When students in IIT Madras want to tinker around machines and experiment with their ideas, they don’t have to think twice. They can head straight to Centre For Innovation (CFI) -an exclusive hub set up by the 1981 alumni batch of IIT Madras in 2008. CFI is housed in the same building as the Central Workshop in IIT Madras campus.
This club is exclusive to IIT M. CFI hasn’t just enabled students to successfully complete projects, but it has also served as a platform for them to build their enterprise. The thrust of CFI is to enable a student with an idea to walk out with a final product. “There are no restrictions on students with regards to testing any idea or creating a prototype. Every idea can be tried and tested. CFI is equipped with tools and machinery, some of which has been donated by our alumni.” says Shiva Kumar, a fourth-year student at IIT Madras.
The students’ projects are not conducted as a part of their academics, but as trials to take their ideas forward. Some larger projects which require more than just equipment and space to work have also been encouraged. If the students require any funding, CFI also has a system in place, to approach established companies or the International Alumni Relations of IIT-M. So far, funding has never been a concern for students with CFI.
Under the flagship of CFI, students of IIT Madras have won laurels in various national and international tech competitions. For some students, projects conducted under CFI have also been the stepping stone for launching their own start-up ventures. One such start-up, HyperVerge, began within the confines of CFI. Today, operations of HyperVerge are coordinated from , Bengaluru and Chennai. “The journey began in CFI, which was just two years old when I was in IIT Madras. But the infrastructure it provided and support from senior batch-mates was a huge encouragement. Whatever my teammates and I experimented and learnt as a college group is the foundation of our company. Back then, we were teammates, today we are co-founders at HyperVerge.” says Kedar Kulkarni, CEO of HyperVerge. He graduated from IIT Madras in 2012.
This unique club, which was started thanks to the initiative of IIT Madras alumni, has been going steady in the last eight years. Not only have the students seen, tried and, tested their ideas, but have gone further and created their own companies as well.