IIT Kanpur Announces INR 180 Cr Entrepreneurship School in Noida

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur will establish a INR 180 crore school for innovation and entrepreneurship at its Noida campus, with a flagship MBA programme in Technology and Entrepreneurship scheduled to begin in July 2027.

The institute signed a memorandum of understanding with Gautam at the launch of its ‘Greater Than Us’ fundraising campaign on October 14.

The campaign aims to raise USD 1 billion, or around INR 9,000 crore, by March 2029. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the campaign in New Delhi. IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal said INR 4,155 crore, nearly half of the target, had already been committed by alumni, corporate donors, the government and other partners.

G-SINE will focus on helping students turn research into market-ready products and technology-driven startups. Explaining the need for the school, Agrawal said technology development must extend beyond laboratories to commercial applications.

“When we talk about technology development, we have to cover the entire spectrum from supporting the work in the lab to supporting the faculty and students in taking that work out of the lab, developing it further to a higher technology readiness level,” he said. “Bring it to a certain point when it can actually be commercialised. And that’s when startups come.”

The school will have its own full-time faculty and degree programmes, with a focus on sectors including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital health, biotechnology, drones and advanced manufacturing.

It will work alongside a proposed Deep Tech Hub at the Noida campus, giving students access to facilities to develop and test products. It will also draw on IIT Kanpur’s Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), which has incubated 571 startups.

The ‘Greater Than Us’ campaign will support IIT Kanpur’s work across seven strategic technology areas: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, drones, medical technology, sustainability, semiconductors and quantum technologies.

The fundraising target is divided into three areas: Foundation, Talent and Frontier. Around INR 5,000 crore is earmarked for infrastructure, including research facilities, computing infrastructure and student residences. Another INR 3,000 crore will support scholarships, doctoral fellowships and faculty recruitment, while INR 1,000 crore will fund strategic technology initiatives.

Agrawal said the institute’s fundraising drive reflects the need for India to develop critical technologies independently.

“Unless we own the entire technology stack with respect to certain technologies which are of strategic nature, we will be left in a not so good condition or situation when the crunch comes,” he said.

The campaign builds on IIT Kanpur’s existing specialised schools in medical sciences and technology, AI and sustainability.