The Indian Institute of Technology-Palakkad (IIT-Palakkad) plans to set up a technology research park near its campus in Kanjikode, Palakkad. IIT-Palakkad Director Prof. Seshadri Sekhar announced this while speaking at Founders Meet 15.0 an event organized by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) on Friday.

Prof. Sekhar said the technology research park is similar to the tech research park near the IIT-Madras campus. IIT-Palakkad has approached the Kerala State government to allocate 20 acres of land near the campus for the same.

“I was in IIT-Madras before joining here. We are planning to set up a technology research park here similar to that in Chennai,” said Prof. Sekhar.

“The advantage of IIT-Palakkad is that we are close to both industry and agriculture. Kanjikode is the second-largest industrial hub in Kerala and Palakkad is famous for farming, the startups and solutions built here will help the ecosystem.”

TRIP

The proposed park will be named Technology Research Integration Park or TRIP.

The IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), was the first university-based research park and has partnerships with companies and startups for various research programs. The IITMRP is spread across 11.42 acres and has over 1.2 million square feet of workspace.

As per the IITMRP, it has around more than 70 partners across 17 sectors with over 200 labs and test facilities. It has incubated over 200 startups across 13 sectors.

Prof. Sekhar also said that the IIT-Palakkad is among the third-generation IITs in the country, however, the premier institute has strong research talent.

“We have asked for 20 acres of land and the State government’s response was very positive. We hope to hear the good news soon from the government,” added Prof. Sekhar.

Presently, IIT-Palakkad has established two Section 8 companies Palakkad Technology IHub Foundation (IPTIF) and Technology Innovation Foundation of IIT Palakkad (TECHIN) focused on assisting innovation and incubation for entrepreneurs.

Industry-Academia partnership

Last year, in a media interview Kerala State Industries Minister P Rajeeve mentioned the government’s plan to set up industrial parks adjacent to universities and other educational institutions. This was planned as part of industry-academia partnerships and also to commercialize various research ideas to help the industries.

“The technology research park will help the startup ecosystem in the state,” said Anoop Ambika, Chief Executive Officer, of KSUM.

The KSUM also launched a program called SPIRE, a startup pre-incubation program for researchers.   The application for the programme will be opened on Wednesday 17, January 2024.