ANRF CEO Engages with IIT Mandi to Power India’s Research and Innovation Future

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, one of India’s
leading IITs, witnessed an important milestone in strengthening the country’s
research landscape with the visit of Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO of
Anusandhan National Research Foundation, to Mandi from April 9 th to April 12 th , 2026.

This event symbolized the shared aspiration of promoting excellence in
science, making research infrastructure accessible, and encouraging innovation.
The purpose of the visit was to increase institutional research capacity, encourage
collaboration across disciplines, and increase participation in ANRF’s research
funding and innovation programs in order to generate significant research results.
Welcoming the leader of ANRF, Prof. Laxmidhar Behera, Director, IIT Mandi, said,
that ANRF’s initiatives are crucial in building sustainable research environments
across the India. “IIT Mandi continues to establish itself as a center for
multidisciplinary research and innovation, and is committed to making a mark on
India’s global research standing,”.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman stated: “Organizations
such as IIT Mandi are the future of research in India, which involves interdisciplinary
efforts, innovations, and projects geared towards national interests. The mission of
the ANRF is to facilitate such organizations through better funding opportunities,
collaborations, and innovations that will ensure a national and even international
impact. The work conducted here will precisely propel India forward into the world of
scientific research.
Throughout his stay, Dr. Kalyanaraman had extensive conversations with the faculty
members, researchers, students, and administrative heads, emphasizing the need for
enhancing the research and innovation pipeline. He provided strategic perspectives
on the future direction of ANRF, its funding schemes, and national imperatives, which
he hoped would be utilized effectively to achieve breakthroughs in basic science and
socially relevant innovations.
The most prominent event during the visit was the Institute Colloquium conducted by
Dr. Kalyanaraman on “ANRF Vision: Empowering India as a Research &
Innovation Power.” In this talk, he presented ANRF’s vision for the future and its
path towards achieving scientific supremacy for the nation, through its flagship
institutions such as IIT Mandi.

The visit also comprised the presentation of comprehensive research by
IIT Mandi faculty members on the projects supported by ANRF, significant
proposals, and multidisciplinary research thrust areas. These include
renewable energy, biomedical sciences, energy storage, quantum physics,
multimodal artificial intelligence , precision agriculture, and environmental
sustainability among others, clearly highlighting how the institute has aligned itself
with the nation’s concerns and challenges.
Highlighting the importance of the interaction, Dr. Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, Dean
(SRIC), said, that such exchanges with national research leaders act as catalysts for
development. He highlighted the fact that the interaction provides a great opportunity
for further development of research at IIT Mandi and its contributions to the research
domain in the country.
As part of its strategy to encourage regional coordination, IIT Mandi also arranged a
brainstorming roundtable meeting involving the leaders from some of the best
institutes in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
During his visit, Dr. Kalyanaraman also had the opportunity to tour through some of
the state-of-the-art labs and research centers of IIT Mandi, thereby getting an insight
into the technological innovations of today and the focus on translating these
technologies into commercially viable products at the institute.
This visit is indeed a very good indication of the convergence of vision between IIT
Mandi and ANRF in taking India into the ranks of a world leader in research and
innovation.