Auroville and IIT-Madras are looking to fast-track the project to establish a state-of-the-art sustainability campus on a 106-acre expanse of land in Sedarapet area that will be dedicated to incubating green technology solutions.
The initial focus of the proposed Research and Development facility will be to harness cutting-edge green tech towards developing green energy solutions and electric vehicles, particularly for commercial applications and high-load carriers with long-range capabilities.
A high-level delegation from IIT-Madras (IIT-M) led by its Director V. Kamakoti was in Auroville this week to take the project forward.
The 69th meeting of the Governing Board (GB) of the Auroville Foundation that convened earlier this month had approved the draft MoU for the partnership, also involving the Ministry of Education, in this regard. The Ministry of Education, which has oversight over Auroville, also cleared the proposal to set up the entity on a piece of leased land inside the township.
The IIT-M, with its primary campus at Guindy in Chennai, envisions the proposed facility in the international township as its fourth campus. The premier institution has established two satellite entities — the NTCPWC-Discovery campus in Thaiyur and the international campus at Zanzibar, Tanzania.
