By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Real innovation is solving people’s problems. The time to measure progress through papers, patents or IPOs is over, said Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan while inaugurating the ‘Technology Summit-2026’ at IIT Madras today.
Addressing the event at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Shri Pradhan said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the government has created a fund of Rs 1 lakh crore for Research, Development (R&D) and Innovation. Currently, the government is giving special encouragement to research in the country. However, in the coming days, he said that India’s innovation system can be of international level only if there is a partnership between industry and the government.
The Union Education Minister said that IIT Madras is based on the research infrastructure of 15 Centres of Excellence established under the ‘Institute of Eminence’ (IOE) framework. Here, technologies that directly address societal challenges, from healthcare and sustainable development to semiconductors, energy and advanced materials, are being showcased. The theme titled “Form IITM for India. Building Together” reflects a truly self-reliant India. He further said that by 2047, India will become a developed nation and a model for the developing nations of the world or the ‘Global South’. For this, our higher education institutions will have to make their research commercially viable and socially acceptable.
The conference was attended by Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Jayant Choudhury, Director of IIT Madras Prof. V. Kamakoti, Education Secretary and many other dignitaries. Finally, the Minister visited a large technology exhibition organized at the conference premises and encouraged young researchers.
