Mangaluru: After the launch of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Opportunities and Learning (CEOL) in Mangaluru, the NITI Aayog will soon give the innovation hub tag to the premier technical institutions NIT-K, Surathkal and NMAMIT, Karkala.

This was announced during defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s recent visit to the city to inaugurate CEOL. Apart from this, these oldest technical institutions in the coastal districts have been chosen as India’s first start-up districts with incubators by the ministry of commerce and industry.

“NMAMIT, Karkala, and NIT-K, Surathkal, will jointly execute a couple of projects under this programme, while they will also execute some independent ones. Senior professors from the country’s premier technical institutions will lend their support for proper execution of the projects,” Karanam Uma Maheshwar Rao, director, NIT-K, Surathkal.

The first project that NIT-K will be working on, is to make methanol as an alternative fuel, and in related areas. The ground work for it was prepared during the recently-held national conference on internal combustion engines and combustion, at the campus. It was attended by V K Saraswat, member of NITI Aayog and former chief of DRDO, and Sanjiv Singh, chairman, Indian Oil Corporation.

Speaking on having additional infrastructure for innovation and start-ups, Rao added that the recent announcement of a Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA), has additional benefits for the institute to utilize the opportunity to the maximum, where finance is not a roadblock. “We are focusing on infrastructure, wherein it houses modernized equipment, aiding in research and innovation,” Rao pointed out.

Apart from an innovation hub, NMAMIT and NIT-K, Surathkal, have also been chosen as India’s first start-up districts with incubators, by the ministry of commerce and industry. Connectivity (air, road, sea and rail), presence of several education institutions, state-of-art facilities, student resources and infrastructure, were key factors to get these institutions selected for the centre.