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It looks like the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) in the country are on a roll to apply and acquire patents, if the numbers of the past few academic years are any indication.
As many as 23 IITs in the country applied for more than 800 patents during the academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21. In fact, more than 240 patents were granted to IITs in 2019-20 and and more than 460 patents in 2020-21.
Data available with the ‘Council of Indian Institute of Technology’ show that IIT-Bombay and IIT-Madras applied for more than 100 patents each year in the last few years. While IIT-Bombay applied for more than 100 patents every year during the academic years between 2015-16 and 2020-21, the number of applications for patents by IIT-Madras crossed 100 during 2017-18 and 2020-21.
IIT-Bombay and IIT-Madras were granted 145 and 130 patents in 2020-21, respectively. The institutes in Delhi and Kanpur were granted 77 and 59 patents in 2020-21, respectively.
IIT-Goa, one of the youngest IITs in the country established in 2016, has also applied for three patents during 2019-20 and 2020-21.
The Council of IITs is a central body that coordinates activities of all the IITs.
Peer reviewed publications
Apart from patents, the focus of IITs also seems to be on increasing the number of research papers in journals, symposiums. The number of peer reviewed papers published in journals, which was around 10,990 in 2015-16, jumped to 20168 in 2020-21.
The IITs in Madras, Bombay, Delhi and Kharagpur have been leading the table with more than 2,000 such papers for the period between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
While some of the new IITs started after 2015, are yet to list their achievement on Council of IIT portal, the IIT Palakkad published more than 120 peer reviewed papers in journals.
Though the number of peer reviewed papers published in conferences, symposium., touched almost 7,798 during the pre-Covid academic year 2018-19, it came down to 4,663 in the post-Covid academic year of 2020-21. The IIT-Bombay topped the list by publishing more than 1,000 peer reviewed papers in conferences, symposium., during the pre- and post-Covid academic years.
The number of published research monographs, books, book chapters., which was at 808 during the pre-Covid period of 2018-19, increased to 1,112 during the post-Covid academic year of 2020-21.
IIT-Hyderabad topped the list with 240 such publications in 2020-21, followed by IIT-Madras (156) and IIT-Bombay (125).
Tech developed over years
The Council of IIT portal also lists the number of technologies developed by IITs over the years. According to the data, the total number of technologies developed in IITs reached 235 and 164 in 2018-19 and 2017-18, respectively. IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi topped the list in terms of the number of technologies developed over the past 10 years.
When and where of IITs
After all these numbers, here are a few historical facts about the IITs in the country.
First Indian Institute of Technology was established at Kharagpur in 1950. However, some technical institutes of India that were later designated as IITs have more than a century old history.
India’s first technical institute started in 1847 with the establishment of Thomson College of Engineering, which was subsequently named as University of Roorkee. It was the designated as the seventh IIT in 2001.
Banaras Engineering College, which was established in 1919, went on to become the Institute of Technology of Banaras Hindu University in 1968. It became the 16th IIT in the country in 2012.
Indian School of Mines, which was established in Dhanbad in 1926, bagged the IIT status in 2016.
The period between 1958 and 1961 saw the establishment of IITs in Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, and IIT Delhi. After a gap of three decades, India got its sixth IIT at Guwahati in 1994.
IIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Patna, IIT Rajasthan and IIT Ropar were started in 2008; and IIT Indore and IIT Mandi in 2009.
Two more IITs were established at Palakkad and Tirupati in 2015. IITs came up in Bhilai, Goa, Jammu and Dharwad in 2016.
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