IIT Bhubaneswar-DRDO collaboration kick-off meeting explores possibilities of Centre of Excellence establishment

Bhubaneswar: As a groundbreaking initiative, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Collaboration Kick-off Meeting was held on 7^th May 2024.

Dr. Binay K. Das, Director General (DG) of Electronics and Communication Systems (ECS) Cluster, DRDO, and the Directors of CHESS, LRDE, DEAL, DLRL and IRDE of DRDO Labs along with senior scientists were present during the handing over of projects and kick-off function.

During the meeting, 9 sanctioned projects from ECS Cluster of DRDO were handed over, followed by an interaction session with IIT Bhubaneswar faculty members and Research Scholars. Further another 7 projects are in process to be sanctioned with a total worth of Rs. 18 crore funding. IIT Bhubaneswar will work on the sanctioned projects, which would be beneficial in Electronics warfare, AI Driven surveillance, power systems, Radar systems etc.

Prof S.R. Samantaray, Head of the School, Electrical Sciences welcomed the dignitaries and briefed about the sanctioned projects. He said: “The collaboration of IIT Bhubaneswar and DRDO will contribute to the emerging Research and Development need of defence applications, creating platform for ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’. This form of collaboration will enhance the sustainability of defence research programs and will be part of the eco-system for nation building.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Das said: “This collaboration between the ECS Cluster, DRDO and IIT Bhubaneswar is intended towards working for a common cause to fulfil the future needs of the country in the field of defence technology.” He said that DRDO is going through a transformation from technology chasers to become technology enablers and trend setters. “The goal is now to move beyond from attaining self-reliance to setting standards for the Indian Armed Forces, for others across the globe to emulate. In this context, this collaboration, and the further opportunity to set up a Centre of Excellence at IIT Bhubaneswar would prove crucial,” he added. He further advised the researchers and faculty members associated with various DRDO sanctioned projects to work systematically with proper review and risk management system to complete the projects in time and come up with unique solutions.

Informing about this association with DRDO, Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar said: “The IITs across the country have moved beyond knowledge generation and knowledge dissemination to knowledge application, wealth generation though start-ups & entrepreneurship and producing quality teachers. In such a scenario, collaborations with DRDO for research in the field of defence mechanism and technology will pave new path towards excellence.” Emphasizing on the role of research scholars in coming up with innovative ideas he said: “Our research scholars are the backbone in producing great research. For contributing to the development of the society and making a mark with some new concepts, the research scholars should work 24×7 with hard work and passion, should develop technical competence through extensive reading beyond textbooks. The primary motive of a research scholar should be intrinsic, and this would lead to enhance the research ecosystem of the country.”

Prof. Dinakar Pasla, Dean- Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy (SRIC) expressed gratitude to the DRDO’s ECS Cluster for bestowing confidence on IIT Bhubaneswar for research collaboration and he said that it would be a significant milestone in the field of defence research through different streams of science and technology. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Vijay Shankar Pasupureddi, Associate Head, Electronics & Communication Engineering stressed on focusing on both the macro and micro levels of implementing an idea and vision, which would lead to the success of these projects to realize their objectives in future.

On behalf of DRDO, Dr. Jagannath Nayak, Director, Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS); Shri N. Srinivas Rao, Director, Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL); Shri G. Viswam, Director, Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE); Dr. Ajay Kumar, Director, Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) and Shri L.C. Mangal, Director, Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) also spoke on the occasion. They stressed that DRDO is looking forward to having collaborations with the academia for research and industry for taking the projects forward to the application level. These collaborations with academic institutions aim at developing cutting-edge and next generation technologies to make India at par with the international standards in terms defence technology.

Among others, Dr. D.P. Dogra, Associate Head, Computer Science Engineering coordinated the programme.