Kharagpur: The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, one of India’s most prestigious and globally acclaimed technology institutes and the first of the four IITs established for post war industrial development in India, announced Vision 2020, a strategic roadmap to build an advanced research ecosystem in India.

In New York City to convene the Director’s Council Meet, Shiv Nadar, Founder, HCL & Chairman of HCL Technologies, a $5.9 billion global enterprise & Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Kharagpur said, “IITs have stood for an optimism about the future – a belief that fundamental science will lead to breakthroughs for large scale socio-economic impact. India is on a rapid economic growth path and requires a significant emphasis on large-scale research at the highest levels of excellence. This would push the frontiers of knowledge and create new cutting edge technologies and sustain India’s progress as a leading country in today’s competitive global environment. Vision 2020 would create an enabling innovation ecosystem in science and technology for India’s inclusive development and economic growth.”

Prof. Damodar Acharya, Director, IIT Kharagpur, “IIT-Kharagpur was envisioned to lead India’s prowess in technology education and research on the lines of the world’s best technology institutes. A strategic roadmap will drive Vision 2020 to facilitate research in key areas of national relevance. World-class infrastructure; global talent pool of faculty and students and collaboration with global and local industries and institutions of excellence would enable an innovation-led ecosystem to lead India into the future.” A Rs 400-crore fund would be set up with support from the Government and the industry to drive Vision 2020 over the next five years.

IIT Kharagpur is not only consistently ranked first among Indian technical institutions; it also is the only engineering school from India listed among top 500 universities worldwide in theShanghai Jiao Tong University‘s Academic Ranking of World Universities. The IITs are known for having positioned Indian engineering and technology prowess across the globe.