IIT Madras hosts All India Research Scholars’ Summit to bring together Researchers from diverse disciplines across India

“Bharat Semiconductor Research Centre, which will be a really a global standard academia-Government-private sector-start-up partnered institution, to be announced soon:” Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State

CHENNAI : Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is organizing All India Research Scholars’ Summit (AIRSS) 2024 from 4th to 7th March 2024. Being conducted by the Research Affairs Council of IIT Madras, the event brings together researchers from diverse disciplines across India.

A key objective of the event is to explore the latest advancements in various research domains presented through oral presentations, poster sessions, and product/prototype showcases.

A Panel Discussion on ‘Research and Development: Catalysts for India’s Global Academic Standing’ was held featuring Dr. V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Dr. Govindan Rangarajan, Director IISC Bangalore, Dr. B S Murthy (Virtually), Director IIT Hyderabad, Dr. Aghila, Director, NIT Trichy, and Dr. DVLN Somayajulu, Director, IIITDM Kurnool.

Addressing the inaugural session virtually today (4th March 2024), Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, said, “The crowning development, in the context of this Research Summit is going to be the soon-to-be-announced Bharat Semiconductor Research Centre, which will be a really a global standard academia-Government-private sector-start-up partnered institution that will be created initially co-located with the Semiconductor Complex Limited as an institution and, down the road, with the ability to be spun off into an independent semiconductor research organization that will compete with and cooperate with IMEC, MIT Microelectronics, USA, ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), Taiwan, and establish itself in the coming years as one of the principle poles of semiconductor research in the coming decade and under which there will be this vibrant ecosystem of top notch universities and colleges of India working and collaborating on research in a diverse set of areas from materials to physics to science to transistors to devices to packaging to system innovation, among other areas.”

Further, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “It is no longer research, research scholarship, innovation and entrepreneurship are no longer outlier concepts as we discuss India, India’s economy and India’s growth. These are now central, and core concepts. Today, start-ups are now normal. Every institution, every college, every university and every young Indian, among his or her list of career options, and dream about his or her future, have places for creating, building or innovating something as one of their equally-important opportunities as getting a job, working with a large multinational or as travelling abroad to study or travelling in India to study.”

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar added, “We were, in January 2022 from the prism of semiconductor ecosystem, had limited or non-existent footprint in what was turning out to be one of the most critical and crucial sectors in terms of the overall resilience of the global economy…Two years on from January 2022 , from when we started Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Transforming India and making India a Semiconductor nation, here we are today with a Semiconductor ecosystem that is vibrant, growing fast. We have design innovation going on with chips and devices that are going to come out in the coming months, have come out and will continue to come out, a pipeline of very exciting devise. There is a product ecosystem that is developing in automotive, industrial, telecom, computer and in many other areas that are essentially leveraging off what we are doing in design innovation and design. The holy grail of semiconductors, the process, the manufacturing know-how and technologies are finally beginning to come to India. You are seeing proposals from Tower Semiconductor, Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation of Taiwan, Micron and companies like that setting up characterisation testing and manufacturing units in India. In a lot of ways, we have made up for 75 years of lost opportunities in the last two years.”

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “In this Budget, the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given Rs. One Lakh Crore as the ‘Research and Innovation Fund’, which is a 50-year interest-free grant from the Government of India to catalyzing innovation, catalyzing research and doing so in an Industry-academia partnership model.”

Technical Workshops, Hackathons and Competitions were organized to test the research and technical skills through expert-led sessions and competitions. Another key objective was to foster Industry-Academia Integration and contribute to the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Addressing the Research Scholars, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “For Viksit Bharat @ 2047, it is very important that state-of-the-art research is pursued in India resulting in Technological solutions for the diverse set of issues faced by our citizens.  I strongly believe that this summit, the first of its kind, will pave way for strong research collaborations among our vibrant research community.”

Dr. Samir V, Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D (DDR&D) and Chairman Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Mr. Christopher W. Hodges, U.S. Consul General, Chennai., Mr. Varun Chakaravarthy Indian Cricketer, Mr. Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Former Indian Cricketer, and Shri R.N. Ravi, Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu are among the eminent speakers scheduled to address the event.

The Inaugural session will be followed by a Plenary Panel focusing on the critical role of defence and space research in achieving a self-reliant India. ‘Spotlight Talks’ have also been scheduled to engage during which experts will share insights, experiences, and perspectives gained in their respective fields.

Highlighting the need for such events, Prof. Shanthi Pavan, Dean (Academic Research), IIT Madras, said, “It is great to see research scholars from all over the country and across disciplines come together and engage in technical and fun activities.”

Dr. Murugaiyan Amirthalingam, Faculty Advisor, AIRSS 2024, IIT Madras and Mr. Poshadri Chathri, PhD Scholar and Research Affairs Secretary, IIT Madras, also addressed the inaugural session.

The summit will also feature plenary panel discussions led by eminent figures such as Directors of IITs, IISC, NITs, and IIITs along with representatives from organizations such as DRDO, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

The All India Research Scholars’ Summit will also have cultural events such as music concerts, open mic sessions, recreational activities and DJ beats.