Expertise in information technology can be applied to improve life of people in these times of climate change, N. Kalaiselvi, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has said.
Ms. Kalaiselvi was speaking at the 11th convocation of the Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Management (IIIT-DM), Kancheepuram on Thursday.
Ms. Kalaiselvi called upon the graduates to apply the expertise gained from the institute “in a totally different way for its translation to transform the country.” The country required designs to address climate change that would help develop resilient crops and buildings, said Dr. Kalaiselvi, who is secretary in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
For the first time since its inception, the institute had the highest number of 30 graduating Ph. D scholars. They were among the 411 students, including 149 in the dual degree B. Tech and M. Tech programme; 33 M. Tech; 12 M. Des and 187 in B. Tech degree graduates.
Sridhar Vembu, chairman of Zoho Corporation, said the institute had proactively submitted patents and worked in industry collaborations. Such collaborations would give the institute’s students and faculty problems to work on.
Institute director M.V. Karthikeyan said it had improved in NIRF ranking from 184th position last year to 100-150 rank band in 2023. Also, the institute’s business incubator had onboarded nine companies in 2022-23, taking the current portfolio to 21 companies. The incubator supported 11 MSMEs through the State government’s Innovation Voucher Programme of Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute.
A release added that to promote research through interdisciplinary collaboration in areas of rapid development, the institute had implemented SMIRE – Support for Major Interdisciplinary Research Equipment 2023, offering a financial aid of ₹6 crore to procure modern sophisticated research equipment.
