IInvenTiv, a research and development exhibition, will be held between October 14 and 15 on the grounds of IIT Delhi and will be organized by 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Dharmendra Pradhan, the minister of education for the Union, will speak at the opening session. The R&D Fair will feature initiatives on a variety of topics, including drone technology, cheap healthcare, rural agriculture, smart city architecture, and climate change.

A total of 75 projects brought out by 23 IITs are selected for the event, along with 6 showcase projects. Out of the 6 showcase projects, IIT Kanpur will lead a presentation on the ongoing R&D in drone technology and how diverse its utilities have become; IIT Bombay on the Bahubhaashak project, which enables speech-to-speech translation, NPTEL, SWAYAM, MOOCs videos in vernacular languages, in-line with the vision of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

IIT Madras will lead a presentation on 5G Core and allied technologies; IIT Delhi on the R&D in the broader areas of climate change, agriculture, rural technologies, sanitation etc; IIT Kharagpur on affordable healthcare devices and technologies; and IIT Hyderabad on the technological innovations in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.

The selected projects will be presented before the audience in designated booths during the 2-day event. Representatives from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), will be present at the event. The audience will also include administrators and students from universities and colleges from small towns, global IIT alumni, faculties of various CFTIs, scientists from DRDO, ISRO, CSIR and ICAR, etc. The 2-day event will hold interactive as well as one-to-one sessions among the academia and industry representatives.

“The event would also host administrators and students from institutions from tier 2 and tier 3 cities for them to have a closer glimpse of the R&D ecosystem of IITs and in turn inculcate similar innovation-driven outlook towards developing projects of national interest. It would facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the requirements at the grass roots level in key areas such as agriculture, rural development, sanitation, resource management etc., and would engage them to develop innovations that make a positive impact on a larger section of society,” said an official statement.