Established in 1961, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela is one of the finest technical institutes of our country. Constantly maintaining an overall ranking in the top twenty institutions for technical education, NIT, Rourkela has carved a niche for itself, its students and all its stake holders in the field of technical education. With twenty one academic departments offering a wide range of courses designed to meet the current requirements of the industry and academia, NIT, Rourkela has one of the most diversified curricula in the nation. Besides, there are six Academic Centres and nine Centres of Research, two of them recognised as Centres of Excellence by external Government agencies. The most recent among them is the Lakshman Rao Peri Centre for Advanced Analytics and Decision Sciences which has been set up with financial support from one of our Alumni Sri Venkata Narashimham Peri. In more than five decades of its glorious history, the alumni of NIT, Rourkela have probably written every success story imaginable and in the process have left a bright and blazing trail for their alma mater. Stone by stone NIT, Rourkela has grown from a single building housing everything to a mega facility that supports more than 6000 people including students, faculty and staff. With its accomplished faculty and rich laboratory infrastructure, NIT, Rourkela has, for years, been undertaking research and consultancy projects for various industries spanning across many disciplines.

From such a vantage point, we at NIT, Rourkela need to take our association with the corporate world to a new level. Keeping this in mind we have started working on a Centre for Technology Innovation and Industry Relations (TIIR) which will be a place that will house a number of Industry related activities under a single roof. The most prominent among these activities is the Technology Incubation Cell (TIC) and the Industry Relations Cell (IRC) where both in-house innovators and major corporate houses will set up their product and process development units in an intellectually stimulating scholastic environment. Every participating firm will get the required building space to carry out its R&D programmes, using its own staff, NIT researchers and support of the faculty. We expect corporate houses, from tiny start-ups to established multinationals, to choose NIT Rourkela for setting up R&D centres, pilot plants, and limited production units. We shall provide them with well equipped laboratories, furnished office space, communication facilities, conference rooms, convention centres and administrative support. In addition, the organizations will have full access to all our testing and experimental facilities, laboratories, library, computing facility and the talent pool of faculty and students. The TIIR is designed to be an ideal destination for both major corporate houses as well as small time start-ups to nurture innovative technologies to maturity, to translate laboratory findings to marketable products, and to take up limited manufacturing and marketing before moving the production to a proper factory.

We now invite you to TIIR, NIT Rourkela for starting your innovation project. Your initiative in this scheme will go a long way in forming an unbreakable bond between your organization and NIT, Rourkela. Let us join hands to take our country to new heights in technology and economic prosperity.