Bhubaneswar: The 5th Convocation Ceremony of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar was held on 30 August 2016 at its campus. Prof. Surendra Prasad, Chairman of the National Board of Accreditation and former Director of IIT Delhi was the chief guest and delivered the convocation address. On this ceremonious occasion, 110 B.Tech., 55 M.Tech., 69 M.Sc., and 7 Ph.D. students received their degrees.
Addressing the convocation Prof Surendra Prasad said Higher Learning institutions should try not only to teach students but also to make them wise. He appealed the students should make efforts to make India a centre of entrepreneur revolution. He called upon them to contribute new engineering concepts or quality engineering products in key areas to solve the problems of housing, food security, and transportation that can facilitate the large population to live quality life with dignity.
Highlighting IIT Bhubaneswar’s achievements over last year and new initiatives, Prof R. V. Raja Kumar, Director of the Institute, informed that with an objective to grow to fulfill the aspirations of the society, this year IIT Bhubaneswar started a new BTech programme in Electronics & Communication Engineering and 5‐year Dual degree programme in 4 disciplines, two each in Schools of Mechanical Sciences and Infrastructure. Intake capacity of the BTech students is increased from 180 to 260. Currently, the Institute has 1237 Students, 112 full‐time faculty members, 15 officers and other supporting staff, he added.
Commenting on permanent campus, Prof Kumar said that the Institute has moved 80% of its academic activities and residences to the campus by July 2016 starting from nothing. The construction work of the main administrative building and the School of Mechanical Sciences will be completed before December 2016.
Briefing IIT Bhubaneswar’s role in startup and entrepreneurship mission, Prof Kumar commented that a drafted a vision paper for encouraging entrepreneurship at the institute and Entrepreneurship Cell (ECell) were in place. The E‐Cell organized two workshops – one on “Business Plan, Opportunities and Risks, and Sources of Funds for Startups”; and the other on “Funding Opportunity and Legal Aspects of Startups”.
The Institute has established a Technology Incubation Centre to facilitate incubation of ideas of its students, alumni and faculty members for conversion into successful prototypes. Four teams of incubates have been selected in April 2016.
In his address, Prof Kumar informed that a Startup Centre has been established at IIT Bhubaneswar with a grant of Rs.1.50 Crore from the DST and MHRD, to inculcate a culture of innovation‐driven entrepreneurship in and around IIT Bhubaneswar and to promote technology and innovation based startups. “In the first attempt itself we got as many as 51 applications Individuals and teams of individuals, from across the country. This is very encouraging and I am confident that IIT Bhubaneswar would be generating next generation entrepreneurs for this region and the country.” added he.
