Chennai: In a significant achievement, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) achieved a milestone as it incubated 112 startups and filed 431 patents during the financial year 2025-26. Through its IITM Incubation Cell (IITMIC), the leading educational institute achieved the deep-tech milestone under its ‘Startup Shatam’ mission as it surpassed the 500-startup mark, reaching a total portfolio of 567 startups collectively valued at Rs 74,100 crore.
Fostering entrepreneurship & Deep-Tech innovation at IIT Madras
Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “These milestones reflect the culture of innovation that has taken deep roots across IIT Madras. The combination of startup creation and strong patent activity demonstrates our commitment to translating research into real impact.” He made the statement while announcing the achievements during the World IP Day celebrations on Monday.
IIT Madras has a robust IP ecosystem which saw 352 Indian and 79 international patents filed in FY26. “IIT Madras has built an end-to-end support system that enables faculty, students, and researchers to navigate the IP journey efficiently,” Prof Manu Santhanam, Dean (ICSR), said.
In parallel, IIT Madras sustained its innovation momentum, filing 431 patents during the year and reinforcing its leadership in translating research into real-world impact, a release from IIT-Madras said.
In an attempt to push the students of the prestigious institute to bring out the best from them, Professor Kamakoti had set the goal of ‘100 startups a year’ in 2024 and ‘one patent a day’ in 2023.
What is Startup Shatam
He said the highlight of this year’s ‘Startup Shatam’ milestone is the growing maturity and diversity of startups entering the ecosystem. Over 60 per cent of the startups were founded by external entrepreneurs across the country.
The newly incubated startups span across critical sectors including AI, Internet of Things — IoT, and cyber-physical systems, robotics, aerospace, and climate technologies. Notably, over 60% of the startups are founded by external entrepreneurs, advancing the ‘IITM for All’ vision. The startups are also engaged in sectors, including fintech, healthtech, aerospace, AI, machine learning, quantum technologies, biotech, analytics, agritech, climate technologies, automotive, batteries, and defence.