Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research

The Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research has become a very important support and service center for the coordinators of the different projects we have at IIT Madras. I would like to highlight three aspects which make ICSR so strong. First is a purpose, it is clear to all the staff that we have at ICSR that they are offering a service to the Faculty members and the coordinators of projects. This is very important because when somebody approaches ICSR we don't want to be like a police station and say that this can be done or that cannot be done. Instead, we want to tell faculty how to get things done. So that faculty members can focus on research on their Core Business and not worry about the paperwork, the legal aspects, the accounting auditing, and so on. The second aspect is the Building of the team, the ICSR team is made up of professional staff, people who are experts in their area and we tell them two things. One is that they have to serve with a smile, they have to make sure that the coordinators are getting what they need for their projects, and also make sure that they feel welcomed at ICSR. Our third aspect is resilience, things keep changing when we go about doing research, rules change, and laws change, we had the pandemic which was a major obstacle. But IIT Madras did not stop its research during the pandemic it continued and ICSR was a very important reason why this could be done. It was an amazing journey to be part of ICSR as its former Dean and also as a faculty member who has done a lot of projects through ICSR.

We also have several Administration changes that have happened over the years. They have made things easy, in terms of creating an Erp system, within the ICSR that makes it efficient for faculty to actually understand where they stand in terms of finances where they stand in terms of intellectual property generation, and there's been a lot of activity in trying to collect data and make sure that project reports are all available online.

when comes to the management of the projects and purchases, we feel, this is the most professional place. Here things are so systematic. Everything is automated. The workflow is what automated the file movement is automated and you have a problem? The solution is here.

Today, we have an excellent, ICSR are internal portal through which I can go and look at projects, I can look at the IPS that are filed and granted, I can look at the staff that I am hiring. I can also look at accounts; how much money is allotted? When was it allotted? How much has been spent, and how much is remaining? All these services are provided by this excellent internal ICSR website.

Really happy that ICSR goes out all the way to help faculty, take up more projects and to deliver better, and all the support staff that they have come up with the last three deans especially have done a wonderful job. I also would like to record my appreciation for ICSR during Covid. It was exceptional support that they delivered to all the faculty during that very stressful time and they work day in and day out to ensure that things are done on time. Despite all the Covid restrictions.

I joined the IIT Madras has been back in 1986 as a PhD student and then, as a faculty member in 1988. From when I have been involved with ICSR. ICSR used to be a single small wing in the building Sciences block and from there, it has its own separate building. My experiences with ICSR have always been extremely Pleasant and it has always been a pleasure to work with the staff at ICSR and they've always gone out to the way much beyond their Call of Duty to help me with the projects that I have been working with.

I joined the institute in 2008. So it’s been 14 years since I came in, probably You know, industry projects government projects. But now we have significant CSR projects and even within CSR, there are different kinds of CSR projects from industries from philanthropists to foundations. So I really commend ICSR for a grappled and one-way thrived because of this diversity. So I hope it keeps going higher and higher in terms of its service quality

Information Asymmetry is one of the biggest challenges these days. ICSR at IIT Madras Works to minimize the information asymmetry through informing various projects through sponsored and consultancy processes to help faculties and students to increase the feasibility of doing better, research and contribute to the ever-growing Scientific field.

Really nice to see that ICSR are now is 50 years old. It's come a very long way. I would say we had a great Dean's TT. Narendran, Prof. Joy more recently, Prof. Krishnan Balasubramaniam, Prof. Ravindra Gettu, and Prof. Manu Santhanam now. So series of great deans have shaped the way ICSR operates on campus. I have certainly been a huge beneficiary of all the services that ICSR has provided over the years.