The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu opines that research at IITs and other higher education institutes must have strong focus on finding solutions to various problems faced by mankind - from climate change to health issues. He was inaugurating the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Delhi IIT through a video conference. He also released the Diamond Jubilee logo and IIT Delhi 2030 strategy document in the presence of Minister for Education Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, and Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT Delhi.

The Vice President also echoed that Indian institutions will be counted among the world's best only when they start impacting the societies around them by developing optimal and sustainable solutions to the problems faced by the nation. In terms of inviting greater investments in R&D projects, he expects private sector to collaborate with the academia. Calling for greater investment in R & D projects which focus on finding solutions to societal problems, he urged the private sector to collaborate with the academia in identifying such projects and fund them liberally.

He commented, “We are interacting in the midst of a pandemic that has disrupted every sphere of activity and impacted the world economy. I am happy that the IITs across the country have taken up several projects relating to COVID-19, including development of low-cost ventilators, PPEs, testing kits, sanitization, robots and other equipment, apart from AI (Artificial Intelligence) studies on epidemic patterns and disease dynamics. The Vice President added, “While finding answers to various challenges posed by COVID-19, we should be better prepared to tackle any future pandemic. For that to happen, there should be greater collaboration and synergy between experts from different domains. I would like IIT Delhi and other institutions to look into this aspect.”

While IIT Delhi continues to remain in the limelight, IIT Indore had recently received an Rs.100 crore grant from the Department of Science and Technology to establish a Technology Innovation Hub (TIH). It’s a great omen as far as education, research & development is concerned.