IIT Madras strengthens Southeast Asia presence through strategic partnership in Singapore

CHENNAI, India, Feb. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- India's leading institution for higher education, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), is expanding its global footprint through a new established entity IIT Madras Global Research Foundation (IITM Global).

ITM Global's charter pivots on four key pillars of Growth stage deep-tech startups, Research & Consultancy, IPs & Transfer of Technology and High Academic & Skilling programs.

IITM Global is a plug-and-play platform that has been newly launched by Dr. S. Jaishankar, Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs, Government of India. The initiative supports IIT Madras's vision to become the world's first multinational university by positioning it as a globally networked hub for education, research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Addressing the IITM Global launch event at IIT Madras Campus on 2nd Jan 2026 Dr. S. Jaishankar said, "An IIT Madras Campus in Tanzania is a way by which Indian Foreign Policy has leveraged the capabilities of an Institution here to make a huge impact. In ten years from now, think how many Students of Africa would have passed through its portals. Look at the impact that we would have on the minds of people who, in their own countries, would be economic and technology leaders. We are a human resource power and we should play to our strengths. We now have the capability to start doing so. When institutions of excellence in the country start going abroad, the business of foreign policy gains a huge addition to our arsenal. This is something very transformational."

As part of its South Asia expansion, IITM Global has partnered with GATES to build a long-term, market / customer connected innovation ecosystem focused on growth stage startups (Scaleups). The collaboration will serve as a strategic gateway for IITM Global deepen engagement with the tech ecosystem that serves ASEAN countries hence enabling startups to gain access to the growth markets of the region.

This strategic partnership will support scaling of startups incubated by IIT Madras into ASEAN. An additional focus of the collaboration will be the commercialisation of intellectual property developed at IIT Madras.

The partnership will facilitate structured licensing frameworks and industry engagement to translate cutting-edge research into deployable technologies with global relevance. By connecting academic research, startups and industry partners, IITM Global and GATES aim to create clear pathways from laboratory innovation to market impact.

Through its partnership with GATES IITM Global, aims to strengthen cross-border collaboration, enable startup internationalisation and create new avenues for globally impactful research, technology commercialisation across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Widely recognised as India's top-ranked institution for higher education, IIT Madras is ranked #1 Overall and #1 Engineering Institute in India's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), #180 in the QS World University Rankings and #56 in the QS Asian University Rankings. The institute hosts a comprehensive research ecosystem.

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