IIT Kanpur to lead one of the three Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms (ICMAP) launched by Department of Science & Technology

Kanpur : In a new collaborative initiative in energy innovation launched by the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, IIT Kanpur has been adjudged as a lead institute to lead one of the three Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms (ICMAP). The Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms were launched at the Mission Innovation (MI) Annual Gathering session on 4th April 2022, by Hon’ble Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh. Dr. Singh awarded the citations to the three respective centre leads of the Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms.
These Material Acceleration Platforms are set up with the aim to leverage emerging capabilities in next-generation computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and robotics to accelerate the pace of materials discovery up to 10 times faster. IIT Kanpur is the lead institute in ICMAP on Materials with Prof. Kanwar Singh Nalwa of Sustainable Energy Engineering as the Center Head.
Speaking on the announcement, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur said, “I am delighted to share this on behalf of our institute that we have been given the responsibility to lead one of the three Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms. This is a noble step taken by the DST for clean energy solutions as well as accelerating the pace of innovations in energy. The IIT Kanpur team led by Prof. Kanwar Singh Nalwa would leverage the AI & ML and other technology resources of the institute and would build a cohesive collaboration with the 13 elite institutions under the platform to achieve the stated goal of designing materials for energy harvesting.”
The platforms constitute a knowledge network of more than 38 elite institutions and 80 research personnel working on next-generation low-cost advanced energy materials. IIT Kanpur is the lead institute in ICMAP on Materials with Prof. Kanwar Singh Nalwa of Sustainable Energy Engineering Department as the Center Head. The objective of this platform is to design materials for energy harvesting by employing quantum and classical mechanics enabled atomistic simulations and AI & ML algorithms. The network of researchers engaged in the platform comprises of scientists from 13 elite institutions. In the other two MAPs, IIT Hyderabad and IISER Thiruvananthapuram will be the lead institutes. While IIT Hyderabad will lead the ICMAP on Bioenergy and Hydrogen, IISER Thiruvananthapuram will lead the ICMAP on Storage.
The Mission Innovation (MI) Annual Gathering holds key discussions on clean energy innovations and exploring collaborations. They bring together governments from every continent, international organizations, and private sector investors to spearhead the global investment and collaboration required to explore solutions in making clean energy technology affordable and accessible worldwide. With the Integrated Clean Energy Material Acceleration Platforms (ICMAP), they aim to achieve multi-stakeholder collaborations among the institutions.