Infosys Foundation donates Rs. 56 cr. to promote research

International Institute for Information Technology and Indian Institute of Science in the city are among the eight leading academic institutions selected by Infosys Foundation to set up faculty chairs.

The philanthropic arm of India’s second largest software exporter has 11 faculty chairs in eight leading academic institutes across India to promote research. These chairs also provide advanced training and support student and faculty exchange programmes in India and abroad.

The foundation has donated grants to the tune of Rs. 56 crore for the chairs. Each selected institute received grants ranging from Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 33 crore for setting up chairs, referred to as Infosys Chairs.

“We believe that scientific advancement is imperative for the progress of the nation. Through Infosys Chairs, we seek to encourage scientists and researchers to collaborate with international academicians and enrich the student community with current concepts and the latest technologies,” said Sudha Murty, chairperson of the Infosys Foundation.

The funds will be used for research in areas such as obstetrics and gynaecology, agriculture, economics, mathematics, technology, biology, rural development, and cancer.

A part of the fund will also be utilised for research to identify and discover new drugs, and to develop policies to boost growth in agriculture, value chains and food security.

The other six beneficiaries of the foundation’s grants are Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Presidency University, All-India Institute of Medical Science and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad.

Last year, Infosys Foundation, instituted a corpus of Rs. 30 crore for Chennai Mathematical Institute to enhance faculty compensation and support fellowship requirements.