Today at Maker Village in Kochi, Kerala, Shri S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, unveiled two flagship initiatives: the “India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG),” India’s first graphene center, and the “Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT) Sensors.” Established in Makers Village Kochi by MeitY, GoI, and the Keralan government, the CoE in IIoT Sensors is a unique facility that aims to accelerate the development of sensors in the field of Intelligent IoT systems, covering a wide range of applications of intelligent sensors in networks, devices, and sensor systems.
With the intention of promoting research and development, product innovation, and capacity building in the field of graphene and 2D material systems, MeitY, the GoI, the Keralan government, and Tata Steel Limited built the first graphene centre in India, IICG, in Makers Village Kochi.
In order to establish these facilities at Makers Village Kochi, Digital University Kerala (DUK) (previously IIITMK) and the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (CMET)-Thrissur are the technical partners. The specialists from these organizations will set up a full-fledged facility at these centers for R&D, incubation, innovation, skill development, capacity building, testing, and certification. Speaking to the group, Shri S Krishnan discussed the role that IIoT sensors and graphene technologies play in accelerating digital transformation and economic expansion. He went on to say that the primary goal of establishing these centers across the nation is to create a whole ecosystem for start-ups in the fields of IoT sensors and graphene & 2D materials. He further stated that these centers in their respective fields would offer the full solution, including materials for product and system development.
Shri S Krishnan also announced the introduction of Hardtech 2024, the yearly flagship program of Maker Village, which will unite professionals from the electronics hardware design and manufacturing industries as well as investors, startups, academia, and research and development organizations. At the launch, there were also representatives from the governments of Kerala and India, including Dr. Rathan U. Kelkar, Secretary of Electronics and Information Technology, Prof. Saji Gopinath, Vice Chancellor of Digital University Kerala, Shri. N. Sainathan, Chief New Materials Business, Tata Steel, DG CMET, and officials from the MeitY, Additional Secretary, and MeitY, Government of India.
