Indian Institute of Technology Mandi has made a debut in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements, of the Innovation Cell, Ministry of Education (formerly Ministry of Human Resource Development), Government of India. The rankings were announced today, 18th August 2020, by the Hon’ble Vice President Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu. The Institute has been ranked #7 in the ‘Centrally Funded Institutions’ category of ARIIA 2020. IIT Mandi is the only institute from the second generation of IITs to be featured in ARIIA 2020.

Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Vice President of India, announced the results in a virtual event in the presence of Shri. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Hon’ble Union Minister for Education, Government of India, and Shri. Sanjay Dhotre, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Education, Government of India.

Speaking about the ranking, Prof. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Mandi, said, “We are ecstatic that our

efforts in improving the curriculum through practicum based learning and focus on the entrepreneurial ecosystem is yielding results. IIT Mandi Catalyst, the first Technology Business Incubator in Himachal Pradesh, has helped over 75 startups since 2017 and is changing both the industry profile and entrepreneurial mindset. We aim to incubate technology-based start-ups focused on economic and/or social impacts. Our aim is to build a start-up and collaborative research ecosystem by working with academic and industry leaders. The ARIIA 2020 has given us the reassurance that IIT Mandi is going in the right direction”.

A total of 674 institutes had participated in the rankings. This year, the rankings had 6 categories: Centrally Funded Institutions, Private Institutions, Private/Deemed Universities, State-Funded Autonomous Institutions, State-Funded Universities and Women only higher educational institutions.

ARIIA is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, and implemented by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Ministry’s Innovation Cell, Government of India, to systematically rank higher education institutions and universities in India on indicators related to ‘Technology transfer, Innovation, Startup and Entrepreneurship Development’ among students and faculty.

The major indicators/parameters for ARIIA were (a) Programs and Activities on IPR, Innovation, Start-up and Entrepreneurship, (b) Pre Incubation & Incubation Infrastructure & Facilities to Support I&E, (c) Annual Budget Spent on Promoting and Supporting I&E Activities, (d) Courses on Innovation, IPR and Entrepreneurship Development, (e) Intellectual Property (IP), Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, and, (f) Successful Innovation and Start-ups & Funding Innovation & start-ups.