, IPR and entrepreneurship development.

A total of 674 higher education institutions of different categories participated in ARIIA 2020, including 373 private or self-funded colleges, 121 public or state-subsidized colleges, 80 private or self-funded universities, 62 institutes of national importance / central universities / CFTI and 38 public establishments. or government-sponsored universities.