IIT Delhi to receive research support from ITC Ltd with sustainability goal

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has entered into a partnership with ITC Ltd for research support in identified Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) areas.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with an aim to accelerate India's journey towards achieving its sustainable development goals (SDGs), ITC said in a statement.

The areas identified for research include energy storage, low carbon cold transportation, and plastic biodegradation.

“It is ITC's objective to leverage the technical expertise of institutions such as IITs and support research and development activities in identified areas, which will accelerate India's journey towards achieving its SDGs,” said Prabhakar Lingareddy, ITC’s executive vice-president and head of social investments.

Lingareddy said ITC has embarked on the next horizon of sustainable excellence with a comprehensive Sustainability 2.0 vision with ambitious targets that call for inclusive strategies that can support more livelihoods, pursue newer pathways to fight climate change, support circular economy and enable the transition to a net-zero ecosystem.

Sunil Khare, the dean of research and development at IIT Delhi, said, “The collaboration will combine the cutting-edge research at IIT Delhi with application know-how of ITC to accelerate innovation and develop solutions for a variety of end-use applications of our customers and society at large.”

“The industry is undergoing a massive transformation with an ever-increasing need for sustainable and functional products that are driving new innovations,” he added.

Stating that the institute has made significant contributions in many areas, including academic activities, research, innovation and technology development, Anurag Rathore, the dean of corporate relations at IIT Delhi, said, “Collaboration between the industry and academia will help us in our pursuit of excellence and also further strengthen the public research and innovation ecosystem of India.”