IIT Madras launches new School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to build global deep-tech start-up ecosystem
The School was officially inaugurated on August 4, 2025, by IIT Madras Director Prof. V. Kamakoti, in the presence of faculty, students, startup founders, alumni, and industry leaders. The founding head of the School is Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal, a Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awardee and faculty member from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. A seasoned academic entrepreneur, Prof. Rajagopal has played a key role in nurturing student innovation through the Centre for Innovation (CFI) and the pre-incubator Nirmaan.
Currently home to the country's largest deep-tech startup ecosystem, IIT Madras has incubated over 475 startups valued at more than Rs 50,000 crore (around USD 6 billion). These ventures have collectively created over 11,000 jobs, filed more than 700 patents, and attracted over Rs 12,000 crore in funding. With the launch of this new School, IIT Madras seeks to scale up this momentum by providing structured academic and financial support to aspiring entrepreneurs.
The School will offer a range of academic programs including a Minor in Entrepreneurship, an MS in Entrepreneurship, a PhD programme, and industry-focused degrees such as an Innovation Doctorate.
A unique 'Entrepreneur-in-Residence' (EIR) initiative will also support returning professionals who wish to build start-ups. The School plans to create dedicated funding mechanisms for early-stage and scale-up support, and will run regular Intellectual Property (IP) clinics to help convert student innovations into IP-protected products.
Highlighting the vision behind this initiative, Prof. Kamakoti said, 'As we progress after having achieved 1.2 patents a day and exceeded 100 startups in the last financial year, it is time to institutionalize our Innovation and Entrepreneurship efforts. This School is going to be another USP of IIT Madras.' He also noted the enthusiasm among alumni to support these efforts through the IITM Alumni Fund, which has already secured near-complete commitments towards its Rs 200 crore target for startup investment.
Dean of Alumni and Corporate Relations, Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, emphasised that the School will unify the various elements of IIT Madras' entrepreneurial landscape—from evangelization and curricular support to pre-incubation and incubation—into a coherent pipeline that can help ideas evolve from classrooms to IPOs.
The School will function under the larger umbrella of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, headed by Prof. Anbarasu Manivannan, who described it as a step not just for India, but for the world. He said the parent school would facilitate the academic integration and support necessary for this ambitious initiative.
The School builds upon several ongoing initiatives at IIT Madras. The Centre for Innovation (CFI), one of India's largest student-run maker spaces; the Nirmaan pre-incubator, which has supported startups like GalaxEye Space; and forums such as the Tech-Soc and Entrepreneurship Cell have all contributed to cultivating a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship on campus. Additional support comes from the Gopalakrishnan Deshpande Centre (GDC), which trains researchers in entrepreneurial thinking, and the RuTAG Cell, which focuses on rural and social innovations.
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