Twenty-five companies have inked memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with 25 top central institutions for research, curriculum development, faculty exchange and student internships.
The MoUs between the companies, members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the academia were signed on the occasion of Visitor's Annual Conference presided over by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
The president is the Visitor to all 114 central institutions in the country.
"Covering a wide range of sectors such as smart cities, renewable energy, green roadways, power solutions, mixed signal circuit design, fabrication and aluminium die-casting, the MoUs have brought some of the best known companies in India in direct contact with academic institutions," CII said in a statement on Thursday.
The companies include Hyderabad-based electronics and instrumentations major Elico Limited, which signed an MoU on smart cities with National Institute of Technology, Warangal; Cadila Pharmaceuticals that signed the MoU with National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Ahmedabad.
Micro Interconnexion Private Limited signed the MoU with National Institute of Technology, Goa; Blue Star Limited tied up with IIT - Madras and School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi; and Ahmedabad-based aluminium die-casting company Veena Diecasters & Engineers that collaborated with Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur.
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A total of six companies, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and construction major M.N. Dastur, have signed MoUs with the newly-constituted Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, which was earlier known as Bengal Engineering and Science University.
"Energy major Tata Power signed an MoU with NIT Delhi and NIT Srinagar. Among central universities, two have signed MOUs with industry - Jamia Milia Islamia with Viacom 18 in the area of media and entertainment and Central University of Haryana with footwear major Liberty Shoes," it added.
Among the companies that have partnered with academic institutions are Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (signed MoUs with NIPER, Hajipur and NIPER, Kolkata), Bitchem Asphalt Technologies (MoU with IIEST, Shibpur), Bosch Limited (MoU with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (MoU with NIPER, Hyderabad).
Emerson Network Power (MoU with IIT, Kanpur), Garden Reach Shipbuilders (MoU with IIEST, Shibpur), Genome Valley (MoU with NIPER, Hyderabad), Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (MoU with NIPER, Ahmedabad), Honda Motorcycles (MOU with NIT, Allahabad), Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (MoU with NIPER, Raebareli), Johnson & Johnson Medical India (MoU with NIPER, Ahmedabad) too are among the companies that have inked MoUs.
Companies such as K Raheja Group (MoU with IIT, Bombay), KHS Machinery Private Limited (MoUs with IIT, Gandhinagar and SVNIT, Surat), Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals (MoU with NIPER, Guwahati), Medley Pharmaceuticals (MoU with NIPER, Mohali), Natco Research Centre (MoU with NIPER, Hyderabad), Panacea Biotec (MoU with NIPER, Mohali) are also likely to benefit from this endeavour.
Paradeep Phosphates (MoU with IIT, Bhubaneshwar), PepsiCo India (MoUs with MNIT, Allahabad; NIT, Tirichurappalli; and NIT, Warangal), Rajasthan Drugs & Pharma Limited (MoU with NIPER, Mohali), Sankalp Semiconductors (MoU with IIEST, Shibpur) and Wockhardt Limited (MoU with NIPER, Mohali) are the other companies involved in the endeavour to bring industry closer to academia.