Setting a new record in the area of industry collaborating with academic institutions for its research requirements, curriculum development, faculty exchange and student internships, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) brought 25 of its member companies entered into memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with 25 of the top Central institutions on the occasion of Visitor’s Annual Conference, organized at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 4^th November to 6^th November. The conference is presided over by the President of India who is the Visitor to all 114 central institutions in the country. The MOUs were exchanged at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of President of India, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. 

Covering a wide range of sectors such as smart cities, renewable energy, green roadways, power solutions, mixed signal circuit design, fabrication and aluminium diecasting, the MOUs have brought some of the best known companies in India in direct contact with academic institutions. The companies include Hyderabad-based electronics and instrumentations major Elico Limited, which has signed an MOU on smart cities with NIT Warangal; Cadila Pharmaceuticals which has signed the MOU with National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Ahmedabad; Micro Interconnexion Private Limited which has signed the MOU with NIT Goa; Blue Star Limited which has tied up with IIT Madras and School of Planning and Architecture Delhi and Ahmedabad-based aluminium diecasting company Veena Diecasters & Engineers which has collaborated with VNIT Nagpur. 

A total of six companies, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and construction major MN 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 MOU with two institutes – 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 has entered into collaboration with footwear major Liberty Shoes. 

Among other companies which have partnered with academic institutions in this initiative are Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (signed MOUs with NIPER Hajipur and NIPER Kolkata), Bitchem Asphalt Technologies (signed MOU with IIEST Shibpur), Bosch Limited (signed MOU with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (signed MOU with NIPER Hyderabad), Emerson Network Power (signed MOU with IIT Kanpur), Garden Reach Shipbuilders (signed MOU with IIEST Shibpur), Genome Valley (signed MOU with NIPER Hyderabad), Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (signed MOU with NIPER Ahmedabad), Honda Motorcycles (signed MOU with NIT Allahabad), Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (signed MOU with NIPER Raebareli), Johnson & Johnson Medical India (signed MOU with NIPER Ahmedabad), K Raheja Group (signed MOU with IIT Bombay), KHS Machinery Private Limited (signed MOUs with IIT Gandhinagar and SVNIT Surat), Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals (signed MOU with NIPER Guwahati), Medley Pharmaceuticals (signed MOU with NIPER Mohali), Natco Research Centre (signed MOU with NIPER Hyderabad), Panacea Biotec (signed MOU with NIPER Mohali), Paradeep Phosphates (signed MOU with IIT Bhubaneshwar), PepsiCo India (signed MOUs with MNIT Allahabad, NIT Tirichurappalli and NIT Warangal), Rajasthan Drugs & Pharma Limited (signed MOU with NIPER Mohali), Sankalp Semiconductors (signed MOU with IIEST Shibpur) and Wockhardt Limited (signed MOU with NIPER Mohali). 

New Delhi